XS1100 1, owner 0

[Courtney]

Well put gas in the tank, plumbing all was great, ran down into the bowls and No. 1 carb just PISSED it out, but not out the throat, out the bowl gasket!!! ^&%$%^#!!!!! gotta pull the carbs off now and see what the heck that is all about. The others all behaved fine. Very weird, that gasket went on just like the rest. Hmmmm, time for some aviation gasket #2 as a backup maybe??? It's supposed to be fuel resistant.

[trbig]

So if you want to get technical.... It's you 3, the carbs 1! Three outta four carbs ain't too bad odds! lol.

You'll get it figured out. Beats figuring it out now instead of having it all re-assembled and having your air box fill up with fuel... wondering which one it was.

I know not everyone has the spare parts I do, but I've got an old lawnmower gas tank mounted above an old head that has the carb boots still attached. I'll push the carbs into the boots and plug in the fuel lines to see if the carbs leak before I mount them to the bike.

[DGXSER]

Check the bowl. Not the toilet..the carb bowl. Not sure how new to you the bike is. I have a set of carbs did the same thing to me, turned out the PO of the carbs had a later style bowl on the earlier body. Due to the very slight diff in alignment of the enrichment jet, the bowl did not seat 100% and leaked. Swapped bowls out and fixed the slightly deformed tube, works great now.

[GLoweVA]

I've had a bowl that was very tight fitting and would sometimes get a little cocked when trying to put it in, i've since remembered everytime to make sure those suckers are firmly seated before I tighten those 4 screws down.

[BA80]

You should be able to get to the bowl screws without pulling the carbs. I've done it before on 1 and 4.

[Courtney]

Update - Idiot puts 2 gaskets on one carb, leaves one with none

You should be able to get to the bowl screws without pulling the carbs. I've done it before on 1 and 4.

Yeah, tried it BA, but no luck, so pulled the carbs. So once again, working with things on your mind doesn't work too well. Pulled the offending carb bowl off, and found NO gasket! Amazingly No. 4 carb had TWO gaskets.
Moral of the story; start fresh, think straight, and keep a clear mind. Lesson learned, about to go put them back on and see what happens next.

[GLoweVA]

Hey, something like that has happened to all of us! At least it didn't cost you any money.

[trbig]

Hey, something like that has happened to all of us! At least it didn't cost you any money.

Nope.. not me! BUT.. I have heard that a bike will run like crap and only get @ 15 MPG riding home if you forget to tighten the pilot jets all the way and one falls out into the bowl while you're riding. So I've heard...

Glad it was an easy enough fix. What absolutely drives me bonkers is when I clean the carbs, check for leaks, re-install them back on the bike, then go to clean up and see one of those little brass washers that SHOULD be sitting under one of the main jets.. or one of those little keepers that hold the needle valve seat in place on the later carbs laying there. I've made the determination to just drink lots of beer while I do carbs. Those mistakes have happened stone-cold sober, so at least drinking, I'll have some sort of excuse!

[donebysunday]

Nope.. not me! BUT.. I have heard that a bike will run like crap and only get @ 15 MPG riding home if you forget to tighten the pilot jets all the way and one falls out into the bowl while you're riding. So I've heard...

Glad it was an easy enough fix. What absolutely drives me bonkers is when I clean the carbs, check for leaks, re-install them back on the bike, then go to clean up and see one of those little brass washers that SHOULD be sitting under one of the main jets.. or one of those little keepers that hold the needle valve seat in place on the later carbs laying there. I've made the determination to just drink lots of beer while I do carbs. Those mistakes have happened stone-cold sober, so at least drinking, I'll have some sort of excuse!

I'll use that one when I need to !

[Rasputin]

you forget to tighten the pilot jets all the way and one falls out into the bowl while you're riding. So I've heard...
I've made the determination to just drink lots of beer while I do carbs. Those mistakes have happened stone-cold sober, so at least drinking, I'll have some sort of excuse!

I have done this before and I agree with your summation!

[Courtney]

Battle of Wills Continues.

So made up a jury-rigged setup today; gas tank on garbage can, carbs sitting below it on little stand. I had previously taken the offending carb bowl off and found the float a bit sticky, so cleaned/polished/honed/threatened the float pin and float and put it together. Hooked up the gas line to the bank of carbs on my jury rigged setup and turned it to on. Walked away for a few minutes and came back. ALL WAS GOOD ! Decided to leave it for 1/2 hr and then check again. &*^&*%!!!!! carb on the OTHER END now is dripping!!! WTF!!! So I emptied that carb of gas, shook that bank of carbs up and down a few to wiggle those floats and seats, then did it again with plenty of love taps on the offending carb (No. 4). It sat for 10 minutes with full gravity feed, with the tank way above the carbs at the height of a garbage can which gives it lots more gravity pressure than it would normally get. So far so good. After the 10 minutes I turned it to off and no leaks yet. If it was going to leak it would be with it set to on. I am hopeful, but you know these Japanese Wills of Iron. No surrender from them. Bastards.

[DGXSER]

If it helps you feel any better, years ago I cleaned the carbs on my current SH, did the bench test (leave bowls off, hook up gas with them upside down on the bench) no leaks. Put the bowls on, turn them right side up, hook up fuel wait ten minutes or so, no leaks. I'm golden, load them in the bike, turn on the fuel, I got two of them pissing gas everywhere.

Took them apart, clean them up, some black specs in the needle seats. Rerun all the test, no problems, mount the carbs, two more leaking.

So now I am ready to roll this thing down the hill and set it on fire. Third time is not a charm, repeat of the issue.

Finally, I figured it out, the auto style fuel lines I was using had the soft rubber core which got rubbed off on the fuel Ts and put small specs of rubber into the needle valves.

[Courtney]

I can totally relate to the roll it down the hill and set it on fire part.

[Cobia]

Filters

Don't forget the inline filters so you don't get any of those black specs that make the carbs leak...

[Courtney]

Those pesky little spring loaded ends on the jets

Well No 4 started dripping again, so I took the float out and looked at the seat and jet one more time. THAT is when I noticed the little springloaded end on the jet was stuck in with gummed up old fuel. So much for meticulous cleaning, although it is easy to miss. Took a 32 cal. pistol shell, set the jet in it unpside down so the nitrile tip wouldn't be in the carb cleaner, and let it soak overnight. Came out this AM and the little spring loaded plunger popped out and is now working properly. Put the carb back together and fired the bike up. So far so good. Boy does she run sweet, and that is with just a bench synch with a wire feeler gauge. Sitting idling beautifully at 1050-1100 rpm with that great XS lope. Chokes work great too. Fingers crossed.