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    Overflowing carburettors- sticking float needle

    I am not a carburettor expert and there are many more reasons why carburettors overflow at times, but others are welcome to add their knowledge to this thread.

    There are many threads on this forum on leaking carburettors especially after they have been cleaned. These leaks usually are due to leaking float needle and seats (which showed no noticeable tip wear at the time), plus a faulty petcock or an after market (non vacuum) petcock.

    Disturbed rust or debris are blamed, petcocks are suspect and some are 'cured' by replacing the petcock with a new one and the underlaying fault may still be there. In many cases the needle and seats although not showing any wear are also replaced and miraculously the problem is cured! But read on...

    Some of these problems are unknowingly caused by the person cleaning or rebuilding the carburettors. After 30 years the brass seat with a the little filter on the top also needs to be removed for cleaning and replacing the o-ring around it.

    The method advised and used is to grip the brass seat with a pliers and just pull it out. Some can be stuck and need quite a bit of force, the pliers then distorts the rear end of the brass seat and the inner clearance that allows free up and down movement of the needle is compromised. Due to the needle being triangular it may not be noticeable in some positions and in others it may stick closed or open, causing the float bowl to overflow or to run dry.

    A special tool is needed to remove these or a new drill bit (chuck side, no burrs) that fits snugly in the opening to limit such distortion and some overnight penetrating oil beforehand can be used. Penetration oils will not seep past the o-ring and loosen it!

    In the case of actually damaging the seats, it would only be the rear (open end) and some carefull hand reaming with 1200 sandpaper wrapped around a hex key can easily correct this. Testing can be done by using the above mentioned drill bit.

    Otherwise budget to replace all four of them to be safe!

    Hope this helps some out there.

    #2
    Whacken em with a hammer usually does the job, so I've heard.

    Wont catch me beating on my carbs though.
    sigpic

    82 GS850
    78 GS1000
    04 HD Fatboy

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      #3
      Are there any good after market petcocks out there? Because 100 dollars seems kinda steep for an OEM. I have a 77 GS750. And my pistons have flooded with gas twice now. Thank god my rings are tight or i wouldn't have known my crankcase was filled with gas. I just pulled the plugs and turned it over and it emptied the pistons right out. Bike runs fine, it only dumps gas on the ground, or into my combustion chamber when its not running.

      I'm ready to try the petcock change because the new bowl floats need and seats only temporarily stopped my problems. If you have any links to places besides ebay or bike bandit let me know.

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        #4
        You turned the whole bike over?

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          #5
          Originally posted by Phred View Post
          You turned the whole bike over?
          Unless he's really strong, he probably meant that he cranked it over!

          L3NZ3R; remove your petcock and measure centerline spacing of mounting bolts. a pic of petcock might help (things get changed over the years)
          By the way, cranking it ,doesn't remove gas that found its way thru cylinders into crankcase. Your oil is diluted
          1981 gs650L

          "We are all born ignorant, but you have to work hard to stay stupid" Ben Franklin

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            #6
            From the opinions I've gotten here over the past few months, the OEM is the way to go. K&L makes petcocks, but I've heard they leak and stuff sometimes. When I made my decision, I decided to fork out the money for an OEM petcock. The site I get parts from, G&S Suzuki, wanted $75. I found it on Cycle-ReCycle for $50. So shop around!

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              #7
              Pingel makes a great petcock that actually has an 'off' which I prefer. It's a little over $100 with the mounting plate though.

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