81 550T carbs spilling fuel

[Guest]

Im posting here on the suggestion from another member. Ive rebuilt the carbs and am trying to get the bike running. When I hook the fuel line up to the center t fitting gas starts pouring from the air hole on the right side of the carb. Ive raised and lowered the float levels but still the same thing. cant figure out what I did wrong. currently floats are set at 22mm.

[Beaner242]

Weird. Just tried the 22mm setting on the floats again and when I first hooked up the fuel tank the fuel was pouring out again. Tried starting bike and it would fire and run for about 5 seconds with the choke on but then dies. Tried restarting and wouldn't. let it set for about a minute and it would start and run and die like before. Like its running out of gas and the fuel has stopped running out of the carbs. No idea on this one?

[tom203]

Without reading your previous posts, how did you "rebuild thecarbs" ?
I'd guess one or more of your float needle seats is leaking (maybe seat itself or the o-ring) -assuming your float setting is correct.
You can check this with carbs off bike, hold them in their normal bike position, and feed gas to that fuel tee and wait

[jbthomp]

Im pretty sure that is the air hole for the choke circuit. If fuel is coming out of there that means your float levels are too high. You need to actually check the fuel level with a piece of clear hose. The 22mm measurement is good enough to get it close but it can still be off if the float arms themselves are bent which is what usually happens after people have been jacking with them for 30+ years. Also did you use all new orings on everything including the inlet valve seat? It is also possible for the needle valves to leak if there is a piece of junk stuck in them or if they are just worn out.

[Beaner242]

Thanks tom and jb. my next step is the clear tube method. I rebuilt the carbs completely stripping them and dipping them for 24 hrs. I used rebuild kits from Z1 which included new float needles and I got some new orings for the transfer tubes.

[knewel]

leaking fuel

I had the same issue on Gs850 after rebuilding carb and petcock. Turned out plunger wasn't shutting off petcock due to internal corrosion. Fuel would just run through continually flooding the carbs and then leaked out drain hole.
replaced whole petcock and problem solved.