Need help - ideas on fuel out of carb

[liv2day]

Had something really odd happen this weekend and I'm not really sure what it could be. Fired my bike up, rode around for a short bit slowly (and I mean slowly) following my 5 year old on his Oset.

Everything was fine for the first ~5 minutes and then she bogged and died. It almost felt like I fouled a plug, so I pulled it and tried a different plug. It wouldn't start again, couldn't even get it close to firing.

As I was trying to kick it, my wife noticed fuel pissing out of the overflow tube. So, I figured the floats were stuck. Pulled the carb and checked the floats and nothing seemed wrong. I didn't have anything to check the level, but it didn't look out of whack.

I couldn't get the bike started again the rest of the day (we were out camping). I did manage to snap the fuel line while twisting the carb though

After sitting over night, I decided to try starting it again the next day and she fired right up Rode it around for a while and everything seemed fine.

Brought it home for a quick bath and chain cleaning, fired it up and she started. However, I then noticed that every time I opened the throttle, fuel would piss out of the over flow tube.

Newb question, but do floats go bad? Could it be that little nubbin thing that's attached - could that be bad? Am I completely off on the wrong tangent?

Any ideas greatly appreciated. I'm pretty sure it was leaking fuel the entire time I was riding around camp as there's no way it could have consumed the amount of fuel that's gone from the tank

[Jakobi]

Pull the actual needle valve out and check the Viton tip to ensure it hasn't deteriorated or got any crud stuck to it.

It's the small part that the tang of the floats sit against. Also double check the float height when in there.

[Buysomerice]

Check the piece the needle valve seats into also. I have had corrosion in the seat cause overflow.

[Rick]

Originally Posted by Jakobi

Pull the actual needle valve out and check the Viton tip to ensure it hasn't deteriorated or got any crud stuck to it.

It's the small part that the tang of the floats sit against. Also double check the float height when in there.

^^^^^^^^^^ this is where I'd start.^^^^^^^^^^^

[liv2day]

Originally Posted by Jakobi

Pull the actual needle valve out and check the Viton tip to ensure it hasn't deteriorated or got any crud stuck to it.

It's the small part that the tang of the floats sit against. Also double check the float height when in there.

Thanks for the input fellas

Just to verify, we're talking about the small piece that's "attached" to the floats - the thing circled in the picture below?



I checked it and didn't see anything that looked bad, though I wasn't really sure what to look for.

[liv2day]

Looking through a few more things and found this image; would it be a good idea to order both of these parts? Maybe the o-ring has gone bad (assuming our carb has one of these that fits into the orifice where the valve fits into?).

Nothing like learning on the fly...lol.

[phoenix]

I had something similar to this happen and it turned out there was an enormous piece of garbage in the float bowl. It would get sucked up and the bike would stall and then after sitting a while would settle and I could restart it just to fail again a few hundred feet down the trail. But, I imagine you would have seen something like that by now.

[Jakobi]

That's the part. I'd just visually inspect the seat, replace the needle (part in your pic). Also, as above it can be something that is blocking/holding it open and then floating around in the carb again once free'd.

If you take the carb out of the bike to do all this, use some carb cleaner and air compressor and blow all the circuits out as well.

You may also wish to bench test it. Rig it up so its connected to a fuel source with the floats in place, but bowl off. You should be able to hold the floats up (engage the needle valve) and see that no fuel is leaking. Then lower the floats and the fuel should flow. Try repeating a few times and it could give you some insight into what is happening.

[liv2day]

Originally Posted by Jakobi

That's the part. I'd just visually inspect the seat, replace the needle (part in your pic). Also, as above it can be something that is blocking/holding it open and then floating around in the carb again once free'd.

If you take the carb out of the bike to do all this, use some carb cleaner and air compressor and blow all the circuits out as well.

You may also wish to bench test it. Rig it up so its connected to a fuel source with the floats in place, but bowl off. You should be able to hold the floats up (engage the needle valve) and see that no fuel is leaking. Then lower the floats and the fuel should flow. Try repeating a few times and it could give you some insight into what is happening.

Awesome, thanks Jake!

I'm going to get the needle ordered to have on hand and hope to pull the carb this weekend. I didn't pull the whole carb out of the bike at camp, but did take the bowl off and checked for anything in there - was clean. I'm hoping to do the same again this weekend, but might pull the entire thing out - probably overdo for something like that anyway.

[firffighter]

Brad,

Our '99 EC200 did that last summer out of the blue. It also fouled a few plugs. We'd been riding all Spring so bike hadn't been sitting for long period of time which would have been my first thought.

I pulled the carb, cleaned all the passages thoroughly and blew air through them all. Also cleaned up the vent line ends and cut them at a 45 degree angle so less likely to clog. Didn't find any one thing that caused it to happen, but after the cleaning, bike ran perfect again. More than likely just a piece of crud in there.