I know there are other post on carbs leaking fuel but I cannot find what I am looking for so here goes...
Originally my bike would not run properly so I took the carbs off and had a look, I found that my float bowl valves (if that's what they are called) were seized solid in both carbs so I replaced them. Now I have fuel leaking everywhere, it doesn't matter what setting the petrol tap is on fuel leaks in a steady drip from somewhere in between the carbs possibly the over flow 

Does any one know what the problem might be and how I can fix it because I've had so many problems with this bike that I don't think I will ever own a GS again... If it is going to be too difficult for me to fix and costs too much money I reckon I will scrap it because I've spent so much money putting it right and I've had enough so any help would be much appreciated

Thanks

Take one of the float bowls off and take the float off (but watch the float needle - it will fall out). Make sure that the solid point of the float needle is pointing up and push up on the bottom of the springy end. Turn the petcock to prime (be ready for the other carb to leak while you do this). If you have gas pouring on your finger, then either the float needle is damaged / warped or there is some dirt on top of it preventing it from sealing. Do this whole procedure to both carbs.

If both float needles are good, then you probably need to set the float height. If float height is good, then check that the floats don't have any pinholes in them. And last but not least - it is also possible for there to be a small crack around the overflow tube. Possible, but not likely.

Wait a minute - you said it doesn't matter where the petcock is set at. When it's set to On or Reserve and the engine isn't spinning then it shouldn't be moving any gas. Sound like a petcock rebuild is in order......

Hi Big Rich thanks for your reply 
Before I change the float needles the carbs didn't leak at all 
Changing the float needles seems to have caused the problem as far as I could see the float bowls seemed to be absouloutly fine, I might have a go at looking at the height will have to check the manual to see how to do this.

hey, is it leaking while running or not running?  I had a leak while it was not running and turned out to be the petcock got stuck open.  I took it apart and seemed like the spring in the petcock came off center or something.  I reassembled everything and it no longer leaks.

If its leaking since you changed the float needles, then it sounds like they were OK before and maybe you made a mistake in the way you reassembled them.
The weird thing is that even if the float needles were not working at all, then the fuel should stop flowing once the motor stops. That's because the fuel tap (on the frame) is vacuum operated and should turn the fuel off once there is no vacuum from the motor(except on 'prime'). So it seems like you now have two problems, one that the float needles/seats don't work or are set wrong, and two is that the vacuum fuel tap is faulty.
What year model is your bike?

Ramennoodles, petrol leaks while the bike is not running... I hadn't considered that the fuel tap might be the problem definitely worth a look.
The mole, the float needles were siezed solid into their housings so they had to be changed because I had fuel starvation and I put the new ones in the same way the old ones came out. My bike is a 1998 GS500 EW.

have you checked that the needle is correct size,had this problem myself on my gz250,in the end it was just cheaper to buy a reconditioned carb from a wrecker swaped it out, and away we went.after very close examination of old carb found the most likley problem to be etheir a small hole in the diaprham,and the needle had a very small groove in it where it seated.hope it helps!! :cheers:good luck

yeah, if your leaking while the bike is not running, then I would definitely check the petcock. Should not have fuel(petrol) flow at all if bike is not running unless you left it on prime setting.  Just open it up and check the o-ring, spring and diaphram.  There is a little metal plug with o-ring on it in the middle of the diaphram.  The spring pushes that plug into the fuel hole to block fuel from flowing when the bike is not running and has no vacuum.  The cover you need to remove is the one that the vacuum line connects to.

Hi,if your float valve,the seat it fits into and float is working correctly,it will not matter what the pettock is doing.I suspect the problem (provided you have the correct float valves)is;
float bowl height,
the brass bucket/seat that the valve sits in is dirty or if you pull it out the o`ring inside is perished.
Might be worth getting the carbs sonic cleaned?
You shouldn`t give up on the GS if its got a good motor,i`ve had my fair share of 80`s-90`s bikes and my 89E has been the most relailable and pleasurable and cheap.