80 GS550E Fuel leak

[Anonymous]

I recently purchased a 1980 Suzuki GS550E with 11500 miles on it. The bike runs great and it is just what I wanted after not having ridden a bike for nearly 25 years. I had taken the bike out yesterday for a ride and everything was fine. This morning I went out to the garage to find a small but significant puddle of gas underneath the bike. It appeared to be dripping off of the carbs but exactly where I could not tell. I removed the tank and drained the gas to stop the leaking. I am not sure if the problem is with the fuel petcock or not. Is there a way to determine if it is operating properly or not? I see a lot of discussion regarding three position petcocks but mine only has two (ON (down) RES (forward).

[robben]

Third position should then be back for PRI (prime). That would be the free flowing setting, for filling the carb bowls back up. Do you have an airbox? Is there a nipple on the bottom corner of it? Is it wet with gas? That could be where the leak is coming from. It usually means your carbs are flooding. You need to clean up your carbs, and what not and put gas back in to watch where the gas is leaking from to find the leak.

Since you drained your tank, you'll not know what's leaking. Could be the tank itself, or the petcock, the airbox drain plug, or the carbs themselves. The bowls may leak if the gasket or o-ring it uses is shot. It also means that it's flooding, as the needle/seat isn't shutting the gas off from where the floats are set to, which is below the bowl line somewhat.

How's the oil? Is any gas going into the crankcase?

[Anonymous]

There is no third or prime position. only ON and RES. The valve will only move forward and/or down. The air box is dry. I am suspect about the oil so I will probably drain it and change it anyways.

[Nerobro]

Chec kto see how far the bike is leaning over when ti's on the sidestand. when I had the 130 tire on my bike it would lean far enough to cause the carbs to puke out the left side of the bike.

[Anonymous]

I wish I could blame it on that. I only use the center kickstand.

[Nerobro]

Well then. I'd pull those carbs, and check the float levels. :-) And check your float needles. Oddly enough, after enough carb fiddling, my carbs no longer leak when on the sidestand.