Musings (with a Carb Drip question)

maximusrising

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Hello my Friends,
Just wanted to mention how much I enjoy and value this forum
I think about many of you with your profile names and how much help I've gotten
I wish I could ADD more tech content - in due time I suppose
I wish I could post a new thread from my phone (can anyone?) Seems like I wish this forum had an app
I wish I could ride my motorcycle.
So I've had the carbs on and off several times, cleaning and cleaning, Sticky floats I guess because the carbs were dripping ...
The airboxes are a pretty big PITA so I try it out in the shop with them off. I thought I was good this time, ran nice, idled nice (1,000) , ran it for 10-15 minutes several times over two days. Last time, here we go again. After it was shutoff it started to drip. From the holes circled in the photo. Is this telling me what's wrong? Floats AGAIN?
Thanks as always-
John
 

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Well, it has to be related to the floats. For fuel to come out of the ports you've indicated, the level in the bowl would have to rise quite high. The float needle and seat assembly is what turns the fuel flow on and off. When the fuel level rises, the float pushes the float needle into the float needle seat and that shuts off the fuel flow. If the floats are adjusted too high then the fuel level will get too high before the float shuts the flow off. But that should happen all the time, not only after running it 2 or 3 times. So, it's possible some dirt has lodged in the float needle seat and isn't allowing the float needle to close properly. If you haven't done so during your carb cleanings, you should remove the float needle seat. There is a little filter screen on the bottom of it and a small area below it in the carb body that could be all full of gunk. If it is, some of that could be getting through and contaminating the needle seat.

The float needle seat is a push-in fit into the carb body, held in place by a little clip and screw. There is an o-ring around the outside of the seat that seals it into the body. If that has gone bad, fuel can leak past the outside of the seat instead of just coming through it like it should. Even if the float needle is seating correctly, the bowls would still over-fill. But again, if this was the issue, it should be happening all the time.

Last thing to check would be the floats themselves. Are they the originals? There are aftermarket replacements and some are crap. The original will have a sleeve pressed into the pivot so the pivot pin is a nice slip fit. Many of the aftermarket ones don't have this sleeve. They fit very loosely on the pivot pin. This allows them to jiggle around and sometimes stick of hang up. Their operation is very erratic, sometimes they work fine but other times, randomly, they'll stick and the carbs will belch fuel. My buddy had this issue with his aftermarket floats. The "fix" was to buy original O.E.M. floats. Now his carbs are fine, no random leaking anymore.
 
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