Fuel leak on 1996 Royal Star Tour Classic

[Joe West]

Hi all. This is my first post. I wish I had found this forum earlier. I own a 1996 RSTC that my wife and I unfortunately don't get to ride as often as we would like. I always use fuel stabilizer when we store it, but this spring when I started it, fuel was dripping from the carb area.

 

As I said, I wish I had found this forum sooner. I assumed it was gummed up needle and seat, and although I've rebuild a few auto carbs, I've never played with these.

 

After calling the dealer and getting a quite expensive quote, I decided I'd tackle this myself. I removed the carb assembly and I'm going to disassemble them asap.

 

I noticed it is the first carb in line from the inlet of the fuel line that is leaking. I'm a little leery about all this and don't know if I should go all out or just remove and clean the bowl on the one I have now leaking.

 

Also, I'm wondering about a sentence in the Yamaha service manual I purchased with the bike that says don't use any caustic carb cleaners, just use a petroleum based cleaner . I was going to soak the bodies in Delco carb cleaner over night, wash them off in hot water and soap and blow them dry. Now I'm lost as to what to do.

 

I also will try to change the fuel filter, but it looks buried in the frame pretty good. I haven't really looked closely at that situation yet.

 

Any advice would be appreciated. Wish I had known about simply tapping on the bowl or using sea foam (whatever that is, I'll look into that also). Thanks.

[pegscraper]

Welcome from another '96 owner. I would clean all the carbs while you have them apart, rather than just one. Delco carb cleaner is caustic? I think I've probably used it before and I'll probably use it again.

[Freebird]

I agree. If you already have them all off, may as well clean them all. I'm sorry but I have never used the Delco cleaner so can't answer your question about it.

[pegscraper]

Eh, forget fixing the silly 28mm carbs and find a nice clean set of 32mm carbs to put on it.

 

BTW, let's see some pics. Pics are mandatory here, ya know. It's the only real rule we have around here.

[calperin]

Hey Peg,

 

Where did you get the carbs from?

 

Any clue?

 

I have an additional set from the First Gen. But I don't know if those are the ones.

 

Regards,

 

Carlos

[pegscraper]

Unfortunately, the 1st gen carbs won't fit. You want the ones from a '99 or newer RSV or an '05 or newer RSTD. It usually doesn't take too long to turn a set up on ebay.