Frustrated!!!

[JoesN68]

I have been trying to get my bike going. It was running strong the last time I rode it 2 yrs ago. To start I am leaking fuel out of #1 carb through the air box. I replaced the lower parts on all 4 carbs with carb kits,still leaking on
#1 carb. swapped #1 float valve with #4 float valve. Now leaking out of #4 carb. Changed oil and filter. Started bike up and blew oil all over through the air box. Made adjustments and had the bike running food two days ago. Had time to work on it today and $#$# hit the fan! started up fine and idle good. Held the throttle at 4000 rpm for about a minute and shut it dowm. Oil came pouring out of the air box! I am fristrated to say the least. It ran fine before I was deployed for the Air Force, now It wont even run properly.
Is it me or the bike? I dont know where to start with this thing.

[WMarshy]

Hey Joe,

First off, welcome to the forum man. Don't get too frustrated and try to "fix the problem", sometimes ya just have to step back and take a break. Everything you could ever want to know about these bikes is in this forum, it can be a little hard to find it at times but just ask and we'll try to help the best we can.

Sounds like you could have two problems going on.
1. Possible leaking petcocks. You have an '80 G so you have an "octy"...
2. Float valve not sealing. Might have a dead float as the problem followed the float, good troubleshooting!

You need to make sure the overflowing gas isn't filling your engine oil, severe damage can occur if you run the engine with gas in it. You really need to fix the leaking gas problem and then change your oil with fresh unless your absolutely positive it's not diluted. Try the search button for tips about gas in oil and such... Here is a post I started with the same problem, it should get you headed in the right direction.

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...ght=oil+airbox

One last thought, not sure if you know any better but, when the petcock is on PRI it allows fuel to the carbs at all times. Use ON and the fuel valve closes when the bike isn't running, its vacume operated (assuming the stock system is still in place).

[redbone]

yep, there's a good chance your crankcase is now an oil/gas mixture and overfull at that. when you fire it up, the oil/gas has nowhere to go but up into the airbox. fix your carb float issue, drain oil and discard. had same prob with mine couple years back.

[Bonz]

Had a dang frustrating (challenging is more the word) carb issue last fall. Unwanted exit of fuel from the airbox was the issue, just like you.

If you have an 80 XS anything, it has the push-type needle seats, not threaded. Did you replace those when you rebuilt the lower part of the carbs? The o-ring that seals on the seats themselves were just finger tight, not super snug/tight like they should have been. So, it was the seats leaking fuel not anything to do with the floats, float needles themselves, etc.

Those o-rings survived 30 years, so not too bad overall. Got my carb fix kits from GeorgeFix off of e-bay, and just used the parts I needed (needle seats) and now I have lots of extra parts, gaskets, main needles, jets for the future.

I bet $1 that's your problem if you didn't replace those.

[soccer4m]

here is the fix

Hi Joe,,,,here is the fix as many of us have had the same issues
1. change oil immediately, put in some 20/50 wt.
2. check the octopus by pulling off the back hose of the petcock, if gas comes out the octopus is not working- solution, remove all hoses except the gas line to the carbs, plug the front petcock hose with a cap and clamp{or run a hose across to each front outlet of the petcocks,
3. cap the hose that comes out of the engine vacuum to the octopus
4. let it run awhile to burn off the gas in the exhaust and it should be fine.
THis is the usual fix,,,the octopus is a pain and most have yanked it off and either put inline plastic off switches, or redone the petcocks to have an off.

Keep us informed the fix is simple, do the above, and then check the carbs to see if they have issues.......Mike in San Diego

[soccer4m]

almost forgot

Almost forgot,,,,,GET SOME INLINE FUEL FILTERS ASAP if you dont already,,,,all it takes is a small bit of crud to mess up the carbs repeatedly. Hope you have them already, if not, head to any bike shop and for a couple of bucks apiece, put them inline in each gas hose from the carbs about halfway to stop any crud from the tank.......................Mike

[DGXSER]

You found your fuel issue, its in the float valve. The fact you moved the valve and the problem moved with it tells you that is the problem. You need to either clean it really good or replace it. Depending where you got the carb parts from, most reputible folks would replace it free if you bought one that is not working.

The other part of your issue being the fuel is almost definitely getting into your oil. With the oil over filled it will get pumped out the crankcase breather tube that attaches to the top of your air box, that is why the oil is coming out the air box.

First thing to fix is the leaking float valve. You can screw around with the rest of it all you want, but until that is fixed your wasting time. Also, change your oil out now. Use cheapo 10W40 crap oil until you are certain you have this fuel valve issue sorted. Then switch to the good stuff.

[tcoop]

Like DGXER if you fix that float valve the rest of your problems will likely go away. If you would like some help send me a PM and we can meet up. sometimes it helps to have someone else look at it.

[cywelchjr]

Hey Joe,

First off, welcome to the forum man. Don't get too frustrated and try to "fix the problem", sometimes ya just have to step back and take a break. Everything you could ever want to know about these bikes is in this forum, it can be a little hard to find it at times but just ask and we'll try to help the best we can.

Sounds like you could have two problems going on.
1. Possible leaking petcocks. You have an '80 G so you have an "octy"...
2. Float valve not sealing. Might have a dead float as the problem followed the float, good troubleshooting!

You need to make sure the overflowing gas isn't filling your engine oil, severe damage can occur if you run the engine with gas in it. You really need to fix the leaking gas problem and then change your oil with fresh unless your absolutely positive it's not diluted. Try the search button for tips about gas in oil and such... Here is a post I started with the same problem, it should get you headed in the right direction.

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...ght=oil+airbox

One last thought, not sure if you know any better but, when the petcock is on PRI it allows fuel to the carbs at all times. Use ON and the fuel valve closes when the bike isn't running, its vacume operated (assuming the stock system is still in place).

80G has no octy, it has vacuum taps like the E and F as it's a standard, unless it's had the tank swapped. It's possible the petcocks are not working properly, but given the way the carb is leaking and that some kits don't come with the seat or o-ring it might just be the o-ring on the seat, but it certainly does sound like there is gas in the oil (or actually at this point like there is some oil in the gas in the crankcase, where there should be ONLY oil ). Change that oil right away, and make sure those seats fit TIGHT! If they don't they are almost sure to leak around the outside and then you got a problem, and it doesn't matter if you have filters, and doesn't matter if your tank is clean or not, it's still going to leak.

[bikerphil]

What probably happened is the bike sat for 2 years, the fuel gummed up/evaporated and the float(s) got stuck. If fuel stabilizer was used, probably could have just tapped the float bowls while they were initially filling. The OP did not state what was done prior to storing the bike.

[cywelchjr]

What probably happened is the bike sat for 2 years, the fuel gummed up/evaporated and the float(s) got stuck. If fuel stabilizer was used, probably could have just tapped the float bowls while they were initially filling. The OP did not state what was done prior to storing the bike.

He did say he replaced the parts in the lower part of the carbs with carb kit parts. He also said he swapped the needle valve from #1 to #4 and the leak moved, so whatever he moved has a problem, but not knowing if it was one of the parts in the kit it's a bit hard to know for sure just what's wrong, but those o-rungs among other things can dry out sitting for 2 years, and while they might plump back up, they may well leak in the meantime and cheap as they are, if not already replace it's a cheap fix/insurance.

[SFerinTEXAS]

You should do a bench leak rest, upside down w/o bowls and right side up w bowls and sight tubes before re-install. Saves the trouble of pulling off again if still leaking. Need pointers? just ask Or search alot like I used to.

Actually I highly recommend the search feature. You can read like a storybook many similar issues from beginning to end all all once. Some will end like yours will and others will not. But you will learn a lot from most.I think the older post are to often overlooked. they are from some smart people seldom heard from now.Listen to the voices of the past and combine them with the voices of the present. Its all good. Heck I often found myself reading completely unrelated threads and learned a lot I didn't need then but I did later.

[JoesN68]

Update

Pulled float bowl off and can manually push up on needle valve to stop flow of fuel to bad carb. The issue is that it takes quite a bit of upward pressure to shut it off, much more than i think that the floats can provide. I also found that the floats on the offending carb are much closer to the bowl than the others. I shaved a small amount off the floats where i believed they may be hanging up on the sides of the bowl. I verified no leakage in a bowl of water after sanding them. I believe now that i may have gotten a bad needle valve and will be ordering another one and float and pin. I did change the valve seats and needle valves and jets with what was in the kits.
I will drain the oil/gas mixture from the crank once i solve this overflow condition.
I forgot to mention what type bike i have in my first post. 1980 G with the "octy" funtional.
I am slowly getting to "really" know this bike. Thank you for all the help and suggestions. I hope i am heading in the correct direction.

[WMarshy]

Haven't reviewed the whole thread in a little while so sorry if this is a repeat but, if you replaced the bowl gaskets when you rebuilt the carbs they might be interfering with the float. I would not remove material from the floats themselves! This info might be too late... just don't remove any more. People have noted interference issues with new bowl gaskets before and have had to trim them back.

[DGXSER]

If you have an 80G, which is the standard model, you never had an OCTY. The vacuum valve is built into each petcock on the Standard models. The Special models...the SG have the OCTY.

I always trim my carb bowl gasket on the sides to be exactly the edge of the carb bowl. No overhang for the float to catch on. But if it took that much pressure to stop the flow of gas, the valve could be defective.