Carby fuel pouring out of the carb

[levsmith]

hey i almost got the chopper up and running but i put in a new fuel filter and shut off valve and when i put some gas in the tank, ready to ride, i turned the shut off valve to open it up and then the gas just started coming out of the air filter part of the carb as fast as it was coming out of the tank. i dont have a clue what could be wrong and my friend(the one that gave the bike to me when he went to the army) is coming home tommorow so i need to get it going asap. if anyone could help that would be awesome. thanks

 

[Mountainman]

seems like your float may be stuck

should be easy to take apart and check
also good practice while at home
because -- never know when you may have to do it while out on the road

get that THING up and ride that MB THING

 

[srdavo]

yup...check the float & needle valve

here's a pic
http://www.motoredbikes.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=13174&d=1228427747

here's a link
http://www.motoredbikes.com/showthread.php?p=174120#post174120

 

[levsmith]

ok thanks for the replies. i just got time today to go look at it. i took the carb apart and sprayed it out with carb cleaner and put it back together. then i tried putting some more gas in and turned the fuel valve on and it was still leaking out of the air filter. so i took the air filter off and opened up the valve again and found out where the gas was coming from. i have attached a picture with an arrow pointing to the hole that the gas is coming out of. i have no clue what the problem is again so if anyone can help, i would really appreciate it. thanks.

 

[srdavo]

yup...check the float & needle valve

here's a pic
http://www.motoredbikes.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=13174&d=1228427747

here's a link
http://www.motoredbikes.com/showthread.php?p=174120#post174120

it's gotta be the float or the needle valve.... the gas That is leaking is overflow from the bowl, because the float or needle is not shutting off the flow of fuel, when the bowl is full.

Make sure your float (the white plastic donut) does NOT have fuel inside of it.


more pics

thanks to Tom in WV for the following quote:

Think of it as a tiny toilet bowl . when you flush (open the throttle) the float allows more water (fuel) in to replace whats been used. The purpose of the float mechanism is to keep the toilet from overflow (flooding)It only lets in whats needed as its used up. The toilet is remarkably similar to the carb except that the carb is variable speed and the toilet is all at once. This could be under the heading of "strange but true"

 

[Saabsonettguy]

Check the needle and seat for wear, the surfaces should be smooth and not eroded looking. If the needle or seat uses a rubber seal make sure that its still in place and not worn or damaged. Make sure that the whole float assembly can move up and down freely without sticking. One other issue is that sometimes a float will spring a leak and gas gets inside. To test you can sit it in a small dish of gas overnight (somewhere it won't get knocked over and where nothing can get into it) and see if it remains buoyant.

 

[hill climber]

never had this happen but "it could". check to see that the tickler button is not stuck down.

 

[ZnsaneRyder]

Sometimes the float can come completely loose. There's a small steel pin (in srdavo's picture) that makes a hinge for the float to move up and down on, and that pin can come out.

It happened to me, a while back I crashed and flipped over doing over 30 mph, and when I went to start the engine, the whole intake manifold filled full of gas, and fuel was spilling all over the road!!! When I got the engine home, it would keep flooding the intake and only run at high throttle and was hard to start. I fixed this by removing the bowl off the carburetor, and the float and the pin fell out and, I put it back in and all together, then it ran just fine.

It's easy to remove a carb bowl. It's good to do anyway to clean it out once in a while. It's not complex like an automobile carb, so it should be easy to get into the float and make sure it's moving properly.

 

[stv1jzgte]

Old thread i know.
Ive had fuel pouring from the carb also, just fixed it! the float needle was stuck...up?

 

[Irish John]

Old thread i know.
Ive had fuel pouring from the carb also, just fixed it! the float needle was stuck...up?

Well done. You fixed it. I was going to say that polishing the needle with silver or brass polish usually cleans it up so it doesn't stick. Any very fine abrasive metal polish will do but "Silvo" & "Brasso" are the ones most often used. Did you get it fixed in time or did your Army friend have to shoot you?