Fuel pouring out of front carb
 

First off, hello to everyone. It's been a while since I've been on the forum.

I think I probably know the answer to my question (clean the carbs), but I figured I would run it by you guys.

So the Hawk was running perfectly last year as always. I put it in "storage mode" last winter for the first time in 10 years by draining the carbs. Previously, I would simply start the bike a couple times per month during the winter months.

Today I started the bike for the first time this year. Started right up, no problems...other than fuel pouring down the bike from the carb area!

I removed the tank and airbox to access the carbs, and everything looked fine (hoses, drain screws closed, etc...)

I figured I would blow (with my mouth) through the fuel hoses and see what happens. No air would go through the rear hose. I was able to blow easily through the front hose and fuel came out of the small ports on top of the carb.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

Usually that is a stuck float. You for sure gotta remove and clean the carbs. Its the float that prevents this happening all the time but they can stick, causing this issue.

Which way are you blowing through the hoses? Doing this is unlikely to solve the problem.

Did you store the bikes with the carbs full of awful ethanol fuel? (sound like you did)

Also drain the tank and put it in your car and/or drop it at the gas station for disposl. Alot of the offending debris, h2o, and varnish are in there waiting to foul your carbs the minute you let them.

I was thinking the float was the problem. I was just surprised how much fuel was coming out while running (I thought a fuel line may have split or something).

I was blowing from the tank side towards the carbs. I didn't think it would fix the problem, it was more of a troubleshooting step (I thought it may be of some value if that fact was known). I assume that I shouldn't be able to blow air through if everything was OK?

I guess fuel was still in there. I did drain them by opening the screw, but I'm sure there was fuel in other places.

Should have just done what I have always done, which was starting it every couple of weeks. What can ya do? I haven't had to clean them in at least 5 years. She was always running great, so I figured why mess with success? haha.

Well, no, its the opposite. You have been negligent and sooner or later it caught up with you.

You should more think "I blew this off for so long I was lucky to get away with it."

You should drain your carbs before storage (10 min now saves HOURS later), and the ethanol has been rising in gas this whole time, making things worse.

Its like the other thread I just posted on. You can cross a busy street blindfolded but that sure doesnt make it the right or prudent way to do it.

Thanks for the life lessons, Dad.

BTW, my first post indicates I DID drain the float bowls.

I removed the carbs and the float bowls were immaculate. Absolutely no build up or varnish inside (I use Seafoam regularly.)

I will clean them, and hopefully that will solve the problem at hand.

I do understand even though the bike is taken care of, and the bowls were drained, the simple fact is that some debris from the tank, hoses, etc... may have got stuck, causing the float to remain open.

I honestly do appreciate your help and opinions, Joe. I do not appreciate you trying to be-little me with your smart comments. That is not hard for anyone to do.

Maybe a quote for you would be "patience is a virtue".

All B.S. aside, I do thank you for responding to my earlier question with your technical opinion.

Did you remember to put the rubber gasket back on the float bowl. You will get an awful leakage if that if forgotten.

(:-})

Thanks for the reminder. They are apart at the moment, but I will definitely keep my eye on them.

Super. Can you let me know where you felt belittled? Honestly I reread & couldnt find it. I guess I type responses in with a certain amount of humor but it gets lost in cyberspace.

Also check the float valve (the part that is supposed to seal). I have had that thing look fine but when it stop sealing (got hard or shrunk) it will do what you described.

It sounds like the float needle did not return to it's seat, when you refilled the carb. Hold the carbs upright, with the floats in place and the bowls off and make sure the float needle operates properly when you lift the float with a finger.

No worries, Joe. Sent you a message. All Good.

Anyway, as far as the carbs go...Tore everything apart today and cleaned all the removable metal parts (jets, needles, etc...).

The float valves did have a buildup of varnish or other gunk on the metal sleeve that slides in and out of the carb (good call Joe and RCVTR).
Wondering how to clean those. I don't want to get carb cleaner on the rubber tip of those. Maybe spray some on a rag and try to avoid the rubber?

I wish they sold rebuild kits for these carbs like they do for the older bikes with gaskets, o rings, float valves, needles, etc...

Is there a way to clean the diaphragms? Water?

Also, the float bowl gaskets didn't look so hot.
They are very flat and one has a small tear in the top left corner (picture).
I'm not going to reassemble them without new gaskets...which means the bike is down for the nicest days of the year so far (tomorrow and wed.) :mad:
At least I can still ride the CB.:D

Yeah, for sure its a little known fact that carb cleaner will bloat and destroy rubber. You can use laquer thinner on a q tip.

Looks like you need some gaskets and/or a rebuild kit.

Gaskets should do it as long as those float valves are OK.

Unfortunately, I don't think they have rebuild kits for these...otherwise I would definitely buy one. As long as everything is open I would have liked to change all the rubber pieces without buying everything individually.

Thanks for the lacquer tip.

It really does not sound like the float valves are good. Isnt that what caused the leak?

Honda must've used the same valves for a ton of bikes, or they are 15 clams on ronayers.

Gaskets are 8 beans each. I really hope we arent all about to go through this due to the gas being cut with ethanol.

Yeah, that's what I found for prices too.
I suppose I may as well order them along with the gaskets just to be safe. I would hate to get everything back together and installed on the bike to find out they were bad.
Especially after the cleaning the parts are getting. Dipped in carb parts cleaner for 20 min, then off to the ultrasonic cleaner (with pine sol.) I learned that one from the cb750 forum. Worked great a couple years ago when I rebuilt those carbs. They are still working as they should.
As far as the gas, I hope this doesn't become a reoccuring thing for others due to the ethanol.
I know Amoco, or B.P now, used to be the only one around (that I was aware of) that didn't have ethanol in their fuel (93 octane only.) That was probably 10 years ago.
I'm not aware of any station that doesn't have it in every grade of gas now.

I've got a place by me that still sells non-ethanol. But I live near a ton of boat marinas. Sign on the pump actually states for boats, lawn equipment and motorcycles only. I just had to buy the same parts you did, got them from partzilla, cheapest I've found. I can't dial in my carbs until the float valves are in spec. My bike sat for two years after my kid was born, so I'm in a similar boat... I cleaned my diaphragms and slides with a bit of soapy warm water. Did the trick.

Quick update.
Got all the parts in. Gave the carbs a good cleaning, changed the float valves, and float bowl gaskets.
While re-installing the carbs, I broke one of the plastic choke screws...doh!
So, I ordered the brass Polaris fittings, modified them, and installed them.
Bike now runs perfect and I will never have to worry about breaking those stupid plastic choke fittings again!

Thanks again for all of your input and advice!

Never again huh? If I had a nickle for every time I said that............

Glad to hear you back on 2 wheels.

I found these shopping for some jets here: FCR-MX CARB

not sure if they'll fit but they sure do look like ours.

They do look like them, but $25/each is insane, and who knows if you would have to make modifications like the Polaris parts. I picked up them up on Ebay for $10 delivered for the pair. Aparently, they fit one of their snowmobiles too.