And yet another fuel leak...

[Toolmaker Tim]

Put the viton tipped needles and set the floats. Synced the carbs. Let the bike set with the petcock open for 3 days, no leaks. I put the stock airbox on and try to set the idle, the bike stalls out. Huh? I look under the airbox and there is gas coming out the breather hole in the bottom of the airbox. I tap on the bowls per another members instructions, still leaks. I am about to tap on it with something MUCH bigger. WTF!!!!! guys, I am about ready to walk away from this bike. If I spend any more on this bike, SWMBO is going to skin me with a butter knife. I don't like losing, but there is the point of diminishing returns and I'm getting close to it.

[DGXSER]

Tim, looks like you have the earlier model 79 carbwith the vents. Make sure a PO did not swap out the air box on you. The later model air boxes have the nubs for the fuel vents, but they are closed off. No venting will cause the bowls to flood. If you find this, just drill out the nipple with a small drill bit.

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

Gas leak

I had a flooding/leaking/dieing prob on my 79 XS. After much hair pulling I found the cause to be a sticking vacum shut-off valve (top of carbs with 4 into 2 gas lines one vac line. I had rebuilt it with the kit that came in petcock kit but ended up having to re-use the old bladder to get it to work right. A good cleaning of the main flow seat and the old bladder worked fine

[Toolmaker Tim]

OK, I'm calm now

Sorry about the rant, just venting....I hope. Ok, the airbox was purchased off flea-bay before I knew about this site, back when the world was flat. I didn't know that the vent nipples in the newer airboxes were plugged. Mine has a couple of split brass tubes on the inside. I'll have to check that, makes sense. I don't have the octopus, so that makes fuel line troubleshooting easier. Tommorrow I have a covert mission to get a new battery, if SWMBO catches me I'm a goner anyway, so what the heck. Does anyone out there have a cam tensioner gasket? I'm a little tired of the cloud when I first start the bike. The oil drips right on the header and poof Keeps the bugs away. Also, is there any way to check to see if the gas gauge sending unit is working? I hope I'm getting closer.

[CatatonicBug]

You can just use RTV to replace the CCT gasket, or if you really prefer it, you can cut your own. It's the 5th one down in this list.

[Toolmaker Tim]

Airbox

Found out today that the airbox has plugged fuel vent nipples. Pulled the hoses, that takes care of that. Thank you, I learned something else. Took the CCT off (using proper proceedure), cleaned everything up and applied Ultra Grey RTV. The stuff is suppose to be able to handle up to 700F. I need to get wire connectors for my gas gauge, so that is probably fixed. The last thing I need to address (I hope)is my red 'you're gonna die!' light in the center of my indicator panel. The one that says lights/oil. It stays on all the time. The PO ran a wire from the fusebox to the tailight that is outside the harness. I'm wondering if that's it.

[CatatonicBug]

The '79 has a light checker unit that lights the oil light if it doesn't sense the proper current going through the tail light. Chances are, you're right on with your guess.

[bikerphil]

Try wiggling the wires where they go into the light checker unit and see if the oil light goes out. Did so for my SF, I just twisted them around and it's been fine for several years.

[Toolmaker Tim]

Tail light

After peeling the electical tape that the PO put on, I found the broken wire at the tail light connector. I clipped off the other side, installed a new bullet connector, and the problem is solved. No more RED LIGHT OF DOOM staring at me. I discovered that the leak in the cam chain wasn't the gasket, it is cracks in the plastic piece on the end of the tensioner. I do believe I have an excuse to get an automatic tensioner. There is a positive side to this. Unplugged the carb vent hoses and the overflow problem went away. Found an spin-on oil filter that will clear my pipes, so that is fixed. Making progress. Thanks for all of the help and ideas, it saved what's left of my thinning hair.

[tadtl1]

spin on oil filter?

Hi,

I realize that there are adaptors to allow spin on oil filters, are you using one of those , or have you actually found an actual filter that just spins on using just the stock parts. If so, what is the filter that accomplishes that????

[DiverRay]

Tad,
If you read down through the mods on the bike, he has a S.O.F.A. from TC. That is what the filter spins on. I'm glad you didn't have anything too major left, Tim. Sounds like you'll be riding in a few SHORT days! Just watch out for the power, as the bike WILL surprise you if your not careful!

[Toolmaker Tim]

The Power

Well I'm wondering where the power went Started the bike up this morning after working on it until 1:30am. Idles great, but the clutch plates were stuck together. Rocked back and forth until they released and geared up. When I got on the throttle I got POP,POP,POP,POP and no power. Don't get me wrong, the bike did accelerate , but not like it did. If I let off the throttle and coast in gear the popping goes away. Ok, popping is lean fuel mixture. I am guessing the floats are set too high and there isn't enough gas to supply the engine. Any other idea's would be much appreciated and given consideration. No, I haven't looked at the plugs yet. I wasn't running WOT, so I am guessing what ever I see would be an invalid reading. The plugs are NGK Iridium's. I did drill the airbox last night with 2 1" dia. holes, but with the jetting setup I have, it shouldn't be that lean should it, just wondering. I could always slap some duct tape over the holes and see if that works.

[Toolmaker Tim]

Sofa

Tad, I have one of TopCat's spin on filter adapters. When I first got it, the recomended filter rubbed on my Jardine header pipes and started to leak. Found out about that when the rear tire started to slip. I went back to a stock filter for a while. I couldn't find any around here, si I went back to the SOFA after finding a filter that is the same diameter, same thread pitch and has a bypass valve in it, but was shorter. However, I'm the first guy from this site to use one (Super Tech 6077), I can't vouch it will be OK, so color me Lab Rat. Time will tell.

[DiverRay]

Tim,
What did you set the floats to? The higher the float when upside down, the less fuel in the bowl. If the fuel is 15% Ethanol in South Bend, you WILL need to run a little richer. I set my '79 level to 27mm with the brass floats, and I think you should be the same with the plastic.
Also check for crimped fuel lines! Sometimes, if you run the line down, they will kink when the tank is installed. This will give you NO power after a SHORT time! DAMHIKIJK.

[Toolmaker Tim]

Floats

Ray, my floats are set to 25mm. I used that number because dbeardslee has a setup close to mine. I have the plastic floats and viton tipped needles and seats.I don't know about the ethanol content in this area, but then I never considered it. If I was to guess, I believe it is 10%. Perhaps the easier question would be to ask, what should the fuel level in the bowl be in reference to the top of the bowl? That is the gasket seat. Right now if I set the floats to 27mm, I think I would be even leaner.