That is just the reality of owning a motorcycle.  There is always maintenance to do and people seem to skimp on their maintenance before they sell a vehicle.

I think used motorcycles that do not require attention are like figments of our imagination, like unicorns but without the sparkly unicorn poop.

Get it fixed fast before what happened to my 89 Honda hurricane (bike started on fire going 60 me in ditch) happens to you due to something super easy and super cheap to fix. Gas lines I replace on all bikes I buy now cause u never know how much light has degraded them over the years before u got it and are super easy and cheap to replace.

Didn't get much time to mess with it last night, but it looks like there is gas leaking from the airbox. I was trying to figure out how to shut off the fuel at the tank petcock but I can't get my hands near it. My plan is to drain the carbs, and pull the airbox (if I can figure out how) and see if I can figure out what is going on. Then I'll go from there.

remove the seat unbolt the bottom of the gas tank then lift tank up but not completely off and there will be a screw to turn the gas on and off and the underside of the tank were the 2 hoses route to. Just get it fixed as soon as possible gas leaks can get bad.

Like Rich said earlier...if the hose is coming from the air box, rather than from the fuel tank as you indicated, it's probably a stuck carb float. I had the same problem with my bike from the day I bought it. It was a cheap, and relatively easy fix, which helped to keep the wife's anger at bay

A size 2 flat screwdriver with a 9" shaft (think insulated electricians flatblade) is your friend here.. as mentioned remove seat and lift tank a few inches... then reach right across with the driver and turn the little screw on the inside edge of tank petcock 90 deg to the right! .. I think it to the right?!

Quote from: rscottlow on May 10, 2016, 11:37:05 AM
Like Rich said earlier...if the hose is coming from the air box, rather than from the fuel tank as you indicated, it's probably a stuck carb float. I had the same problem with my bike from the day I bought it. It was a cheap, and relatively easy fix, which helped to keep the wife's anger at bay

what did you do to fix the stuck carb float?

Quote from: Torstein on May 10, 2016, 06:50:43 PM

Quote from: rscottlow on May 10, 2016, 11:37:05 AM
Like Rich said earlier...if the hose is coming from the air box, rather than from the fuel tank as you indicated, it's probably a stuck carb float. I had the same problem with my bike from the day I bought it. It was a cheap, and relatively easy fix, which helped to keep the wife's anger at bay

what did you do to fix the stuck carb float?

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=26604.0

Quote from: Torstein on May 10, 2016, 06:50:43 PM

Quote from: rscottlow on May 10, 2016, 11:37:05 AM
Like Rich said earlier...if the hose is coming from the air box, rather than from the fuel tank as you indicated, it's probably a stuck carb float. I had the same problem with my bike from the day I bought it. It was a cheap, and relatively easy fix, which helped to keep the wife's anger at bay

what did you do to fix the stuck carb float?

Take the carbs apart and take a look. Mine actually had a teeny tiny hole in one of the floats, and over time it had filled with fuel preventing it from being able to float. I'd guess that's a pretty rare occurrence, and it's probably just a matter of adjusting the floats to the proper height and cleaning the carbs. Either way, should be an inexpensive/free fix!

Thanks ya'll! I hope to find some time to rip the bike apart soon and do this. Unfortunately, life is busy. 2 young kids, crap going on every night, all weekend, etc. So who knows when I'll ride again. Super bummed, riding season is finally here and I am not riding. Boo. Hopefully it's an easy fix.

Quote from: Torstein on May 11, 2016, 11:08:53 AM
Thanks ya'll! I hope to find some time to rip the bike apart soon and do this. Unfortunately, life is busy. 2 young kids, crap going on every night, all weekend, etc. So who knows when I'll ride again. Super bummed, riding season is finally here and I am not riding. Boo. Hopefully it's an easy fix.

I know the feeling. I've got two little ones of my own...I find myself sacrificing sleep in order to spend a little more time working on the bike when necessary. Speaking of...I really ought to make time to do an oil change and some other routine maintenance (on my GS and on my truck)...

Maybe try to get in touch with another twinner locally who would be willing to give you a hand, especially if you've never done any work like this before. At the very least, watch a couple of youtube videos in advance of starting the project so you're a little more familiar with it. I'd never even seen the inside of a carburetor before I fixed my GS, and I was able to find just about everything I needed on this forum.

Ok, got the tank off today so I got a better view of the inside. The airbox shows some wetness from gas, but it's not bad. The filter seems fine, so I may just keep it.

I was going to check the float heights and I turned the petcock to PRIM and gas just started leaking out the hose at the bottom, same hose as usual. This time I was able to trace the hose and found it's the hose that is connected with that "T" adapter thingy between the carbs. So clearly the floats are way off (or just stuck) and overflowing like crazy as the gas leaks right out that connection.

#57 or #64 in this diagram (not really sure which) is where the hose is connected that the gas flows freely out.

could it be the A/C?  my car makes a puddle in the summer...

Assuming it is not simply overflowing b/c the petcock is faulty or set wrong, I have had bikes that develop carb overflow/leaks due to rust or other particulates preventing the float from seating properly, in cases where it is a hug PIA to remove the carbs (think cbx/6) I run the bike and tap the float bowl where it is leaking with the handle of a screw driver to try and free up any grit that may have gotten stuck in the float seat. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt but its worth a try.

Ok, got a little farther today.... tank is off, airbox is out, and i'm trying to pull the carbs but running out of time.

couple things......

1) my airbox did not have a drain hose attached to it, wtf?
2) my gas tank does not have a vent hose attached

do either of these hoses actually matter? i think the airbox one probably doesn't, but the tank one? does that need to attach somewhere or is that just for air?

the hose i'm holding in the picture is where the gas constantly leaks out from between my carbs. the hose is routed out through the frame and to the ground. is this normal?



also, does anyone have a link to a diagram of the hoses and where they should route to? i want to double check everything on this bike because at this point i don't trust it with missing hoses and whatnot. i was able to drain 1 carb bowl, but the other one the screw is totally stuck. i need to order replacements, any idea where? i couldn't find any. thanks in advance!

The hose diagrams get posted in this forum regularly.  I think a search might turn them up for you.

Quote from: lucas on May 12, 2016, 06:49:15 PM
The hose diagrams get posted in this forum regularly.  I think a search might turn them up for you.

You're right, sorry

Thank you Jack. 

Added hose top view to my post above.

Ok, thread update as I finally got an hour to work on my bike.

Pulled the carbs off, opened up the bowls, both floats looked great, seemed to function just fine, everything looked pretty clean. Took some carb cleaner and cleaned out all the jets, holes, bowls, basically anything I could, and am now in the process of putting it back together. I'm hoping there was just some small debris stuck somewhere in there causing it to overflow.

I'm hoping to have it put back together this weekend and hopefully I'll have better results without fuel pouring out of my carbs.

I ended up ordering new float bowl drain screws as one of mine got stripped to hell when I was removing it. I did notice on the end of the drain screw from the carb that I am pretty sure is the culprit, there was some thick, sludgy oily substance. Not sure what that was, but hopefully with a cleaning it opens things up and things start running better.