Carb or petcock problem

[dluszcz]

I'm not home yet but I know the drain screw is tight. The leak is something internal. I pulled the overflow tube and watched the gas drip from the nipple.

In regards to switched Carb bodies, wouldn't the adjustment screw that is on an angle be on the wrong side? I would have to have a long screwdriver and go in from the opposite side to get to it if I switched the bodies.

When I pull the carbs again, I will pull the float needle and seat and look to see if there is a BB blocking 1 hole or if they are both clear.

 

[rustybronco]

When I pull the carbs again, I will pull the float needle and seat and look to see if there is a BB blocking 1 hole or if they are both clear.

The holes are under the floats when looking at the carbs from the bottom. no need to remove the seat; just the float.

yes the air screws would be on the wrong side if you swapped carbs. that is if no one mixed and matched parts long before you bought it.

one more thing you might consider while you have the float bowls off. pour a little 'petrol' in each of the float bowls and check for cracked overflow tubes.

I can't stress this enough, check the wet float levels while the carbs are off the bike. unless you would like more practice with removing them.

***edit***
I don't know if the main jet issue has been addressed so far in this post. IMHO 102.5's are way to small for pods and a pipe.

I have pod filters and a 4 into 1 exhaust.

Per the advice of people at Z1 and on here, I moved the needle to position #4, installed 102.5 main jets, and thought that the rebuild went well. Bike is running, but extremely rich.

 

[dluszcz]

Since the carbs are off the bike, I decided to try something else.

I don't think this will have any effect, but I took a different bowl, dipped it (varnished up pretty good), rinsed it off, used compressed air to clear out the overflow tube and drain plug, and put it on carb #3.

I also, used the last remaining seat (from the box o' leftovers) and the same float needle. I put it back together and since the tank was off the bike, I ran the hose to the fuel inlet.

I have it on PRI in the garage and the carbs are straight up and down sitting on a couple of rolls of tape and a box. It works and thankfully, hasn't tipped yet. Bowls should be full by now and it's just a matter of time.

I placed a small piece of a blue shop towel under carb #3. Now, I'm going to wait about an hour to see what happens. Hopefully, no wet spot. I will report back.

Edit: Also, if anyone has pics of how to do a wet float test. I know I've received some pics on how to make the gauge, but I have no idea where to put that. I've never done this before and I usually pick up how to do things pretty easily. But, this one is not clicking. Any pics or additional instruction on how to do this would be helpful. It may be that I'm overthinking this but I'm just really frustrated that I can't get this 1 pesky leak to stop.

 

[Sandy]

The quickest and easiest way to make a float test guage is to get a piece of clear small ID and large OD fuel line and taper one end with a knife or razor blade, stick it in the float bowl drain hole and give it 1/2 to 3/4 turn and it shouldn't leak. Then hold it up against the side of the carb and turn the petcock to prime. You should then see where the fuel level sits, I think it should sit slightly below the gasket.>>> (See diagram in post #12) As for the petcock being a problem, I highly doubt that. You should be able to leave the petcock on prime (not that you would) and the float valve should stop any fuel flow to the carbs. I've accidently left mine on prime for a couple of days and the floats didn't leak. Just think that when you park the bike after a ride the fuel hose is still full of fuel and it shouldn't leak out the carbs, sure there is more pressure if petcock is on prime but it still shouldn't leak. My bet is that there's still something not right with the float height, the float itself or float valve. Is the float binding on the side of the float bowl? I was going to make the suggestion to swap a float valve from one of the non leaking carbs but it sounds like you already figured that one out.

 

[dluszcz]

OK. So far, so good. An hour plus and no leak. Not even wetness around the nipple.

So, now I will put the carbs on, ride the bike for a couple of hours, unhook the overflow tube, and put some blue shop towel piece underneath to catch any possible leak.

Keeping my fingers crossed that this works. ray:

Otherwise, off they come again and I'm going to do the wet float test with Sandy's information.

 

[Nessism]

OK. So far, so good. An hour plus and no leak. Not even wetness around the nipple.

So, now I will put the carbs on, ride the bike for a couple of hours, unhook the overflow tube, and put some blue shop towel piece underneath to catch any possible leak.

Keeping my fingers crossed that this works. ray:

Otherwise, off they come again and I'm going to do the wet float test with Sandy's information.

Check my signature: To measure is to know.

Even if the bike doesn't puke fuel on the ground, that doesn't mean the fuel height is correct. I've very carefully set float height before only to have the fuel level about the desired height. If the float needle springs don't support the weight of the float it will mess up the height no matter how careful you measure.

 

[dluszcz]

I will definitely take note of that. I have enough hose leftover to do the wet float test.

But, since the bowls were already filled up with fuel, I figured it would be a good time to mount them and test it out.

Either way, I've become so good at removing and installing the carbs that I could do it blindfolded!

When I'm done, I'm hoping to have no gas on the towel after about an hour.

Then, off the carbs come again after work tomorrow. The Bulls are on shortly and I will not be working on the bike while the game is on. Therefore, the wet float test will have to be tomorrow after work.

And, thanks, Sandy, for the pic. This makes complete sense and now that I know where to smash it, I will be able to get an accurate wet float height.

 

[dluszcz]

Just got back from a couple laps around the block.

Keeping my fingers crossed that there is no wet spot on the blue paper towel!

Then, I only have 1 more time to remove the carbs, dump the bowls, and check the wet float height.

 

[dluszcz]

Well, I guess I can chalk this up to a learning experience. Still no leak and I took a look at the bowl that I had on there in the first place. I noticed something odd about it.

On the outside of the bowl, the nipple looked like it had been epoxied or something. The base of the nipple didn't look like the other bowl that I used to compare it to.

I figured that since I wasn't going to use that particular bowl any time soon, I wanted to see if I could turn this. Using small pliers, I went to grab the rod that is on the inside of the bowl. Putting very little pressure on it, I ended up cracking the rod all the way to the base of the bowl. There must have been a hairline crack and I just finished it off.

So, this whole time, the gas was leaking from somewhere in the middle of the rod, and that's why no matter what I tried, it continued to leak.

I just got lucky by deciding to switch bowls. Otherwise, I'd still be seeking advice on this particular issue.

I'm hoping that this wraps up this particular thread. In the morning, I hope to find no wet spots on the cardboard that I placed under the carbs. And if so, I can ride with a little more peace of mind and I can finally fill the tank up again. Moving a full gas tank was tough til I rode some of the gas out while trying to solve this problem.

I still have plans to pull the carbs and do the wet float test. I still need some thicker clean tubing to do this. Going to the hardware store (they are also a snow mobile dealer) tomorrow to get something to fit the bowl for this test.

Thanks to all for your advice, information, and help. I still learned a ton, as usual, from everyone on here! :clap:

 

[Tom R]

Sounds like you found the problem. I'm working on bikes with a couple of friends in Brookfield this weekend, was gonna suggest you bring it by or if you were close..

You don't want to pull the carbs to do the wet test. I set mine with the bike running.

 

[dluszcz]

How ironic. I moved from Brookfield up to Johnsburg. My son is still in Cicero and my brother in Stickney.

Maybe I can ride the bike down there anyway some weekend. It's only 55 miles. Would love to get it out on the highway for a little bit.

And, since you've done the wet float test with the bike running, I will definitely have to get down there so you can show me how to do it correctly. I'm always looking for opportunities to learn and I'm still not entirely comfortable with some of the tests I do because of the lack of experience.

 

[dluszcz]

Here's the link to the photo of what was cracked.

Keep in mind that the crack was not this bad when it was leaking. But, it was the source of my leak as there is still no wet spot on the cardboard.

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd22/dluszcz/1978 GS1000E/IMG_20110504_205712.jpg

 

[Sandy]

In the computer business that's what we call a humbler. Glad you found it because you sure had most of us scratching our heads. You can do the wet test with the carbs mounted if you want, you'll just need a slightly longer tube to reach the inside carbs and then use the float bowl from an outside carb for your reference point, that'll be plenty close enough. That's to check them, you'll obviously be removing them if you have to change the level but I've been able to do the outside carbs in place. You do things like that if you have a stock airbox. And don't mash the tube, just shave it to a taper.

 

[Guest]

That problem was pretty involved. With baffling problems like these where your at your wits end trying to find a solution, when you do find it, everything makes sense as to why it was doing what it was doing. Hopefully you won't have anymore gremlins on that bike to deal with and
you can get some worthwhile worry free riding in.