GASOLINE LEAK FROM AIR BOX 83 850GL

[Anonymous]

I HAVE A 82 GS850GL. I PUT SOME GAS TREATMENT IN IT, MAYBE TOO MUCH. I WENT TO START IT AFTER IT SIT FOR 4 DAYS. IT WAS ALMOST OUT OF GAS, WAS ALMOST FULL WHEN I LEFT IT. IT WILL START BUT DIE AND BLACK GASOLINE COME OUT OF THE AIR FILTER BOX, WHICH I HAVE TAKEN OFF. S IT A STUCK FLOAT??

[Redman]

DONT TRY TO START IT (anymore)!
Also look at crankcase oil level. If you cant see a level but window doesnt look empty either, its probably that crankcase is full of gas also.

More later......

[Redman]

You have the stock gas tank petcock? With an 'ON' position and "PRI" position? (I understand that the Ls dont have a REServe position.) You leave it in PRIme position when this happened?

Yah, sounds like you have a leaking or stuck float valve, but petcock in 'ON' position should block fuel flow when engine not running (specifically to prevent this from happening). Float valves are not ment to be a completly block/shutoff the gas flow but more of a flow regulator.

In additon to finding the cause of this, you also need to deal with the gas in crankcase (good assumption that you do, especially if it was on center stand). Your oil aint oil no more. You need to drain oil-gas from crankcase (gonna be a lot more than a regular oil change) and oil filter chamber. May also need to clean out the air box and dryout or replace air filter.

Now about the gas leak -
Float valves can leak a little bit and not cause this problem because the petcock should close when engine not running. And a little float valve leak should not be too much of a problem as far as the engine operation when engine is running, but this sounds like its not a small leak (most all of tank in 4 days).

First lets talk about the petcock. If you left it in PRIme position, well, then, like my ol' dad taught me: If it hurts when you do that - dont do that. Dont do that again.
If petcock was in 'ON' position, then it must be leaking when it should completly block gas flow. Easy test is with engine not running; to pull off the gas line (bigger of the two) and see that there is no fuel flow in 'On' position. If it is leaking, then maybe the gas treatment has caused damage, or maybe just cleaned out gunk from some portion but not another so gas is leaking thru the part where the gunk is now missing. Perhaps dissasembly & cleaning will fix it up. Or perhaps the gas treatment has ruined it and it needs to be rebuilt with new diaphram and seals etcera (I have no experience with rebuild to say anymore).

Now about the float valves:
Was it running well before this? I suspect not, because maybe thats why you were adding the gas treatment. And maybe the reason it wasnt running well is because the float valve was leaking and flooding a carburator. Maybe others here can tell you what other sysmptoms that would present to verify this idea. If its stuck maybe rapping on each float bowl with hammer handle will free it up, but it is likely to hapen again. So either way, sounds like carb removal and cleaning is recommendable.
If it was running well before this, then maybe the float valve leak is not too bad, but will become bad at some point.

So, tell us more. . . .

[Anonymous]

THANKS FOR ALL THE INFO.... I MITE HAVE LEFT THE PETCOCK IN THE PRIME POS. I WILL CHECK THIS. IT WAS RUNNING GOOD BEFORE THIS PROBLEM. THE GUY I BOUGHT IT FROM ABOUT 3 WEEKS AGO SAID THAT THE CARBS HAD BEEN GONE THRU BECAUSE IT HAD SIT SO LONG. THERE IS SOME RUST IN THE TANK. I REMOVED AND INSPECTED THE VAVLE AND EVERYTHING APPEARS TO BE OK. I WAS GOING TO CHANGE THE OIL ANYWAY SINCE ITS BEEN A WHILE AND HAS BEEN SITTING. I'M ALSO GOING TO CHANGE THE GEAR OIL USING VAVOLINES SYN BLEND. I BOUGHT MOBIL'S SYNTHEIC MORTORCYLE OIL 8 BUCKS A QUART PROBABLY A WASTE OF $. MY NEW CLYMERS MANUAL DOESN'T HELP MUCH. I'M ALSO LOOKING FOR A FAIRING, BAGS, SISSY BAR/TRUNK. HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO FIND ANYTHING. [/img]

[Redman]

Welcome to the GSResource web site.

Is a few other discussion here about rust in tank. Draining tank once in a while will help some (refill right away).

So if you did leave in PRIme position, well, that was your biggest problem. And if did run well before, then you just need to deal with the oil that aint oil no mo'.
And you do also have leaking float valve, but apparently not bad enough to cause problem with engine proformance (but eventually it will). Or maybe it is effecting proformance but just not too noticable (bike being new to you), perhaps others here can comment on that.

I left in PRIme position once when starting during winter (I start it every 10 days or two weeks during winter) and smelled gas in garage a week later and had flooded crankcase DOAH!. So ever since I make myself follow this stupid sounding procedure whenever I feel a need to put petcock in PRIme position. - -
- Turn to PRIme position.
- Do NOT take fingers off petcock.
- Stand there holding onto the petcock feeling like a big dummy for 20-30 seconds or so. Dont take hands off to start bike yet.
- Return petcock to ON position.
- Then and only then remove hand from petcock and start bike.
- If it doesnt start right away. Repeat procedure but hold it in PRI position for a bit longer.

[Anonymous]

UPDATE DRAINED THE OILOLINE OR GASOIL ALL 3 GALLONS FROM THE CRACKCASE. THE PETCOCK APPEARS TO BE WORKING OK. I HAVE A CARB PROBLEM...... THING IS I REALLY DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THEM... PROBABLY WILL TAKE IT TO THE SHOP UNLESS I CAN FIGURE IT OUT WITH HELP FROM HERE

[moto_dan]

UPDATE DRAINED THE OILOLINE OR GASOIL ALL 3 GALLONS FROM THE CRACKCASE. THE PETCOCK APPEARS TO BE WORKING OK. I HAVE A CARB PROBLEM...... THING IS I REALLY DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THEM... PROBABLY WILL TAKE IT TO THE SHOP UNLESS I CAN FIGURE IT OUT WITH HELP FROM HERE

If you want to learn disassembling, cleaning and assembling your carbs the following guide from our GSR site will walk you through it. Also, this site represents several hundred if not thousands of years of cumulative experience you can tap into. If you're not familiar with the Search feature on this forum you might try it since many questions have been covered in detail. Good luck! http://www.thegsresources.com/gs_carbrebuild.htm