My VFR drips gas when started!

Hi guys! This will be my first post here on VFR World, and unfortunaly its about at problem with my VFR.

Here in Denmark the winter gets cold, therefore my bike has been placed inside at my dads place.

I'm not necessarily the brightest at doing mechanics on my bike, but I usually get by at smaller tasks. But not this time apparently.

My dad didn't want it to be inside with gas in it. I therefore emptied the tank and drained the carburetors.

Now when I'm filling it with gas and firing it, it pours out with gas from under the carburetors. Not just drips, there's a bit!. But only when the engine is running. When I turn it of, it stops again. Its like its coming out in the middle, but a bit to the left, under the carburetor.

Hope somebody can enlighten me on what I'm doing wrong!

Also, please try and look past the spelling errors, as English is not my native language and school has been a couple of years ago

Best regards from 22 years old guy looking forward to his first season on a VFR!

 

Welcome aboard, thats a nice looking 4th gen you have there. Not an expert with carbs but it sounds like one of the floats/needles has stuck causing that carb to flood. As it only does it when the bike is running suggests the tap is not leaking, as the fuel should only flow when the bike is running, so you should be ok there. (just to be sure though it might be an idea to check if the oil smells strongly of petrol) A quick fix/check is to tap the offending carb with a screwdriver handle, that sometimes free's up the needle.

 

Thank you for your reply!

I was suspecting the same. But good to here it from another aswell, as I'm a bit on deep water.
Tried the knocking, and I believe it helped a bit, but still dripping. So i guess I'm gonna have to take of the carburetor. I was hoping this wasn't necessary.
It should get synchronizing after this, am I right?

 

Hmm seems like it stopped now. Perhaps the knocking helped after all.
Think I will need to keep an eye on it while continue with the original plan. Oil change, filter, brake and clutch fluids, and the coolant.

Thanks for the help!

 

Welcome aboard mads.

That's a clean looking 4th Gen you got there.

Probably a good idea to keep an eye on those carbs. They might need a good cleaning to be sure it doesn't happen again.

And your English is better than most of the Canadians that visit this site. (They know who I'm talking about).

 

Hay sum of us lernt how to speel washing US ked's progrms on PBS.

 

Thank you!

I think you are right. Got a friend with a ultrasound bath, so maybe it should have a cleaning at some point in the near future.

I don't know about those Canadians though, but thanks!

 

The leak could have been coming from several places. One being the float bowl, due to a sticking float needle. Another being from one of the fuel crossover tubes. The crossover tubes have rubber O-rings that seal the tubes to the carb bodies. Sometimes when the carbs are stored without fuel the o-rings shrink a little, just enough to leak. After they are "rehydrated" they swell back up and reseal, and everything is good again. Hopefully one of those things is what happened to your bike.

 

I have a 1982 cb900f Honda. I drain the carbs over the winter. When I fill the carbs in the spring #2 cylinder carb invariably leaked from the overflow due to a sticking float. A few good raps with a longhandled screwdriver fixed it. The bike doesn't have a centre stand. I found when I propped the bike upright over winter, the float rarely sticked after that.

 

Put some carb cleaner in the gas and you should be good to go!

 

As mentioned, it's common for float bowl gaskets to shrink during storage (especially in cold weather) and fail to seal properly when FIRST exposed to fuel again. However, if this is the source of leaking, they are likely to swell up again and stop leaking after a few hours exposure to fuel, and heat helps speed the process.

If leakage is from the fuel crossover tubes' O-rings (4 in total), the work to replace them is extensive and intensive, with alot of careful, fiddely work required. A difficult job that can go very wrong if you lack proper tools or technique.

 

It stopped completely spilling gas. So i hope it was just the gas that needed to moisten the rubber parts, as you mentioned! But i guess some carburetor cleaner wont hurt, as suggested.

Thanks again!

This site seems very nice! I think I'm gonna enjoy spending some time here. Good fast responses that a rookie like me appreciates a lot!