carb problem

[funrider]

Just started the bike, (1987 VR), for the first time this season and before I decided to put the new tires on, I took it for a ride. Wasn't running great and when I looked down, there was a fast drip of gas out of one of the overflow tubs. The back carb on the clutch side is overflowing and running gas out. Think it had started to cause trouble last fall already but not to the point that it is now. How hard is it to work on the one carb, can I just remove and repair the one or can it be repair on the bike? I run sea foam through my bike quite often so don't think that will help. What is the easyest way to try to fix this problem?

Thanks John

[Snaggletooth]

You either have a needle valve sticking or a float sinking due to saturation. Most likely a stuck needle. You can try tapping on the float bowl to loosen the needle to knock any debris loose but that may or may not work. As you use Sea Foam and hopefully Stabil or such for winter storage it should not be too badly gummed up.

 

To repair you will have to pull the complete carb bank off the bike. You can seperate the two halves of the bank to get to the problem carb. Look at the carb bank brackets and you will see how that comes apart. This method will keep most of the sync settings intact for the carbs. If you seperate all four carbs you will need to bench set the sync linkages to get close to where you need to be before reinstalling them.

 

With the halves seperated you will be able to open and inspect all the bowls without messing with anything else.

 

It's a bit of work to get them out and they go back in much easier. Not that scary of a job really if you are handy with a wrench.

Edited April 14, 2009 by Snaggletooth

[Dano]

You've got a float sticking. Might try to rap on it slightly to dis-lodge the gunk. Also attach a clear hose to the little rubber hose coming throught the carb bracket and stick it in a clear jar, then open the drain screw that is to the right side of the carb (phillips head, about half-way back in there. This is the bowl drain. See what kind of stuff you have coming out of there. Oh, gotta have the key on so's the fuel pump will run to do this.

You might get lucky and fix it this way. Otherwise you'll have to pull the carbs, separate them and take 'em apart to clean.

 

Dan