Carbs leak fuel

[Demio0892]

Hello everyone, my carbs on my 1981 gs550t leak fuel back into the air pod filters. Only the two inside one do it tho. Ive tried adjusting the floats but fuel still seeps back through the carb into the air filters. Any ideas on why this happens ?

[Steve]

Quite likely, it is the o-rings around the inlet valves (float needles) that are cracked and leaking.

If they are leaking, you can probably be assured that the REST of the o-rings in the carbs are in need of replacing, too. Contact cycleorings.com for a full set of o-rings. While you are there, be sure to also get the o-rings and stainless bolts for your intake boots.

Since you will have the carbs completely apart to change the o-rings, it would be a perfect time to get a can of carb cleaner DIP and do a full clean and rebuild.

Removing and re-installing carbs on a 550 is somewhat of a pain, so you might as well just do them all and be done for another 10+ years.

If you don't feel comfortable doing them yourself, there are a few of us here that will do them for you, for a modest fee, of course.

.

[Redman]

Float needle o-rings like Steve says...
or maybe the float needles themselves (but you maybe would have seen that while have carbs apart for the float height adjustment)

Another thing to discuss:
You did not say if this happens when bike is parked, or if this happens while it is running.

If this happens while the bike is parked; well, then we need to ask how soon this happens (5 minutes or overnight) and need to talk about the petcock on the tank. Might also want to check to determine if also gas in the oil.

[Demio0892]

I replaced al float valve seats and needle valves, still leaks. Im think the petcock might not be closing all the way ? Ps this happens after I park the bike.