No idle and fuel leak?

[seamax]

I started my bike for the first time since it has sat for a month. It was a rough start but the bike started and idled harshly for a while at full choke. Then it shut off. Then it could be restarted but it wouldn't idle by itself even with the choke at full. I could only keep it going with the throttle.

Then out of nowhere a lot of fuel spilled out from the bottom of the bike. I traced the leakage to a hose that looks like it was busted at the tip and the hose goes straight back to the gas tank. From the manual I think this is the surge hose  (california hose) because it does not connect to anything.

Is this hose suppose to be closed or intentionally open?

And and thoughts on the no idle issue?

[Kerry]

Have you ever overfilled the tank at the gas pump?  Have you ever wondered how you're going to get that extra fuel out from under the fuel cap?  Now you don't have to worry about it.  (Although you may want to wipe out the residue after it dries out.)

EDIT: Changed link from sisna.com to bbburma.net

[scratch]

Carbs need to be cleaned.

[seamax]

Okay the bike starts and still does not idle. I changed the spark plugs today and the old ones are full of carbon so I take it the bike is running rich. I also inspected the air filter, which was soaked with fuel and the air filter box had black fuel in it. So from my first post all that fuel that came out of the bike was from the air filter box.

Any idea why there is fule in the box and on the filter?

Is my carb clogged? Do I need to clean my carbs and if so can someone direct me to a site with instructions.

Thanks

[seamax]

I restarted the the bike without the air filter and it idle, a little rough,  for a while, until the fuel ran out since I had already drained the fuel. Throttled the bike and saw that the slides work. Hopefully it's  just the extremely dirty air filter. I will change the air filter and see how it run..if the problem persists I will open her up again and clean the carbs. (I foundthe direction on the How To pages).

I still don;t know how all that fuel got into the air filter box and sokaed the air filter. Maybe I left the chok on too long starting up the bike.

[miket]

Not sure why your airbox is full of fuel, but I think it can't come from anywhere else than your carbs. Was you fuel valve set on PRI? That, and sticky floats, could explain it.
Yes, the carbs may need a cleaning. I would try draining the tank and filling it with fresh gas and 1/4 of a bottle of fuel injector cleaner before taking them apart. I like the Chevron brand. If that doesn't work, you can find a detailed description of carb removal on my web site:
http://www.angelfire.com/mt2/mikesgs500/rejetting
You my as well rejet them while you are at it.

[seamax]

Thanks Mike. Thinking about it, I might have forgotten to turn the valve to ON , it was on PRI when starting it up yesterday for a few times causing the fuel to come from the carbs. So today when I turned it to ON there was still fuel on and in the filter thus it died on idle.

I will replace the filter, and add fuel injector cleaner with new gas and see how she goes. I just want to ride right now and not worry about rejetting until winter comes again.  

[Kerry]

The way I understand it, if one or both needle valves (in the carbs) are stuck open, then fuel can overflow from the float bowls into the airbox.  The needle(s) could be stuck open because of a deteriorated needle tip, or because some lodged-in gunk won't let the tip stop up the valve hole properly.

Don't try to diagnose the rich mixture condition until you fix the fuel overflow problem.  An air filter soaked in fuel would automatically cause a rich condition wouldn't it?

As far as cleaning the carbs....  You mentioned a manual in your first post.  What kind of manual do you have?  If it's a Clymer or Haynes (or Suzuki) repair manual, you shouldn't need anything else.  If it's an owner's manual, then we'll try to come up with something.  I know miket has a good rejetting tutorial.  That will get you most of the way there.

In general, you want to:

* Remove the carbs from the bike
* Soak the jets and other small metal (

not rubber!) parts in carb cleaner for 15-20 minutes and then "blow them out".
* Reinstall everything[/list:u]Disassemble one carb at a time so you don't get messed up.

===================

Ah.  I see miket beat me to it!

[seamax]

Kerry. I was dreading that I would have to clean the carbs. I do have the clymers manual just placed an order on ronayers for new pilots, and a replacement K&N filter.

So it looks like another weekend project. Thanks for the help. This board is awesome.