Hey guys, thanks for any help you can give in advance.

I just bought a 95 GS 500 w/180 miles on it . It sat for 10 years w/ gas in the tank. I read everything i could find on this site and cleaned and Kreemed the tank, cleaned the carbs and replaced all the hoses.

I got the bike to run, but not very well, so I took it to a local dealer to have it checked out and fixed.

They charged me $140 to replace a float needle. The bike still was not right, after I got halfway home it lost all power, and 1 plug was fouled.  I took the bike back to the shop and they said
There is gas leaking from the back side of 1 carb!

The garage said I needed (once again) Float needles and seats this time. So I bought them. Now the garage is telling me that it is still leaking gas from the carbs.. even when the bike is not running.

I checked everything when I had the bike @ home. The petcock looks fine, and like I said, I cleaned the hell out of the carbs like 7 times.

Now the garage is telling me they are "working on it".  It's been 1 month since I took it there and $180.00 later and still no bike. Its summer and I want to ride my GS... Please help!!!

Cleaned carbs (WELL), bought new gaskets and needles and seats.

Like I said, the main prob. Gas leaking from only 1 carb.

A friend had said that it is possibly the small plastic seat for the spring is installed upside down?  The garage said that this is not the prob.

Please help ASAP. I am going to the garage to pick the bike up tomorrow because they dont seem to know what they are doing.

Take them off and send it to me ... its a O ring on the float spigot ... notorious in these ... needles wont get boogered up that easy ... its a 40 cent O ring ... Yea You might as well rejet ... $40 and it will be far better than it was when new ... In anycase yours is going to the back right ... into airbox ... bad float spigot O ring. if its out the side ... then its float gasket ... might as well get a rebuilt kit ... $15 or so ... and prolly swap that one out only and see ...
Cool.
Srinath.

I can vouch for Srinath's carb work.. worked good for me.

Check to see if your petcock is set on prime.  If it is then it will allow gas to "free flow" into the carbs.  About the one leaking and one not.  A sticky float could cause that...right?  I think it would.  On my cb900 that I did the carbs on it had floats that were sticking.  I had to polish the hole in which the float needle went in.  You can't tell by moving the float with your finger but hold the carbs up without the bowls on and let the floats "hang" and then turn it over so that the floats fall down, towards the top of the carbs.  if one doesnt fall when turning them over then it has residue or is gummed up a little.  when you get it back try this and I would imagine this would solve it.  Just make sure your hoses are hooked up correctly and that the petcock is set to on or res not prime.  hopefully this will help solve your problem.

woops, listen to srinath on this, he probably knows way more than me. posted late, left the page up after I typed it and came back and clicked submit, my bad.

Quote from: 94suzuki500Check to see if your petcock is set on prime.  If it is then it will allow gas to "free flow" into the carbs.  About the one leaking and one not.  A sticky float could cause that...right?  I think it would.  On my cb900 that I did the carbs on it had floats that were sticking.  I had to polish the hole in which the float needle went in.  You can't tell by moving the float with your finger but hold the carbs up without the bowls on and let the floats "hang" and then turn it over so that the floats fall down, towards the top of the carbs.  if one doesn't fall when turning them over then it has residue or is gummed up a little.  when you get it back try this and I would imagine this would solve it.  Just make sure your hoses are hooked up correctly and that the petcock is set to on or res not prime.  hopefully this will help solve your problem.

Yes its a very good call ... however ... I have seen 1 carb so far with a bad stick ... really bad ... made me think someone shoehorned a different float needle ... just cos it looked like the same ... the sides of the thing were crushed ... and 1 more that was marginal ... yea the emery paper wrapped around a pencil type hone worked great on it ... and it was when someone used pliers to pull it out, the marks outside were far worse ... inside was a shade egged ... sitting = bad O ring in the seat spigot ... and I have seen it 10 times more often atleast ... In many cases I dont even report back saying it was bad ... swap it out and I dont even think ... Now cleaning ... ok obsessive cleanings can do some pretty severe damage ... being super super clean is actually not even required ... cos carbon, dust, rust and the other crap that flows in with your fuel is all welcome in the thing ... I slosh it with diesel for a few mins, open it up and swap jets and spray wd40 and slap it back together and usually works great ...
Cool.
Srinath.

i've been having the same problem with my carbs too.  First time i took it to the shop they said that the bowls were very dirty and to bring the tank out and have it cleaned, so i did. that worked great...for awhile. then out of nowhere i'd start the bike and it would go from idle to 4k when i would have to shut her off. took it the another shop and they said that the seats and needles needed to be replaced, so they did that but then they said that fuel was coming out of where the air goes into the carb??  but i still have no idea what to do LOL

Well send it to me with that description ... float spigot leaking at O ring is possible ... rejet is mandatory, and that 4K race up after warming points to a vacuum leak ...
Cool.
Srinath.

OK, here is the deal now... I already bought a carb kit.. they replaced all gaskets and o rings, seats and needles.. now the problem is the same as the guy above..

Gas is flowing into the vacuum from the petcock and flooding out the engine..  the garage says that if they run it on (on, or res) gas flows into the vacuum. If they run it on prime.. no problem.

Is it the petcock diaphragm that I need?

OK if that's the case ... cap off the carb vacuum spigot and run in prime ... a good 2-300 miles ... a petcock diaphragm will prolly do for fixing it, but before you buy that ... try that ...
Cool.
Srinath.

First off YOU GUYS ALL ROCK! Thanks soo much for all your input, and soo fast!

I got the bike back, plugged the vacuum line w/ a screw and plugged the petcock w/ rubber. So far its working fine... Still doesnt seem to have quite the pep I think it should, but then I dont know how it should run, I never rode one that ran good So far I put on like 30 miles and all is well with the leaky carb.

Anyway after even more research it seems that the petcock is the problem. Probably after sitting 10 years w/ gas in it.. the gasket is a  little porous and gas is getting through the vacuum line. Other people in other forums have done the same thing, and say that the petcock on GS' s are garbage.

Thanks again.. its nice to have a place where people know what they are talking about

Unlike DENNYS POWER SPORTS in JOHNSTOWN, PA.. They charged me $200.00 total now, and still did not fix the bike! DONT EVER TAKE YOUR BIKE THERE !!! I know nothing about bikes,  I am a computer geek. But with this website, forum and with your help, I repaired the bike in 5 mins.. took DENNYS 1 month to do NOTHING!

Anyone know a good place to get that petcock diaphragm/gasket?

Good job newbie ... Now why do you think it not running as well as it should ... more to the point ... like what is it doing. A rejet may be your solution.
Cool.
Srinath.