My beloved '98 has been sitting in the garage for a few months without being started (I was called on a project overseas). The gas of course smells old, and when I got it to fire, gasoline started pouring from one of the carbs. It didn't stop until all the gas in the tank was gone.
Anybody wanna guess, or have an answer for why that is? I'm guessing one of the floats is stuck???

 

You guessed right.

Sounds like a carb teardown and clean is in order.

 

+1. Exact same thing happened to me recently after one of mine sat in shop hell for 5 or 6 months waiting on a couple hours of work.

 

I am guessing that you shut it down and it continued to drain... you may also need to rebuild the petcock. i would try to have the rebuild kit around before you pull it apart if that is the case, because its unlikely that you will be able to pull it apart and put it back together. Good luck

 

Not trying to hijack the thread but this is along the ame lines. I find that after I ride my SH my garage smells like gas for about a day. I dont have any visable leaks... could the petcock be the source of my issue??

 

I think it's the same think that happened to hawk a while back. Think the thread is labeled gasoil. Think it's a combo of the petcock getting jammed and the float in the carbs. As I recall the gas went through the cylinders to the bottom end. Most likely need to do a full flush. I wouldn't be starting the bikes up until you do so.

 

I wouldn't think it's any danger to run the bike with a slight leak in the petcock as the floats would kill the flow if operating normally... But I do think it's probably a good idea to check the petcock to find out...

 

The petcock was replaced not too long ago, so I don't suspect it is a factor.
After all the gas poured out, I fired it up again. It ran with assistance on the throttle but man it does not like bad gas. I didn't leak, so I'm going to put some fresh gas in the tank and see what happens.
Thanks for the responses.