bs34 floats...?

[madjap]

Anybody ever have a plastic float fail?

 

[Bob Kelly III]

Yes some are a foam like stuff and that can get permeated with gasoline and become heavy they usually have a coating on them to keep them sealed but sometimes that fails and they soak up the gas like a spunge..... and sink !
to be honest I don't know if the XS650 plastic floats are this type or if their Plastic hollow structures ( these can spring leaks as well )
......
I've not had one fail on my XS650 though ! but I know they can
if you take the floats off and have them one in each hand if one is bad it will feel heavier than the other.
However ....More than likely it's the O ring in the float needle seat.... the float needle seat does come out on these things and there is
an O-Ring that seals it up the O-rings develope cracks and allow fuel to slip by the needle valve housing... rendering your float system useless
.... so if you have a fuel leaking problem from a carb that is a very likely source !
......
Bob...........

 

[angus67]

The suzuki intruder and maraudrs though 80's 90' had hollow plasic fliats. The foam floats in the later xs650 are foam.

 

[Bob Kelly III]

ahhh thanks Angus !
....
Bob.......

 

[madjap]

Thanks guys. I ordered two new ones tonite online. I just replaced those O-rings on my needle seat assy, that didn't help, replaced THE needle and seat assy (with yet another new o-ring) THAT didn't help and I've adjusted from 23mm to 28mm float height and THAT failed. Each. Time. YUCK!

 

[Bob Kelly III]

Yah I had to play with my float height as well supposed to be 24mm on mine if memory serves me correctly .... but it was a tad High
I finally hooked a piece of vinyl hose to the bowl drain and opened the drain screw and held the hose up along side the float to see with my EYE where the level was ..... it was right at the bottom of the carb body and top edge of the float bowl ! .....
I checked the other side and it was off a bit so I adjusted it to match the other side now they both are identical and the beast runs fantastically ! ..... that is one place that can be off quite a bit by using stock settings I found ! there was a tad more than 1/4" difference between them and they were both set at 24MM..... evidently the needle seats are purty crummy on the one carb ! LOL
....that hose trick helps identify goofie float levels fast ! it doesn't do a thing for leaky carbs though ! the float level is supposed to be very critical on these carbs so Make darn sure you have the right settings for your carb .... I went through the tech section skim reading and got 3 different float levels ! but they are for different year bikes !!!!!!
5Twins set me straight on the float level as I was using the wrong one ! ( par for the course for me !) LOL
but finally got it right and havn't had the carbs off sense !
......
Bob........

 

[madjap]

Yah I had to play with my float height as well supposed to be 24mm on mine if memory serves me correctly .... but it was a tad High
I finally hooked a piece of vinyl hose to the bowl drain and opened the drain screw and held the hose up along side the float to see with my EYE where the level was ..... it was right at the bottom of the carb body and top edge of the float bowl ! .....
I checked the other side and it was off a bit so I adjusted it to match the other side now they both are identical and the beast runs fantastically ! ..... that is one place that can be off quite a bit by using stock settings I found ! there was a tad more than 1/4" difference between them and they were both set at 24MM..... evidently the needle seats are purty crummy on the one carb ! LOL
....that hose trick helps identify goofie float levels fast ! it doesn't do a thing for leaky carbs though ! the float level is supposed to be very critical on these carbs so Make darn sure you have the right settings for your carb .... I went through the tech section skim reading and got 3 different float levels ! but they are for different year bikes !!!!!!
5Twins set me straight on the float level as I was using the wrong one ! ( par for the course for me !) LOL
but finally got it right and havn't had the carbs off sense !
......
Bob........

GRATZI Bob! I have the bowls that DO have a brass drain plug in them, I suppose I could cobble a nipple onto one of those and try that. Need to do something because my garage reeking of dumped gas and my sweat is getting ollllllld... These carbs are 81's (I think) with 80 bowls (?) or not...(?). I don't know, the info I keep reading doesn't always 'match' to what I'm working with but it really helps. Thanks for the info!

 

[Hyde]

As part of my own BS34 issues in another thread I ended up ordering a buncha carb part including the float needle/seats from Mike's. The ones I got, in my opinion have horrible o-rings on them. They don't fill the gap on the brass assembly the needle sits in. When you put them the slot, they feel loose and have too much wiggle in all directions. Yeah you lock them down with the Y plate, just don't feel as though they'd give a good seal. Also cross comparing the ones from Mike's to the ones Oldskool put in, the needle tips are not sharp and pointed. The rubber looks dull and the tip slightly rounded over. That could lead to potential problems in the tip seating properly now or down the road. IMHO don't go through Mike's for these - Waste of money. Maybe someone else can give a source for these, I'm not personally aware of another.

 

[xjwmx]

Replacement plastic floats from Mike's were (still are?) missing a sleeve, which causes them to wobble and not measure well. This is going to be a classic case of where you need to not throw away your old parts... Also -- I had the rubber tip of a Mike's needle swell up and get stuck in the seat -- that was a bad time...came close to causing a broken leg indirectly...

 

[madjap]

I got my parts thru ebay and they were 'Made in Japan' K&L brand? Don't know if that's what Mikes sells or not... I'm gonna 'test' the O-rings on the bike and see if I'm getting leak by. They seemed to fit OK, but not SUPER tight. Gotta check em I guess...

 

[gggGary]

Carb parts, genuine or you'll be walking................ Well not always, but there sure are some crappy parts out there. No end of short cuts possible when a chinese knock off maker puts his mind to cheapening something.

 

[gggGary]

Always gotta ask; all new fuel lines, right?

 

[xjwmx]

They seemed to fit OK, but not SUPER tight. Gotta check em I guess...

They don't need to be super tight to seal. Their lifetime seems to go like 1. just snug. 2. become so tight can't remove seat w/o damage. 3. become so loose they just fall out.

 

[madjap]

Always gotta ask; all new fuel lines, right?

Yes gggG. New lines, new fuel T, filter. Someone at some point 'shaved' these floats it looks like for a fitment issue? That wouldn't cause them to saturate would it? Foam floats, sorry.

 

[Bob Kelly III]

yes it would.... that's your problem I bet !
shaving would remove the sealing coating on the foam and allow the foam to soak up the gas and become non buoyant...
.... on the BS34CV carbs there is a nipple already on the float bowl sticking down so you can just attach a 3/16" vinyl hose to it and run it up along side the carb to check float height..... easy peezy !
.....
Bob........

 

[xjwmx]

If somebody actually had to whittle on them to make them fit, the problem is they're the wrong floats.

 

[gggGary]

If somebody actually had to whittle on them to make them fit, the problem is they're the wrong floats.

seems like a good call xjwmx, AFAIK the foam floats should fit right in the brass float bowls, but I'll check and report.

 

[madjap]

Sounds plausible. Here's an update. I have once again gone thru the gamut of removing the floats and going thru NUMEROUS float height with no change. I have checked the needle SEAT o-ring ass'y, it does not leak by. The TINEST pressure on the needles shuts the fuel flow off. Here's what's troubling. These are the SAME FLOATS I ran it with during mock up and after an initial float setting, they worked fine. WORKED fine. Rode with many times. No trouble. Anyway, I pulled the floats and did the dip test in water. No bubbles. floated fine. Couldn't weigh them tho. My scale isn't small enuff. I will try to get a pic of the floats I just bought and see if you guys say, EEGADS! NOOOOOOOO! Wrong shape. They are identical in size and shape to the current ones from the measurements provided on ebay.

 

[Bob Kelly III]

without having the stock OEM floats to compare to it's kind'a hard to make a judgment on them....
However if they worked once , Float fine then there is something else going on.... What exactly is the problem now ? still getting overflow from the carbs or what ?
...... Also...if their not OEM floats then you can throw out the OEM settings for float height ... concentrate on one carb and get the fuel level up to the top of the bowls with the float setting by adjusting the tang.... then do the other side.
.... it sounds like the floats may be rubbing on the float bowl and jambing up ...if you can shake the carbs and not hear the floats slap back and forth their rubbing and will not work correctly...
Bob.......

 

[madjap]

without having the stock OEM floats to compare to it's kind'a hard to make a judgment on them....
However if they worked once , Float fine then there is something else going on.... What exactly is the problem now ? still getting overflow from the carbs or what ?
...... Also...if their not OEM floats then you can throw out the OEM settings for float height ... concentrate on one carb and get the fuel level up to the top of the bowls with the float setting by adjusting the tang.... then do the other side.
.... it sounds like the floats may be rubbing on the float bowl and jambing up ...if you can shake the carbs and not hear the floats slap back and forth their rubbing and will not work correctly...
Bob.......

When I turn on the petcock, once the bowls fill, they don't stop and gas starts pouring out the backs of each carb. Done the shaking thing, SOUNDS like they are jumping around in there. I am STUMPED. I'll wait and try these new floats once they get here and see if I can make it work. Something is not right. But I'll be damned if I can figure it out. I had these off, mounted on a board in a vise for level, set everything to the T. It's a good thing I take anti-FURY pills nowdays. These motherfuggers would have been unrecognizable by now - had this been 10 years ago. I'm just stumped. I have literally pulled these carbs 10 or 11 times and now have dropped the bowls and floats on the bike another 15 or so...