Question....Fuel on the floor.

Just rebuilt my carbs during my refurb. I started my R80Rt for the first time. I shut it down and walked away from it for about 30 minutes. Left the choke and petcocks on and came back to a puddle of fuel on the floor. Is this normal?

Thanks!

HH

no, none of it is normal.
not leaving the choke on, not leaving the petcocks on, not walking away from the bike without riding it after starting it, and not having a puddle of gas on the floor.

rebuilding carbs is somewhat normal, tho not especially frequent.

bikerfish1100 said:

no, none of it is normal.
not leaving the choke on, not leaving the petcocks on, not walking away from the bike without riding it after starting it, and not having a puddle of gas on the floor.

rebuilding carbs is somewhat normal, tho not especially frequent.

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Any idea what I should look for on the carburetor side? Bowl area? Obviously, I should not have left the petcocks and choke on...but sometimes yah gotta go!

Normalcy?

It is if your float valves are not seating properly.

Helmut_Head said:

Just rebuilt my carbs during my refurb. I started my R80Rt for the first time. I shut it down and walked away from it for about 30 minutes. Left the choke and petcocks on and came back to a puddle of fuel on the floor. Is this normal?

Thanks!

HH

Click to expand...

Sometimes the float needles don't shut off in these bikes, and the overflow comes out of a little brass pipe that you can see the bottom of at the bottom of the float bowl as you look under the carbs.
Since you just rebuilt your carbs (me too..), is your float level off? Are all the parts from the choke assembly back in their right positions? Turn that gas back on and see where the gas is coming from...

Put rags under the carb, turn off the fuel and drop the bowl. Then hold the float up so the needle seats, and turn the gas on, and see if it's leaking. You might be able to spray carb cleaner up in there and clean it out if it's gunked up, or you might have to bend the tang on the float to get it at the right level. Check out my rebuilt flat top thread and it shows you some pictures of how I measured the fuel level.


Hey, try having a fuel line slip off after leaving and 4 gallons of fuel evaporate overnight while a fan is going in the garage...I dodged a very big bullet last month when my bike emptied it's tank on the floor while I was in the house. I'm sure what happened is that I didn't seat the right line correctly on the carb inlet and it wiggled and popped off, probably right after I turned the bike off when I finished troubleshooting. And I STILL forget to turn those petcocks off periodically. I am still amazed I didn't lose my entire garage from one little spark from that fan...WHHOOMPH!
And they say skydiving is dangerous...

I put on the cool looking grey fuel line from Ted Porter's website, and I would highly suggest hose clamps if you go that direction. The regular black fuel line works just fine without clamps.
Good luck!

Some times you just have to give the bowls a little thump with a piece of wood to settle things down and show those little needles who's boss.

norton said:

Some times you just have to give the bowls a little thump with a piece of wood to settle things down and show those little needles who's boss.

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Norton....I think you've got it! Pulled the bowl and checked the float needle. It was working fine. Turned on the choke and nothing dripped. I guess the needle just didn't seat but began to after I tapped on it with my uber mallet.

Thanks to all! Not long before I'm ridin'.


HH

float valves

Some times a little bit of debris gets past the filters and lodges on the valve seat. I found tank lining on mine after dumping gas all over my boot while siting idling at a traffic light.

norton said:

Some times you just have to give the bowls a little thump with a piece of wood to settle things down and show those little needles who's boss.

Click to expand...

Because my floats are not attached to the "Y" the often stick. Yes, a gentle tap cures everything.

Wayne

Helmut_Head said:

Norton....I think you've got it! Pulled the bowl and checked the float needle. It was working fine. Turned on the choke and nothing dripped. I guess the needle just didn't seat but began to after I tapped on it with my uber mallet.

Thanks to all! Not long before I'm ridin'.


HH

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The choke has absolutely no connection to fuel delivery from the tank to the carb, or whether or not the carb pukes on the floor.

The carb will puke on the floor if and only if the fuel level in the bowl is too high. If it is too high it could puke out the overflow, past a faulty gasket, or in the extreme case it can flow fuel not only on the floor but into the cylinder too. Then you have a hydrostatic lock maybe, and if the other cylinder fires it bends a rod.

So other than the obvious, turn off the petcock, the causes are a needle that seeps, a float level set too high, or a float that has absorbed fuel and become heavy and sinks.

Original floats are coated with a varnish that dissolves in alcohol so ethanol in the fuel can fairly quickly ruin a float.

So, go from there.