72 R60/5 Leaking Fuel from carbs when parked

hubigpie · Sep 27, 2020

Hey everyone, hope y'all are enjoying this lovely riding weather.

Yesterday I did the DGR in downtown Baton Rouge. It was the first time I really ran my bike since I bought it. It was a great day and over the course of the ride, I stopped and used the kickstand instead of the center stand. Normally the bike stays at my shop because I don't have a garage or cover. I always put it on the center stand at the shop.

Well after this is all over, I go to a friends apartment (about 4 hrs), we watch LSU lose, and I come out to a sheen of gas around my bike. Gas leaking the carbs. Ride the bike home put it on the kickstand again, and run the carbs out of gas.

Wake up and gas around the bike, carbs leaking.

Bike is at the shop again on the center stand and there are no leaks but it has only been 20 minutes.

So I guess the questions are:

1) Petcock needs replacing? If so, do they both normally go out at the same time?

2) Is there a seal? If so, what are the odds of them crapping out at the same time?

3) Is it the kickstand's fault?

Thanks,

Chris

83014 · Sep 27, 2020

It sounds like a sticking float to me. Next time that you see it leaking, give your carb a gentle thwack (technical term) and see if it stops. This seems to happen to bikes that have sat for a while.

Doug

hubigpie · Sep 27, 2020

83014 said:
It sounds like a sticking float to me. Next time that you see it leaking, give your carb a gentle thwack (technical term) and see if it stops. This seems to happen to bikes that have sat for a while.

Doug

Yeah, I can't ride it too much because it lives across town at my shop and unfortunately I don't have anywhere safe to keep it at home.

Are the petcocks just for show kind of or should they stop the flow of fuel to the carbs?

Thanks

20774 · Sep 27, 2020

I didn't see where you mention shutting off the petcocks when the bike is parked...that's always a good thing to do...there's the possibility of getting fuel to leak into the combustion chamber and can result in a bent rod with hydrolock on the next start. Likely the sticking petcock...especially if it only does it while on the side stand and not the center stand.

Certainly, rebuild the petcocks. Should be Karcomas and they're pretty simple to over haul. I'm sure we can find some images/steps out there somewhere. Like this:

http://bienvenueauflatistan.motards.net/t9520-tutoriel-refection-des-robinets-d-essence-karcoma - might want to use the translate to English button

Brook has it cover, too:

https://brook.reams.me/bmw-motorcyc...ld-project/bmw-r75-5-bing-carburetor-rebuild/

hubigpie · Sep 27, 2020

20774 said:
I didn't see where you mention shutting off the petcocks when the bike is parked...that's always a good thing to do...there's the possibility of getting fuel to leak into the combustion chamber and can result in a bent rod with hydrolock on the next start. Likely the sticking petcock...especially if it only does it while on the side stand and not the center stand.

Certainly, rebuild the petcocks. Should be Karcomas and they're pretty simple to over haul. I'm sure we can find some images/steps out there somewhere. Like this:

http://bienvenueauflatistan.motards.net/t9520-tutoriel-refection-des-robinets-d-essence-karcoma - might want to use the translate to English button

Brook has it cover, too:

https://brook.reams.me/bmw-motorcyc...ld-project/bmw-r75-5-bing-carburetor-rebuild/

My fault on that. I tend to think I've written (typed) everything out but usually it stays in my head.

Thanks for the good info. I will order the rebuild kit manana.

dennisdarrow · Sep 27, 2020

OOOOOOPS, i DIDNT SEE THAT YOU HAVE A 60/5 AND THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURES ARE FOR A 75 AND HIGHER BIKE......mainly it is the measurement in the bowl situation that is faulty information; but the rest is pretty much there. Take the top off of the bowl rather than removing the bowl and the float measurement is wrong.............SORRY.........

Guess I should re-write; but most of the information that is there is real and true.........Again, Sorry..Dennis

Several things that "could be":

First of all........ALWAYS TURN OFF THE PETCOCK(S) WHEN YOU PARK....Usually folks learn to run with one petcock turned on. The crossover tube that goes from one side to the other under the transmission allows plenty of fuel to get to the other carb when only one is turned on. By turning only one on takes care of the multitude of problems that can cause fuel overflow. Do some research on now having 2 reserves and the strategies involved.

2. A lot of gas overflows are caused by a piece of crud in the needle jet and it keeps flowing because the float is held open. Take the bowl off, give the float a "jiggle" and often this will free the debris. This mostly happens when you get gas it a newly filled gas station tank or stopping at a seldom used station that has lots of crud in their tanks.......See if you have "red specks" floating in the bowl.....most often this is the liner from the tank and the tank needs cleaning.

3. Your floats are soaking up fuel (ethanol deterioration) and riding lower in the bowl thus causing them to overflow. New floats or putting in spare floats while the old ones "dry out". This isnt a myth. The styrofoam is eaten by ethanol and soaks up the fuel.......

If you are getting fuel on your boots as you ride, or you notice it on the ground when you use the sidestand, more than likely it is the left cylinder as this sits lower when on the sidestand.........

Pull off a bowl, the left, and check the fuel level in the bowl......from the little circle in the bottom, I like 27mm of fuel. Easy to bend the tang on the float to adjust the level......Be careful when you pull the pin on the floats to remove them. One end is serrated and the other end is not......Take the pin out in the direction of the little grooves as you can easily break off the leg of the float.

Good luck.........Dennis

Oh yes, did we talk about leaking cloth gas lines???

stevenrankin · Sep 27, 2020

Yep your covered

Dennis covers the whole game regarding leakage when a bike is parked. Biggest thing to make a habit is to turn off the petcocks when parked, even for a short time.

Even with a well maintained bike, I have had a bit of crud block the needle and as such the float didn't shut off and fuel overflowed.

It is embarrassing to come out to my bike and find a puddle of high octane, under one cylinder all because I forgot to turn off the gas and something fouled up the float.

I run the bike most of the time on one petcock open to main tank, usually in my case the left side. When the bike starts to sputter with that petcock open to main tank, I then turn on the right side petcock to main tank and run that till it sputters then turn the left petcock to reserve. By the time the bike starts sputtering on the left side on reserve and the right on main, I am desperate to find a gas station. If I reach the point where both petcocks are on reserve, I am extremely annoyed. Yes, I have run out of gas more than a few times due to poor planning of my routes. LOL

The only other time I have gas under my bike is when on a hot day I fill the tank very full and the gas expands and overflows the tank if I fill the tank then park the bike. I learned to fill the tank, ride a bit before stopping to eat, or eating first then filling the tank. Little lessons learned the hard way. Cheers, St.

hubigpie · Sep 27, 2020

DennisDarrow said:
OOOOOOPS, i DIDNT SEE THAT YOU HAVE A 60/5 AND THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURES ARE FOR A 75 AND HIGHER BIKE......mainly it is the measurement in the bowl situation that is faulty information; but the rest is pretty much there. Take the top off of the bowl rather than removing the bowl and the float measurement is wrong.............SORRY.........

Guess I should re-write; but most of the information that is there is real and true.........Again, Sorry..Dennis

Several things that "could be":

First of all........ALWAYS TURN OFF THE PETCOCK(S) WHEN YOU PARK....Usually folks learn to run with one petcock turned on. The crossover tube that goes from one side to the other under the transmission allows plenty of fuel to get to the other carb when only one is turned on. By turning only one on takes care of the multitude of problems that can cause fuel overflow. Do some research on now having 2 reserves and the strategies involved.

2. A lot of gas overflows are caused by a piece of crud in the needle jet and it keeps flowing because the float is held open. Take the bowl off, give the float a "jiggle" and often this will free the debris. This mostly happens when you get gas it a newly filled gas station tank or stopping at a seldom used station that has lots of crud in their tanks.......See if you have "red specks" floating in the bowl.....most often this is the liner from the tank and the tank needs cleaning.

3. Your floats are soaking up fuel (ethanol deterioration) and riding lower in the bowl thus causing them to overflow. New floats or putting in spare floats while the old ones "dry out". This isnt a myth. The styrofoam is eaten by ethanol and soaks up the fuel.......

If you are getting fuel on your boots as you ride, or you notice it on the ground when you use the sidestand, more than likely it is the left cylinder as this sits lower when on the sidestand.........

Pull off a bowl, the left, and check the fuel level in the bowl......from the little circle in the bottom, I like 27mm of fuel. Easy to bend the tang on the float to adjust the level......Be careful when you pull the pin on the floats to remove them. One end is serrated and the other end is not......Take the pin out in the direction of the little grooves as you can easily break off the leg of the float.

Good luck.........Dennis

Oh yes, did we talk about leaking cloth gas lines???

Awesome advice, I hate messing with carbs but I think if I have to, I could look in to see if there is any debris in it. And I didn't know about just running with one petcock. I've always turned on both of them because I didn't know better.

If the bike has been using ethanol free gas, I shouldn't have to adjust the floats correct?

STEVENRANKIN said:
Dennis covers the whole game regarding leakage when a bike is parked. Biggest thing to make a habit is to turn off the petcocks when parked, even for a short time.

Even with a well maintained bike, I have had a bit of crud block the needle and as such the float didn't shut off and fuel overflowed.

It is embarrassing to come out to my bike and find a puddle of high octane, under one cylinder all because I forgot to turn off the gas and something fouled up the float.

I run the bike most of the time on one petcock open to main tank, usually in my case the left side. When the bike starts to sputter with that petcock open to main tank, I then turn on the right side petcock to main tank and run that till it sputters then turn the left petcock to reserve. By the time the bike starts sputtering on the left side on reserve and the right on main, I am desperate to find a gas station. If I reach the point where both petcocks are on reserve, I am extremely annoyed. Yes, I have run out of gas more than a few times due to poor planning of my routes. LOL

The only other time I have gas under my bike is when on a hot day I fill the tank very full and the gas expands and overflows the tank if I fill the tank then park the bike. I learned to fill the tank, ride a bit before stopping to eat, or eating first then filling the tank. Little lessons learned the hard way. Cheers, St.

Turns out I have been point the petcock switch the wrong way. I've been drawing from reserve thinking I am drawing from main.

It was weird, I made a bunch of stops downtown to talk to people (mask and distancing) to talk to them about the Distinguished Gentleman Ride and I would shut off the petcocks and use the kickstand (I'm replacing that deathtrap later). Never had an issue. Get to my friend's house and come out to that embarrassing pool of gas. It again over night. Both carbs where leaking.

Hopefully rebuilding the petcocks will fix the issue and I will start using the 2 reserve method.

Thanks to both of y'all

dennisdarrow · Sep 27, 2020

When you turn off the petcock and the leaking stops, then you probably do not have faults in the petcocks. On the other hand With a petcock on and you have leakage at the carbs, which carb?, then I bet anything you have a stuck float or a float/jet issue............

When you turn off a petcock, is there leakage? Where? The petcock wet? Fuel line wet? bottom of carb wet?

/the same questions apply when the petcock is on.............

hubigpie · Sep 27, 2020

DennisDarrow said:
When you turn off the petcock and the leaking stops, then you probably do not have faults in the petcocks. On the other hand With a petcock on and you have leakage at the carbs, which carb?, then I bet anything you have a stuck float or a float/jet issue............

When you turn off a petcock, is there leakage? Where? The petcock wet? Fuel line wet? bottom of carb wet?

/the same questions apply when the petcock is on.............

The petcocks are off when the leakage happens.

dennisdarrow · Sep 28, 2020

Good job of narrowing down what is leaking.........I wonder where you are seeing the fuel dripping? Under the carbs? The fuel lines?

You have a valve inside the carb called the needle valve. This allows fuel coming from the fuel line to flow into the carb bowl. This stops the fuel coming from the tank to not flood the engine by filling up the carb with fuel and flowing into the engine when it isnt needed...........

YOU SHOULD HAVE NO FLOW FROM THE CARB EVEN WHEN THE PETCOCK IS ON.

Either the needle valve is allowing fuel to flow because the valve there is faulty or the floats are to low in the bowl allowing the fuel to flow past the needle valve and there is where you are getting your leakage.............

Have you determined which carb is leaking?????????

Is it only happening when on the sidestand?????

If it was me, to decide whether or not it's the petcock and eliminate that is simple.......just take the fuel line off the carb, make sure the petcocks are closed, and see if fuel is getting to the carbs after the fuel in the line ends up in a container or does it continue to flow.............

Even if you are getting fuel through the closed petcock, YOU SHOULD NOT BE GETTING DRIPPPING FROM THE CARBS EVEN WHEN THE PETCOCKS ARE OPEN OR CLOSED..............

stevenrankin · Sep 28, 2020

The petcocks are off when the leakage happens.

Just to be sure, is the leak happening with the petcocks OFF? I ask this because this is your last thread. (oh joy communication in a forum, 10 posts, which in four minutes on the phone could be cleared up. LOL)

If you are getting fuel leaking with the petcocks closed, then you have one or both leaking by and will need rebuilt. I say one or both because there should be a cross over gas line between the two sides of the gas tank. This cross over is what allows you to run one petcock open at a time as I mentioned in my post. Think of the fuels lines in an H shape, With the tops of the H in the petcocks, and the bottoms on the carbs.

The only way to tell which one of the two (or both) petcocks are leaking is to pull the gas line off them and see if there is gas dripping or flowing despite being turned off.

If there is no gas flowing from them and they are off, I am really confused as to where it would come from. St.

hubigpie · Sep 28, 2020

DennisDarrow said:
Good job of narrowing down what is leaking.........I wonder where you are seeing the fuel dripping? Under the carbs? The fuel lines?

You have a valve inside the carb called the needle valve. This allows fuel coming from the fuel line to flow into the carb bowl. This stops the fuel coming from the tank to not flood the engine by filling up the carb with fuel and flowing into the engine when it isnt needed...........

YOU SHOULD HAVE NO FLOW FROM THE CARB EVEN WHEN THE PETCOCK IS ON.

Either the needle valve is allowing fuel to flow because the valve there is faulty or the floats are to low in the bowl allowing the fuel to flow past the needle valve and there is where you are getting your leakage.............

Have you determined which carb is leaking?????????

Is it only happening when on the sidestand?????

If it was me, to decide whether or not it's the petcock and eliminate that is simple.......just take the fuel line off the carb, make sure the petcocks are closed, and see if fuel is getting to the carbs after the fuel in the line ends up in a container or does it continue to flow.............

Even if you are getting fuel through the closed petcock, YOU SHOULD NOT BE GETTING DRIPPPING FROM THE CARBS EVEN WHEN THE PETCOCKS ARE OPEN OR CLOSED..............

Came into work this morning with both petcocks off and on the centerstand to a pool of gas. Removed both petcocks fuel lines and both have leaks.

The fuel is coming out of the bottom of the carb so it looks like I will have to tear into them.

STEVENRANKIN said:
Just to be sure, is the leak happening with the petcocks OFF? I ask this because this is your last thread. (oh joy communication in a forum, 10 posts, which in four minutes on the phone could be cleared up. LOL)

If you are getting fuel leaking with the petcocks closed, then you have one or both leaking by and will need rebuilt. I say one or both because there should be a cross over gas line between the two sides of the gas tank. This cross over is what allows you to run one petcock open at a time as I mentioned in my post. Think of the fuels lines in an H shape, With the tops of the H in the petcocks, and the bottoms on the carbs.

The only way to tell which one of the two (or both) petcocks are leaking is to pull the gas line off them and see if there is gas dripping or flowing despite being turned off.

If there is no gas flowing from them and they are off, I am really confused as to where it would come from. St.

Both petcocks are off and leaking (removed the fuel line) so it looks like I need to rebuild them.

Also putting a fuel fitter inline before the carbs

dennisdarrow · Sep 28, 2020

be patient.......its probably dried out rubber or cork seals in the petcocks, and the gas lines go to ruin now adays after a couple of years.......rubber ones, though not original looking work well...........

Vech at .......ohhhh I cant remember the name of his outfit; but they deal primarily with the old stuff.....ohhhh yes, BENCHMARKWORKS........THEY NOT ONLY HAVE THE PARTS; BUT DONT MIND TALKING YOUR EAR OFF WITH ADIVCE

hubigpie · Sep 28, 2020

DennisDarrow said:
be patient.......its probably dried out rubber or cork seals in the petcocks, and the gas lines go to ruin now adays after a couple of years.......rubber ones, though not original looking work well...........

Vech at .......ohhhh I cant remember the name of his outfit; but they deal primarily with the old stuff.....ohhhh yes, BENCHMARKWORKS........THEY NOT ONLY HAVE THE PARTS; BUT DONT MIND TALKING YOUR EAR OFF WITH ADIVCE

Bench Mark Works is great. I ordered my Clymer's Service Manual from him. Plus he is one state over so UPS is only a day. The rubber hoses look new but I still might replace them just because.

greybeard52 · Sep 28, 2020

I may have missed this suggestion, but what about rust or factory sealant flaking off and getting into your carbs and float needle valve. I bought my friend’s 1986 R80RT in May, which had sat unused for two years. It kept peeing gas on my boot. Someone on this forum suggested this could be the problem. I drained the old gas from the tank and it had flakes of the factory sealant floating in it. So I decided to remove the sealant with white vinegar and BBs. You can use something stronger but I was afraid of getting a caustic burn. I also disassembled, cleaned and greased the petcocks. The screens were covered in tank sealant. And I cleaned the float bowl which had specks of crud and turned on the fuel petcock to let a little fuel run to knock loose any more debris. And I replaced my fuel hoses. The hardest part was shaking the BBs in the tank. I chose not to reseal the tank because I read stories of people putting new sealer in and it doesnt hold so they have to clean out the new sealer. I did finish off the process with an overnight soak in Evaporust to neutralize any rust that might be growing. I have been on a few rides and no peeing on my boots.
If you dont have fuel filters, the easiest way to check your fuel petcocks without draining the tank is to run the bike until its almost empty, then pull off the tank, lay it on it’s side on a soft towel and extract each petcock from the tank to see if theres anything blocking your screens. Be sure to put the petcock back in, or a rubber plug before flipping your tank to extract the other petcock. And dont smoke while doing this. I learned this process from someone on this forum. Good luck.

hubigpie · Sep 28, 2020

greybeard52 said:
I may have missed this suggestion, but what about rust or factory sealant flaking off and getting into your carbs and float needle valve. I bought my friend’s 1986 R80RT in May, which had sat unused for two years. It kept peeing gas on my boot. Someone on this forum suggested this could be the problem. I drained the old gas from the tank and it had flakes of the factory sealant floating in it. So I decided to remove the sealant with white vinegar and BBs. You can use something stronger but I was afraid of getting a caustic burn. I also disassembled, cleaned and greased the petcocks. The screens were covered in tank sealant. And I cleaned the float bowl which had specks of crud and turned on the fuel petcock to let a little fuel run to knock loose any more debris. And I replaced my fuel hoses. The hardest part was shaking the BBs in the tank. I chose not to reseal the tank because I read stories of people putting new sealer in and it doesnt hold so they have to clean out the new sealer. I did finish off the process with an overnight soak in Evaporust to neutralize any rust that might be growing. I have been on a few rides and no peeing on my boots.
If you dont have fuel filters, the easiest way to check your fuel petcocks without draining the tank is to run the bike until its almost empty, then pull off the tank, lay it on it’s side on a soft towel and extract each petcock from the tank to see if theres anything blocking your screens. Be sure to put the petcock back in, or a rubber plug before flipping your tank to extract the other petcock. And dont smoke while doing this. I learned this process from someone on this forum. Good luck.

Had to drain the tank today (store my bike at a scientific glassblowing shop and can't really have fuel leaking with torches) and didn't see any debris. Not to say that there wasn't any but I didn't really see anything. No floaters in the tank but again I really couldn't tell.

Once I got a couple of projects out, I will tear apart the petcocks and see if there is anything in the screen filters.

I will be adding inline filters.

Thanks

72 R60/5 Leaking Fuel from carbs when parked

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