RE: leaking gas

[mavpsa]

I have another question for my '77gs550. The bike is leaking gas from some hose that runs out of the carb (according to the previous owner). I'm sure that is not normal. I did the search and found a similiar thread but it doesn't appear to be a related problem. I think his had more to do w/gas leaking from the card itself, if i read it right. According to the previous owner, he checked and followed the leaking gas to this hose.

doesn't anyone have suggestions? thanks!!!!!!

[Redman]

How much does it leak? Small puddle overnight? Large puddle in 10 minutes?

Wht can you say about the gas tank petcock?

[mavpsa]

re: leaking gas

it doesn't seem likes it's a lot of gas. probably more in the range of a small puddle when left parked.

[bonanzadave]

Wht can you say about the gas tank petcock?

Keep an eye on your oil level. You could have gas in your oil. That could mean your carb needles are unseated or like Dave said your petcock is bad.

[mavpsa]

re: leaking gas

so was this guy right about gas coming from that hose? does that make any sense to you? does that hose need to be connected to anything? how would i know if it's a carb problem or a petcock problem?

i'm not initimidated to pull the carbs and check or clean them, although i haven't done it before. But if this forum is anything like katriders.com (which it appears to very much be) i'm certain that i'll be able to do it.

[Nessism]

Pull both lines off your petcock with the engine off (make sure the petcock is in the ON position. - Fuel should not flow. Turn the petcock to the Reserve position - Fuel should not flow. When the petcock is turned to the Prime fuel should flow out of the larger nipple on the petcock but not the smaller nipple. If you have a problem with the petcock there are rebuild kits available but many people recommend replacing the petcock completely because the rebuilds do not always work when the metal itself is worn on the petcock.

Assuming the petcock is working properly, make sure it's set to either On or Reserve when the bike is running. Prime should only be used when trying to fill the float bowls after the bike has sat for some time or if you have serviced the carbs.

If the carbs spill fuel out the over flow tubes, you most likley have a problem with the float needles in the carbs. Most likely there is grunge fowling them. Pull the carbs and go through them to make sure they are clean. Check the GSR home page for the VM carb rebuild information in the Garage section.j

Good luck.

[OLJOCLARK]

needle valve seats

hey,man,,oljo here again, i was looking thru the forums today and seen your thread here. my 78 550e has the same problem ,,axcept worse! after realizing i ought to pay closer attention to detail,thanks to our friend nessism,,and pulling the carbs off several times,,i took the needle valve seats out used a strong flashlite and a magnifying glass looking into the bottom of each seat,,,found that the problem carb seat was pitted . no way was this ever gonna do right.i guess it's because the bike sat on it's side stand while it was in storage for a while. all the gas ran to that carb.when i opened up my carbs, the mess got worse from carb to carb. i got my bike for a song and decided to let the pro guy rebuild it and sync it. a minor investment that should pay off major,with these bikes, if we maintain them like we should!mine has so many bad parts i decide to bob mine up somewhat, so far so good .should have my carbs ready in a couple of weeks,,,cant wait. it;s a big load off ,knowing i;m not going to break something ,then have to hunt it up. how's your;s going? oljo