Didn't see this question clearly answered anywhere through searching so here it goes; GS is barfing fuel back through the K&N filter on my bike. Rebuilt the carbs a couple weeks ago, put 300 miles on the thing, and now the bike is pissing fuel out of one of the carbs. Haven't had time to pull the filter and see which one is doing it, will check that tonight.
My questions are; can I change float height & drop without pulling the carbs off the motor? Also, what are some hints, tricks, rules of thumb, or cheats to set the float drop correctly? I've no experience with side-draft carbs like these Mikuni's, although I do have some auto experience with carbs and hated dealing with the floats in all situations. So anything that you all want to share about this aspect of the GS would be swell. Note the jetting I'm using in my sig if that has much impact on the situation.
I'm no expert but I've been messing wth my floats the past few days trying to get my carbs tuned.
It is *possible* to adjust the float levels with the carbs on the bike but it would take a 90 degree screw driver to remove the bowls the bowls. I've found that its really just as easy to take the carbs off so you're not working in such tight quarters.
As for tricks -- just search the forum for float levels and look at the clymer manual page that a few of the posts link to. That will show you how to set them by measuring them with the carbs off the bike. You can also look in the how-to section of the site for a quick way to check the float levels using a short piece of clear tubing that doesn't require you to pull the carbs.
Using the method in the manual page, from what I've gathered the floats should be set to 14.6 +/- 1mm from the gasket surface on the carb body (manual page doesn't give you the measurement, just the method).
Also, I'd reccomend finding /making an auxillary tank to tune the carbs with. I found a large funnel with a cap on top and a tube with a shutoff valve on the end for $5 at Pep Boys. I plug this into my main fuel line instead of replacing the tank while I'm checking my adjustments This way you save a lot of time not having to deal with taking the tank on and off while you're tuning.
Use the search function on this forum. It will be your best friend.
Yeah, it's possible, but more work than it's worth. It will take you much longer to do it with the carbs on than it will to just take them off.
If you have pods - yanking them off is easier. I just leave the filters on and even the cables connected. Just pull it out and hang it over the side.
If you have airbox in esp on a 89-00, easier to do on the bike provided you have replaced the screws on the bottom with allen bolts, haven;t cranked them down till they turned purple, and you have this cool tool called a handle spinner and a set of allen tipped sockets.
Cool.
Srinath.
This will teach me to try and diagnose problems in low lighting; the fuel wasn't coming from the K&N Lunchbox I have hanging off the back, it was coming from the end of the add-on fuel filter I have hanging dirrectly below it. Reapply hose, tighten hose clame (which was extremely loose, not sure how it got to that point) and I'm back in the game.
This means no pulling the carbs! No screwing with float levels! But I am still re-jetting to try and fix what I believe is a rich condition.