yet another problem

[monhollenj]

soccer4m, the bike is a 1980 xs1100G. The bike only leaks fuel from the air box when the start button is pushed. I will check out these problems/solutions and see what happens. Thanks

[Bent213]

If its from an 80 I would def check out the needle seat gaskets man... That was the problem on mine...

[Winterhawk]

Sounds to me like:
1/ You may have hooked the fuel lines to the carbs vent nipples, instead of the fuel line tees (lower down) causing the carbs to flood uncontrollably. Or,
2/ You may have the carb floats hanging up on the bowl gaskets, which also will cause the carbs to flood uncontrollably.

Ditto, seen it before.

[DGXSER]

You seem to have a couple issues, could be the one but maybe not.

On one hand, you leak fuel when you push the start button, which tells me that once you open the petcocks it starts flooding a float bowl or more, but once you get it running, it seems to go away, if you get it running.

On the other hand, you say your plugs are nice and clean and dry. Dry being the operative part here.

If you pull them out right after trying to start and all four are bone dry, you need more fuel. But your leaking floats say you have to much fuel in at least one or more carb bowls.

In my opinion, your fighting a losing battle with to many variables here. First thing to do is solve this leaking fuel problem. Take a good look at your carbs. Do they have more than one line coming from each side, as in one low T with a fuel line hooked to it and one upper T that goes to the air box or just atmosphere? Is your idle screw in the back of the carbs pointing up? Do your idle mixture screws (on the top front of the carbs) extend up where you can see the screw? If so then you have the older style 78-79 carbs, not the first time and certainly not the last of that happening. If there is only one T to each side of the carbs, and your main idle screw points down and is on the front side of the carbs, and your mixture screws are hidden down inside those tunnels, then you have the newer 80-81 style carbs.

I would go ahead and remove the carbs, clean those float needle valves, replace the o-rings if the newer style, replace the entire seat and needle valve if the older style. While you have them open, make certain everything is good and clean, see the post titled "Carb Cleaning 101".

Lets cure a known problem before we chase our tails trying to find one that may not exist.

[monhollenj]

Guys, I don't know what happened but here's the run down. The bike is not flooding out the back anymore. I started it today and it was fine. The petcock was in the wrong position not allowing any fuel. It only had fuel in the bowls apparently and that's why it died on me. I rode it today for a while with no problems just a little on the pickup. Would that be a timing issue? It just seems a little sluggish when I first pull out.

[soccer4m]

more stuff to check

Hi again,,,,time to go through the basic tuneup stuff
1. clean air filter
2. get fresh spark plugs and gap
3. change oil if any gas at all leaked in from the carb problems
4. run for awhile to burn off any leaking gas and oil
5. lastly,,,,,,synchronize and adjust the carbs or you can check the synch first to see if the carbs are not adjusted and causing some problems
6. get 2 fresh inlinefuel filters, to stop any crud from getting into your carbs

Keep us informed,,,,again run it for awhile and it could burn off and get better...Mike in Sun DIego

[DGXSER]

Mike has it pretty well covered, I would add checking and shimming your valves if you have not. But new plugs is a great idea, and tuning and synching the carbs is a must.