TOPIC:

It's becoming all too frequent now. I feel like I'm cleaning up after a little puppy that piddles everywhere.

For a long time I had no problems, maybe an occasional purge from time to time, but now the carb overflow dumps fuel several times a day while parked on the side stand.

Has my stock petcock finally bit the dust? I put the o-ring kit in it a while back. Should I just pony up and buy the Pingel, is that the answer?

savedrider wrote:

... carb overflow dumps fuel several times a day while parked on the side stand. Has my stock petcock finally bit the dust? I put the o-ring kit in it a while back. Should I just pony up and buy the Pingel, is that the answer?

Thinking it might be a poorly seating float needle, likely from a speck of crud, but possibly from wear. If there are overflow hoses from bottoms of the float bowls, you should be able to determine which carb is the culprit before disassembly for repair. A good cleaning of the float needle and seat often solves the problem, but if replacement is needed, it's best to replace both float needle and base as a set.

With properly seating float needles, there should be no fuel dumping from the float bowl overflow even with the petcock left in the open position.

Check the petcock operation by removing the hose at the petcock -- turn it on, then off, to see if it keeps flowing when it's supposed to be off. (May have to use prime position if a vacuum operated petcock).

If the petcock stops fuel flow like it's supposed to, the gas remaining in the line between the petcock and the carb may find its way past the poorly seating float needle and eventually out the overflow tube.

Hope this helps.

If you have a vacuum operated petcock then yes replace it. If not then the issue is in your float bowl needles. Actually either way problem is with your carbs but a vacuum operated petcock gets around that.

I'll have to do that check to make sure the petcock is shutting off fuel flow. If it is, I'm pretty sure it's the #1 bowl overflowing. I can snatch that off real easy and clean with the carbs on the bike.

I got lucky once and took the bowl off, held a white rag under the carb and turned on the gas. It flushed the little chunk out that was holding open the needle. Make sure you put a in line filter on also.

del

donthekawguy wrote:

I got lucky once and took the bowl off, held a white rag under the carb and turned on the gas. It flushed the little chunk out that was holding open the needle. Make sure you put a in line filter on also.

Might also spray some aerosol carb cleaner into the float needle seat area (please wear eye protection).

Needle to seat contact is metal on metal. The seat and needle are NOT intended to be a fuel valve... they are meant to regulate fuel flow while the bike is operating. IF you have a spec of crud between the needle and seat, then while the bike is not running, the #1 carb which gets the downhill flow of gas from the others, will piddle BUT It is more likely that gas is continuing to come from your petcock. Try removing the gas feeds to your carbs while the bike is not running with the gas shut off. If you have a vacuum petcock, just remove the gas feed and not the vacuum line. If a bit of gas continues to come from the gas line, guess what? The petcock needs replaced or rebuilt. If no gas comes out, clean the seat area. You can also replace the needle and seat as well as there MAY be some wear. You might also take a bit of emory cloth and on the sharp side edges of the needle, clean the edges a tad and clean the seat with a q-tip and some brasso or even carb cleaner.

savedrider wrote:

It's becoming all too frequent now. I feel like I'm cleaning up after a little puppy that piddles everywhere...

Maybe it's a submissive piddle?

i turn my gas off about a half mile from the house and leave the petcock off when not running....seems to save me alot of aggravation!!

If I leave my petcock on prime( not on position, which is vacuum operated) the bike had a tendency to have a run in the morning also, so I turn the petcock to on when I am finished. I have my carbs picked apart right now, so any comments are allowed to pour my way for now