Carbs

[virgsr62]

I have put my carbs back on , hooked petcocks up , getting ready to try and fire it up it is leaning to the right gas leaking out of carb . when I put petcocks in the filters all looked good . I had the bowls off the floats were bad sticky I cleaned them and they were working. Do I need to start with the petcocks or do I need to start with the carbs. I have never rebuilt carbs before so I am going to have to have alot of help guys .

virgsr

[randy]

If gas is leaking out of carbs, one or more of your floats is sticking or float valve has debris in it. When filling up from dry, sometimes a float can stick. You can help free a stuck float by tapping the bowl(s) with the plastic handle of a screwdriver, it's worked for me.

How did you get the bike to lean to the right??

[egleaves]

Whether or not you determine the problem is in the carbs I would suggest a simple procedure to resurface the face of each petcock selector. I read about this idea here:

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...t=petcock+face

The basic idea is to use a piece of fine grit (600-800) wet/dry sandpaper placed on a surface that is known to be perfectly flat. I used the top of my table saw. Spray some WD40 on the sandpaper, place the selector switch face down, and put a little elbow grease into it. I used a circular motion under the assumption that the surface would be better off with a circular "machining pattern" rather than a linear one since these switches operate in the manner they do. I spent about 5 minutes on each one and removed all of the pitting of the metal until I had a shiny, smooth surface. After reassembly with a small amount of white lithium grease I no longer had the pesky little leak that was making my garage smell like a refinery, and as a bonus my petcocks operate MUCH easier. The return on investment for this repair was huge for me and I highly recommend it to anyone.

[81xsproject]

Randy is right on about tapping. When servicing/rebuilding carbs for folks, I always tap on the side of the carbs with a rubber mallot while filling the bowls for the first time. It would help if you had your bike info in your signiture so we new what year you had. If they are 70's carbs, you may have a leaky float.

[virgsr62]

my bike

I have a 1980 XS 1100 . It cought on fire about 3 to 4 months ago I have it put back together and tried to see if it would crank yesterday ,that is when I saw the leak from the carb, the thing that has got me bumfuzzeld is the petcocks were turned off. I hooked all of my lines up per the manual .hope this helps virgsr

[dk miller]

If your XS is a standard there is no off position on the petcocks. There is prime, on, and reserve. In the on or reserve position vacuum pulls them open when you crank the motor. In the prime position they are always open.
You may have a leaking petcock in addition to a stuck float or leaking needle.
Rebuild kits are available for these vacuum operated petcocks. I did mine this Summer, they were really gunked up bad. Now they work fine.
Carbs are going to be one of my winter projects. It'll be the first time for me too.

[tarzan]

I didnt see where you said you completely disassembled the carbs,did you do that?I also noticed you say it is a 1980 model.Well if you did, did you remove the needle and the seat?Under the seat is an o-ring.So if you didnt replace those o-rings ,that could be where they leak. JAT

P>S>-You should put the year and model of your bike in your signature so people know what you have.