Just scared the sh#t out of my self

Dennis C · Jan 27, 2015

Had just taken a short ride to town for coffee and when I went back out to start the bike It splurged and sprayed gas out of the carb tickler as soon as it started and when rapped the throttle a little. not just a drizzle but could see it spray from the other side of the bike. it sprayed out under pressure. stopped leaking after letting it idle a couple seconds, so rode it home in fear.

I suspect a sticky float, will pull the carb off and check it out.

Any other thoughts?

Dennis

gtsun · Jan 27, 2015

Wow not fun!!! Hope you get that sorted, could be bad but glad nothing happened. 30 years ago I was foolish enough to be sitting on my 750 while filling up at a station and the nozzle stuck pouring gas all over my hot bike and soaking my pants in gas! It steamed up and scared the piss out of me but the Norton Gods were smiling on me & it didn't catch fire. I rode off screaming at the attendant.

john robert bould · Jan 27, 2015

Now thats a near miss . Had a near miss myself..my Yamaha flooded one carb, poured into the belly pan then onto the back wheel, after a mile and a few slides i noticed the rear wheel dripping in fuel :evil:

comnoz · Jan 27, 2015

Don't forget to shut the fuel off.

john robert bould · Jan 27, 2015

Jim , with the fuel OFF the engine will not run :lol: Yam strokers do this flooding just for the hell of it. Now running with the side panel off and a short 3/8 steel bar for float bowl taping . :twisted:

comnoz said:
Don't forget to shut the fuel off.

Dennis C · Jan 27, 2015

So I just went up to check things out, checked the oil to see if the level had gone up, leaking fuel from carb to the crank case, still at the same level so should be ok.

Decided to try and start to check if there was still a problem, no leak when the fuel was turned on, tickled the carb and it did not leak until the bowl was full.

started on the third kick and no leaking at all.

So should I be ok, watch it or take it apart anyway. If it is not leaking what could I find? still concerned as I would not want to have it happen on a trip. I could be ready with a screw driver to tap if it ever leaks again

Other than this one time it has started and ran extremely well

Dennis

comnoz · Jan 27, 2015

Sounds pretty normal to me.
Any carbureted bike I have owned would leak once in a while if the fuel wasn't shut off when the engine was off.

acotrel · Jan 27, 2015

Years ago I was riding a T110 Triumph when I felt my legs get hot. The flames were about 2 feet out each side of the motor. The float bowl had snapped off the Type 6 carburettor. I destroyed my leather jacket trying to extinguish it. Fortunately a passing motorist jumped out with a towel and helped me.

Dennis C · Jan 27, 2015

a better description of the leak would be that it was squirting a stream out of the bleed hole at the tickler several inches long. not a drizzle or a misty spray.

Dennis

kerinorton · Jan 27, 2015

Its probably best if you remove the offending float bowl and blow it out with compressed air. Also check the Viton tip on the needle is not bulging out on one side like mine did.

I once read an article from a motor-cycle shop and the comment was " if you don't shit yourself on occasions, you are probably not riding very well".
Dereck

ashman · Jan 27, 2015

These bike do have these things happen every so often, usualy a tap on the bowl will fix it, I think they do it just to keep us on our toes and alway turn your fuel taps off when stopping, just incase, you will never know when it will happen.

Ashley

gjr · Jan 27, 2015

comnoz said:
Sounds pretty normal to me.
Any carbureted bike I have owned would leak once in a while if the fuel wasn't shut off when the engine was off.

Ah, Jim, you should try a Honda sometime...

On the way home from some British club meet up by Princeton I was smelling gas. I looked down and fuel was splashing out of the right tickler. I pulled over to investigate and found that the cylinder base nuts were loose and the cylinder was moving up and down with the pistons. Brilliant British engineering had the bottom cylinder fin retain the loose nuts. Tightened 'em up and continued on my way.

Greg

pauldridge · Jan 27, 2015

Ahh, doused in gasoline. Never a fun prospect. Reminds me once I was flying an open cockpit Waco airplane. Just after having the plane refueled (the tanker attendant has to use a ladder to get up to the top of the wings on these beasts), I started my take off roll, all was going well until I started to bring the tail up for takeoff, and all of a sudden it was literally raining fuel all over me. I aborted the take off, tail came back down, gas rain stopped. On the taxi back to the apron I spotted it... you guessed, the fuel cap laying on the ground where the $$%%*$ attendant had left it on the wing to blow off!

Lots of ways to hurt yourself out there!
Phil,
Austin

comnoz · Jan 27, 2015

gjr said:
comnoz said:

Sounds pretty normal to me.
Any carbureted bike I have owned would leak once in a while if the fuel wasn't shut off when the engine was off.

Click to expand...

Ah, Jim, you should try a Honda sometime...

On the way home from some British club meet up by Princeton I was smelling gas. I looked down and fuel was splashing out of the right tickler. I pulled over to investigate and found that the cylinder base nuts were loose and the cylinder was moving up and down with the pistons. Brilliant British engineering had the bottom cylinder fin retain the loose nuts. Tightened 'em up and continued on my way.

Greg

Old Hondas did the same thing.
More modern bikes have vacuum petcocks that shut the fuel off for you.

Torontonian · Jan 28, 2015

Replace float needles. :|

olChris · Jan 28, 2015

Pressure = squirt! Left the bike in the sun for an hour or so while having a coffee, half full of fuel and the vent in the filler cap not clear. Can build up pressure with no where to go until you give it an escape route with the tickler... maybe!

john robert bould · Jan 28, 2015

Modern gas leaves a residue that coats the carb internals , add a little 2 stroke oil to the tank , this coats the surface's and looks after things , been doing it for years, at approx 200/1 . plugs may show up a tiny build up after a big mileage .. but the tank internals are not rusting, pet cock seals stay moist , carbs keep clean . that float hinge keeps lubed :shock:

Hobot · Jan 28, 2015

Not a bad idea for a little dash of 2smoke oil in gas especially the castor bean oil based type which burns clean and gives the model airplane-vintage race engine smell. 50:1 has been standard 2smoke ratio last few decades and is more concentrated than desirable for 4 tokes yet dilute enough to run my cycles and mowers and car and truck when stuck on empty w/o smoking nor fouling. There are also various scents that racers add to their fuel so may be fun to put a dash of bean oil and some peppermint scent for puttering around rally sites and turning noses to follow the source. If ya got coke build up to matter - water spray into carb is long proven safe way to turn hard carbon to soft grey powder that blows out or wipes right off. All gasoline scine first sold leaves some staining but last couple decades its a lot less than prior leaded gasoline so most carb deposits are the zinc oxides increased by lean burn oxygened gasoline usually from the booze added to it.

aceaceca · Jan 28, 2015

Same thing happened to me. Float bowl had come loose. One screw fell out. Gas all over my pants. Straightened things up and throttled the fuel petcock in order to get home. Found that Rochester carburetor screws fit nicely in bowl threads with just a tad of locking power. Still using them today.

Dennis C · Jan 28, 2015

aceaceca said:
Same thing happened to me. Float bowl had come loose. One screw fell out. Gas all over my pants. Straightened things up and throttled the fuel petcock in order to get home. Found that Rochester carburetor screws fit nicely in bowl threads with just a tad of locking power. Still using them today.

Actually that was the first thing I did was turn it off and check for loose screws and bolts, everything was tight. Just went for a ride and all was good, no leaking and smooth running.

At this point I think I am going to ride it and keep a close eye on things.

Dennis

Just scared the sh#t out of my self

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