fuel in the oil issue/question

[Bonz]

Ditto... What makes you feel gas in in the oil? Do you visually see it in the sight glass? You apparently have working petcocks, as witnessed by turning them off and running the bike out of gas.

You may have leaky needle seats, and the needles might not be the issue, but you will replace all of that with a rebuild kit anyway. My 80 SG has the press-in needle seats, and the o-rings will not seal as tight over time, and that is what lead to me with fuel dumping out the airbox.

With that said, you have fuel in the oil and not the airbox? Wouldn't you expect fuel to come out the airbox vent as well?

How are you determining gas in the oil?

[crazy steve]

The fact that you can run the bike out of gas with the petcocks turned to 'off' merely means that any leak you have is smaller than the amount of fuel you need to run the bike.... If you're getting fuel in the airbox, the petcocks are leaking...

[motoman]

Ditto... What makes you feel gas in in the oil? Do you visually see it in the sight glass? You apparently have working petcocks, as witnessed by turning them off and running the bike out of gas.

You may have leaky needle seats, and the needles might not be the issue, but you will replace all of that with a rebuild kit anyway. My 80 SG has the press-in needle seats, and the o-rings will not seal as tight over time, and that is what lead to me with fuel dumping out the airbox.

With that said, you have fuel in the oil and not the airbox? Wouldn't you expect fuel to come out the airbox vent as well?

How are you determining gas in the oil?

Howard, thinkin' maybe your overdue for a really long ride......?

[Cuda 69]

I believe you all have valid point's on the gas in the oil issue, having said that,I believe the amount of damage to the bearings and internal part's would depend on the oil,gas ratio in the oil pan. I too, believe we all have a certain amout of gas that finds it's way to the oil. I checked my oil the other day,and I could smell gas in my oil.I drained the oil immediately,just to find the old oil appeared to have the same consistency as the fresh oil I put in. I don't think it did any damage to my engine. On the other hand,if I had 50% gas in my oil,having driven it for a couple thousand miles before noticing the gas,I might be very concerned.

[conquest87tsi]

Gas in Oil

I know there is fuel in my oil because of a slight rise in oil level and mainly the overwhelming smell of gasoline.
Thank you very much for the recommendations. Will be ordering carb rebuild kits tonight.
As far as the float tangs, I guess I never noticed them when I removed the floats for cleaning. Hopefully next week I'll have some time to pull the carbs again. Definetly made easier by the pod filters.

Thanks again guys.

Oh one more quick question, should I resync the carbs after I do the rebuild? I just had them synced a month ago, and was thinking of just buying some gauges if I need to do it again.

[conquest87tsi]

Gas in Oil

As far as the petcocks, I have a special with the "octapus" and both fuel lines form a loop up before going to the carbs. I recently installed new transparent fuel lines and know for certain no fuel is getting into the lines because it would be in the low spot in the line.

I never really rode the bike with an air box as I installed the pods right after I got the XS home. Don't have fuel coming out of the cone filters or in the velocity stacks when removed.

[natemoen]

You don't need carb rebuild kits, some parts that come in them are totally wrong and worthless anyways. All you really need is float needles and seats.

[bikerphil]

Oh one more quick question, should I resync the carbs after I do the rebuild? I just had them synced a month ago, and was thinking of just buying some gauges if I need to do it again.

You may or may not have to re-sync, always good to have a set of guages if you plan on keeping the bike.

[motoman]

You don't need carb rebuild kits, some parts that come in them are totally wrong and worthless anyways. All you really need is float needles and seats.

+1 what Nate stated! If carb bank is pulled, should always re-sync. In your case, apparently float needles which may be creating erratic fuel levels, re-adjust idle mix, re-sync., back to idle-mix settings and resync again.....whatever it takes to perfectly stabilize equal vacuum between all four carbs with idle-mix setting first, and that DOESEN'T necessarily mean all idle mix screws will be set the same, as BA80 has tried to amplify on several occassions. Each idle-mix screw may vary 1/8 to 1/4 turn difference from each other when set correctly.

[conquest87tsi]

Sync and Idle Questions

I know this is a bit off topic for this thread, nut I have some sync and idle adjustment questions.
The screws to sync the carbs are located between the carbs correct? If so, which carb is the "master" ie, the one I adjust the rest to? Am just a little confused on which screw adjust which carb. Not like it really matters, once I'm syncronizing them it will be obvious.

As far as the idle adjustment, since I installed the pod filters the bike has had a high idle. I brought it to a shop to have the carbs cleaned, synced and jetted. After cleaning them myself a month later I realized the f*ck head only synced the carbs, If that. I replaced the carb boots when I did the filters and am pretty damn sure there are no air leaks. I did try adjusting the master idle screw before I brought the bike to the shop and the lowest I could attain was 2,500rpm. He managed to get it down to around 1,900 to 2,000. Still way to high in my opinion.

Any words of wisdom on the high idle? Once I get my vaccum gauges and do the floats and seats I'm going to adjust the individual idles and see where I'm at. Am I correct in thinking that vaccum gauges can aid in setting individual idle as well as syncing?

Thanks in advance for any help. Sorry for the wordy post.

[conquest87tsi]

Idle

a guess, but I'm sure someone is going to tell me that my idle issue is do to running lean. I guess I neglected this because I thought the shop I brought it to did their job. (4th bike I've brought there by the way). I really do not want to attempt jetting myself, hense why I brought it to him. Wouldn't you think a reputable shop would have realized the reason it was idling high? What should I do? After I clean his blood from my tire thumper that is.

[jimbyjimb]

When syncing;

Sync carb four to carb 3; sync carbs 1&2; sync carbs 1&2 to carb 3.

3 is the master. The screw between 1 and 2 is for syncing 1 and 2; the screw between 3 and 4 is for syncing 4 to 3; the screw between 2 and 3 is for syncing 1 and 2 to carb 3.

At least that's my bike.

[Bonz]

Hey, you are running lean. There, someone said it!

Pods let a ton of air in, have to re-jet. For reference, my 2001 ZRX 1200 comes stock with size 95 Keihin main Jets (I think, maybe 92's), and with the pods at 7000 feet of elevation, I run 125 mains, and most guys at normal elevation run 130 mains or maybe a size higher. Huge jump in the need for fuel with pods.

[fredintoon]

I know this is a bit off topic for this thread, nut I have some sync and idle adjustment questions.
The screws to sync the carbs are located between the carbs correct? If so, which carb is the "master" ie, the one I adjust the rest to? Am just a little confused on which screw adjust which carb. Not like it really matters, once I'm syncronizing them it will be obvious.

As far as the idle adjustment, since I installed the pod filters the bike has had a high idle. I brought it to a shop to have the carbs cleaned, synced and jetted. After cleaning them myself a month later I realized the f*ck head only synced the carbs, If that. I replaced the carb boots when I did the filters and am pretty damn sure there are no air leaks. I did try adjusting the master idle screw before I brought the bike to the shop and the lowest I could attain was 2,500rpm. He managed to get it down to around 1,900 to 2,000. Still way to high in my opinion.

Any words of wisdom on the high idle? Once I get my vaccum gauges and do the floats and seats I'm going to adjust the individual idles and see where I'm at. Am I correct in thinking that vaccum gauges can aid in setting individual idle as well as syncing?

Thanks in advance for any help. Sorry for the wordy post.

>
Hi Shane,
#3 is the carb the cable operates and all the rest are synchronized to it.
If the carbs shut far enough the revs will drop until the engine stalls no matter how poorly the synch job was done or how lean the carbs are jetted.
Check the throttle cable for free play. If the cable is holding the carbs open, setting the throttle stop lower will have no effect.

[jimbyjimb]

Any number of things could cause idle issues but before I confuse you let the others weigh in as they have much more specific experience with this bike.

Order of carb adjustment:

Idle speed

Mixture

Sync

repeat until idle is 1100rpm and all adjustments are correct.

That's the method I follow on everything; cars, motorcycles, anything with multiple carbs.

It works for me every time, provided a non-FUBAR situation.

After the last sync it's good to do one last mixture check, IMO.