Fuel leak from carbs?

[MR_LONG]

I have just put my bike on the road on friday and been out both saturday and sunday for long rides. So today I got about 5 minutes from home and smelt petrol on the right side of the bike.
I've got home and pulled the tank off and found when its running theres petrol pouring out of the overflow on the right carb.

Has this happened to anyone else and is it a cheap fix? Please help as I cant ride it while its a potential fire hazard.

[deviant]

it happened to me on my GS400 just before I was going to take it for an MOT. I assumed it was a sticking float.

I...erm...cable tied the end of the overflow pipe...got it through the MOT...was planning a carb rebuild anyway.

Never quite got round to it somehow, it's still on there. I'm not using the bike at the mo but I did use it for a couple of months like that.

However I absolutely do not recommend the above course of action.

[MR_LONG]

Just an update for those who have the same problem in the future.

The problem was an O-ring seal for the float valve seat. The original seals had perished and were letting fuel past.

[Roo]

I have this same problem only from the left.

I've had my poor bike stuck at the back of the garage behind a load of stuff since i moved house 2yrs ago.

I decided yesturday (probably because of the weather) that it was time to dig her out and give the girl a good service.

I started her up then I noticed fuel pissin out from the left, after i had removed the tank to take a proper look i found it was from what looks like an overflow for the carbs.

Is there a quick fix (without a cable tie )?

Or do I have to start stripping the carbs and spending hard earned cash?

[RedexRobB]

Its more than likey gummed up carbs, take em off and clean with some carb cleaner and stick some redex in the fuel. Should sort it

[Roo]

Thanks Rob.

I did think it might have been that but not being a mechanic thought i'd look on here to see if anything else could have caused it first.
I'm guessing your a fan of Redex

Thanks again and i'll post and let everyone know.

[RedexRobB]

Nothing better than a shot of redex in the petrol mate, i swear by it!

[cmforse]

We've just sorted this on my son's bike - the pipe between the carbs is the overflow from the float chambers, so the float is not shutting the fuel off. Check the condition of the float needle (no grooves or damage) and the O-rings around the float jet. In our case it was the O-rings........Replace the O-rings and give it all a good clean and blow out with compressed air.


Charles

[Roo]

Thanks everyone shes running fine and nearly good to go for an MOT.

I had to take the carbs off and give them a good clean as Rob suggested.

I found that the main jets were all blocked which a good squirt of carb cleaner and a bit of phone wire sorted.

And the needles at the top of the carb which summit slides up and down on (sorry i don't know the correct name for them) were all covered in nasty golden residue, so cleaned them up.

I don't know much about carbs but with the help of the manual that I found on this site I managed to strip, clean and put them back together one by one.

I also treated her to a brake fluid change, oil and filter change, new plugs and new coolant after a flush.

I then (after charging the battery) Got her going again and with a few high revs and back fires she started to settle down and run nicely.

She still won't tick over below 2000 yet but I think it's something a shot of redex and a good runout will sort.

Thanks again everyone for your help.