Too much oil???

[morrigan]

I drained the sump on my GSX250 last week, and got close to FOUR!!! litres out of it. No wonder I had some pressure leaks in the gaskets!
Only one person has serviced it for me - who knows exactly what he's doing - and although i've kept an eye on the oil levels, I've never topped it up. Now, I know there should only be two litres in it.
It was suugested that maybe fuel has leaked into the engine from the carbs, but the oil didn't look thin, nor did it smell different. Has anyone ever come across this?

[Gravity Tester]

Sure sounds like Gas leaking down to me , Is your petcock in the prime position? if so turn it to the on position. either that or you have some one adding oil to it in the middle of the night. mark the cap with a wax pencil or a pice of tape. Maby some one in the Tech fourm has a better reply. Welcome the the GSR.

Pat

[morrigan]

Petrol cock is in the on position. Had a whiff of the bottle that I put the oil into, and now it does smell like fuel!
Now the question is: what to do about it?

[Nessism]

Petcock failure can keep the fuel from turning off when the engine is shut off - which puts the carb float needles under constant pressure. The needles "should" be able to hold back the fuel but when they get old...they don't always manage to do the job.

Another type of petcock failure has fuel flowing backwards down the vacuum line and into the engine.

In either case it's best to replace the petcock instead of rebuild since the metal body wears and your chance of the rebuild working is only about 50-50.

Check the petcock by removing both the vacuum line and fuel line. If gas flows out of the fuel line when the petcock is in either the Res or On position, the petcock is bad. Next get a section of clear tubing that matches the diameter of the vacuum line. Draw a vacuum on the clear tubing (which will start the fuel flowing) and make sure gas is not going down that line.

It the petcock checks out fine the problem could be the float needles being fouled with foreign material allowing the float bowls to overfill. This is very common, offen the result of rust in the gas tank. Rust can be cleaned out and the tank sealed with various materials so do a search if you get to this point.

Good luck.

[morrigan]

I think the fuel tap's ok. I took the tank off before I drained the engine anyway and there didn't appear to be any leaks, but I've drained the tank now too, so I don't know if it has a slow leak. Would it be diificult to get a new fuel tap for a 1981 model?
Is it possible that it's coming through the carbs while it's running?

[PAULYBOY]

I think the fuel tap's ok. I took the tank off before I drained the engine anyway and there didn't appear to be any leaks, but I've drained the tank now too, so I don't know if it has a slow leak. Would it be diificult to get a new fuel tap for a 1981 model?
Is it possible that it's coming through the carbs while it's running?

I bought a rebuild kit for my petcock, and tried to rebuild it. When I remounted it in the tank, I turned it to the middle position and it just poured gas out. It was coming through both the vacuum and fuel lines. That explained why, when I drained my oil before then, I got about 5 quarts, and it smelled enough like gas so when I took a 1/2 cup and poured it into an empty tin, it flamed up from a cig lighter like it was more gas than oil. Save yourself some trouble, take the advice offered by many here, and just buy a new petcock and be done with it.

[bwringer]

Save yourself some trouble, take the advice offered by many here, and just buy a new petcock and be done with it.

Yes, please. Order up a new petcock from your favorite source for Suzuki parts and ride happy for the next 20 years. Should be only about $40 - $50.

The petcock controls the flow of a highly flammable substance 6 inches from your crotch. Please don't cheap out here.