87 700F2 sticking float(s)

to begin, I want to thank TOE CUTTER, GREYVF750F, CRUSTYRIDER, WOODY77, and SQUIRRELMAN for helping me narrow the field and discover what is wrong with my 87 VFR700F2...

I assumed that it was an electrical problem but in reality it was a sticking float that caused too much fuel to foul the front plugs... Here's where we are now...

Bike has 4 brandy new plugs. All wires are nice and tight. We have spark on all plugs.

When the bike is sitting there at an idle, the rear right carb area is leaking fuel from the "overflow" thing, so apparently the "needle" is stuck so the float is open and too much fuel is coming in.

How can we fix this? Is it as simple as taking a piece of wood and popping this loose or do I have to take the carb apart and clean the carb up spick-n-span so she can run like a top again?

lay it on me boys...

thanks again

 

Here's a trick i've used with success a few times to avoid needing to remove the carbs and go through them: drain all the float bowls using the screws, then use compressed air to blow through the main fuel line leading to the carbs after disconnecting it from the fuel pump.

If there is/are debris lodged between the needle tip and its seat, this method may clear it out, but you will need a compressor. If it doesn't work, prepare yourself for new education............

 

I know this is only a provocation to the ancient, over-opionated squirrelman to mount his soapbox in Trafalger square and proclaim his abstruse lucubrations to the revulsion and amazement of the masses until he eventually appears a fool and recieves ridicule and derision, but i will continue nonetheless.....

OK, but waddabout the additional multiple plug connectors, the expensive high-pressure fuel pump, added wiring, sensors for barometric, temperature, oxygen, throttle position, the added computer, etc. and all the other stuff that might crap out electrically at any time ?? Honda is not famous for electral reliability. You know carb jets can clog up, but FI injectors can too !

Carbs can be worked on and repaired with simple hand tools at NO COST, but the only way to fix an FI problem is to replace an expensive part or parts.

The standard and predictable failure of oxygen sensors is a major source or revenue for auto manufacturers.

IN the end, FI offers just a few insignificant advantages; but far, far fewer faults can occur using carbs with fewer parts to fail.

Now that i've got that off me 'airy chest let's all 'ave a nice cuppa tea, shall we, eh ??

 

Maybe only once in the hundreds of carbs i've fettled have i ever seen a stuck float. Floats pivot upon a clean steel rod against plastic or brass float, and there is almost no way for corrosion or gelled-up fuel to impede that action, so i hereby dismiss the notion of "stuck floats." Float needles that are leaking are more often caused by debris or defects lodged upon the tip of the needle seat than any "sticking," and most commonly, the debris is from rust in the fuel tank.

Despite any opinion otherwise, based upon my limited experience of 40 years carb fettling, i do not believe in the common myth of "stuck floats," but rather bad needles/seats.