Fuel coming out front left carb

[Zorrander]

I started my 2006 Tour Deluxe this morning and noticed a really strong gas smell. It turns out that fuel is coming up out of the front left carb and running down to the fairing, then out on the ground. It only does this when running, so I'm not sure if the inlet is stuck open or what may be going on. I've searched here, and tried letting it run out of fuel with the fuel cock set to off, but am not able to do much else. I'm quite incompetant when it comes to locating where these parts actually are inside the carb casing. The carbs were rebuilt by the previous owner about 2 days before I came to pick up the bike. It's ran fine for about 3-4 months now until today. Any suggestions would be welcomed.

[Freebird]

Sounds like a stuck float. Try tapping on it with the handle of a screwdriver or something and see if that will stop it. If so, add some Seafoam or similar carb cleaner to it...I would add a full can to a full tank of gas.

[Zorrander]

I knocked on it a bit with a screwdriver handle, but didn't have much luck. I'm wary of going anywhere with it since it is pouring out and puddling up rather rapidly. Looks like I get to trailer it to the local bike shop.

[V7Goose]

You need to knock on the bottom of the float bowl of ALL the carbs - there is no way for you to know which one is stuck. The two left carbs share a vent hose, as do the two right ones. From the factory, the RIGHT carb vent is routed to the LEFT front air intake, but since you said the carbs had been out, you cannot trust that. Many of us think it is really stupid for Yamahaha to cross those vent hoses, so when the carbs are out we reconnect them so the left carbs vent to the left air intake and right carbs to the right intake. That way you know if you see gas on the left side, it is one of the left carbs (which is what most people assume anyway).

 

So start by knocking fairly good on the bottom of each float bowl with that screwdriver handle; you need to hit it hard enough to get some vibration to hopefully unstick the float or needle valve. Then turn the key on and see if the problem has been fixed. If not, turn off the gas and run it until the carbs are empty, then rap on them again. In this case, you are hoping that the empty float bowls will allow the stuck float to fall down further and then start moving properly when you turn the gas back on.

 

If neither of those fixes it, the carbs are gonna need to be pulled to take off the float bowls and fix it manually.

Goose

[Zorrander]

I'll give it a shot here in a bit. I'm about to cook. I'm going to go ahead and order a service manual for the bike so I have at least a clue of what to do. I'm not even sure how to get the tank off at this point, so you see what point I'm at knowledge-wise.

 

I have a friend with a HD that has rebuilt his carbs before, maybe between the two of us we can get it to quit sticking or figure out what is wrong.

[V7Goose]

You can download the service manual from the tech library on this site for free.

 

Where are you in Texas?

Goose

[Zorrander]

That just saved me about $30. Excellent.

 

I live near Tyler, about 100 miles east of Dallas

 

While I'm thinking about it... I can't believe anything still has carbs... you'd think Yamaha would have gone to fuel injection by 2006 or even 2011.

Edited July 24, 2011 by Zorrander

[Zorrander]

Tried all the things suggested and it still pours out if the fuel cock is on. I used an LED flashlight and looked around and can definitely see it coming out the left air assembly. I imagine it's going to end up at the shop as I don't really have the time or patience to mess with it. If this crap would happen on Fridays instead of Sundays I might have more options.

[Yammer Dan]

Just because it is coming out the left doesn't mean it has to be that carb. Everybody says screwdriver handle to rap with but I use a long 3/8s or 1/2 drive extension. Get a better rap on it with that. Tap each carb GOOD several times. Don't break anything but Don't be scared of them. Then as said Sea-Foam. A diet of a little Sea-Foam now and then you probally wouldn't be having this problem.

[Zorrander]

Bike shop's closed on Mondays so I'll probably mess with it some more tomorrow. I downloaded the service manual, so I may go ahead and loosen the tank to lift it to see if I can tell which carb is flooding and/or pour a few drops of sea foam directly into the carbs. If I weren't dealing with fuel I'd pull the bike into the back room of the house... it's really damned hot out there

[bkuhr]

Not sure about RSTD, but I would assume carb overflow to be on a drain hose simular to 1st gen. PO states fuel from carbs running down fairings. Sounds like loose pressure/inlet fuel line. Might be a simple as remove air box and tighten loose hose clamp/ring clamp.

[V7Goose]

Not sure about RSTD, but I would assume carb overflow to be on a drain hose simular to 1st gen. PO states fuel from carbs running down fairings. Sounds like loose pressure/inlet fuel line. Might be a simple as remove air box and tighten loose hose clamp/ring clamp.

This problem is absolutely a stuck float - there is no loose hose.

 

You won't be able to tell which overflow hose is routed to the left air intake until you remove the tank AND remove at least one of the air plenum boxes above the carbs. The overflow vent hose connects to a T between the two carbs on the top outside of the carbs near the edge of the diaphragm covers. These two hoses (one from left two carbs, and one from right two carbs, are routed forward through a rectangular cutout in the carb frame and up to just hang in a little square bracket just in front of the air intake. What you are looking for is to see if they cross each other as they go through that bracket, and there is no way to see that without removing some of that crap above the carbs. Very creative use of an inspection mirror and a little flashlight might let you see that from below or in front, but I doubt it.

 

The good news is that taking the tank and the air plenums off is very easy (but getting the air plenums back ON without buckling the rubber lips is very hard for some people - make sure the clamps are very loose). The bad news is that even after you know which SIDE the leaking carb is on, you still won't know which specific carb it is. And even if you did, there is still not much you can do to fix it short of pulling the carb rack and putting it on the bench to open them up.

 

As for removing the carbs, that is really very simple once everything else is off. Since the carbs are all taken off as a single unit (the entire carb rack), the only things needed to remove them after the air intake system is off is:

 

1. Remove the two throttle cables (note here that it is actually easier to wait to remove the throttle cables until the rack is slightly pulled out to the left so you have a bit more room to get the cable end loose).
   
2. Unplug the TPS and carb heater plugs.
   
3. Disconnect the fuel line and two vent hoses.
   
4. Loosen the hose clamp under each carb and then just pull up on each side (one side at a time) until the carbs "pop" loose from the intake joint. Then the whole rack comes right out the left side.
   

Once the rack is out, just flip it over on the bench (after draining, of course) and take off the bowl covers. See my article in the tech library on setting floats so you can check to see that yours ore correct - Certainly this is the time to get those float levels set correctly if that has not already been done. I would also say that you really should go ahead and pull the jets for cleaning with some spray carb cleaner - at least the pilot jets. If they all look good and clean, then don't bother with the mains. Note that all four pilot jets are the same, so you can pull them together, but do NOT pull all four main jets at the the same time - there are three different sizes of jets, so you don't want to mix them up!

 

Finally, note that pulling the carbs and even resetting the float levels and taking out jets to clean them will have NO impact on your carb sync - I have never had it change from pulling the carbs and doing this work. of course, it does not hurt to check it anyway, that is pretty standard procedure, but don't worry about it if you do not have the sync tool.

 

But now I want to add one caution - while all of this work is really quite easy on most bikes, you could have a bigger mess on your hands if your problem was caused by someone using a bad brand of spray carb cleaner and they destroyed the o-rings under the needle jets. Only two of the floats can be easily removed while the carbs are all mounted together in the rack, and you really do not want to try and disassemble the rack under most situations.

 

I'll offer you two ways I can help - I'm on the road today, but if you want to call me anytime later I'll be happy to walk you through just about anything on the phone. Secondly, you are in one of the few areas of the state where I do not think we have a bunch of other members who can jump in and help you. If you can wait until later in the week or next weekend, I'll ride out there and help you put it all right. You can find my phone number in my profile.

Goose

[Zorrander]

Wow. If you are really willing to go through all this it might be good for me to see it done before trying anything myself. The bike sat for about 2 years and the previous owner took it to have the carbs rebuilt before I bought it. The problem is I have no idea if they actually did a rebuild or just cleaned out existing parts and left dried/cracked parts in there. I have a very basic knowledge of how these things work, but tend not to try to tear things apart unless I'm sure I know what I'm doing.

 

It's not a life or death situation to have the bike, I do have a car. I am good until you may be able to get to Tyler. If you can't I can take it to Scooter Pete's. They are usually pretty reliable and fair on charges.

 

Obviously I'd pay you for your time if you choose to come here. The bike is on a porch, so there's not direct sunlight, but it's hot as hell here. It would be possible to take it into my living room through a french door as long as the gas is drained before we put it indoors.

[V7Goose]

There is an absolute minimum of two hours work to do this (if you are experienced and work heads-down with no interruptions), probably three or four hours in most situations. Even more with bench racing and teaching thrown in.

 

The work will include pulling the carbs, cleaning and fixing the problem, float level set, carb sync, and mixture adjustment. Any shop that has ever worked on a 2nd gen and knows what it takes to get the carbs out will charge at least $200 for the job (probably twice that for all I listed) - I'll do it with you for $150 + beer to drink and the cost of a cheap hotel if I need to stay over. No costs for travel - I just like to ride.

 

We don't need to take the bike inside, but a big fan is always nice! Give me a call or PM me with your phone number so we can work out a date. If anyone else wants to meet in Tyler and see the work, we can have a party! Provided, of course, that you want to open up the invitation to others; not everyone can deal with multiple bikes converging on their house.

Goose

[geep]

There is an absolute minimum of two hours work to do this (if you are experienced and work heads-down with no interruptions), probably three or four hours in most situations. Even more with bench racing and teaching thrown in.

 

The work will include pulling the carbs, cleaning and fixing the problem, float level set, carb sync, and mixture adjustment. Any shop that has ever worked on a 2nd gen and knows what it takes to get the carbs out will charge at least $200 for the job (probably twice that for all I listed) - I'll do it with you for $150 + beer to drink and the cost of a cheap hotel if I need to stay over. No costs for travel - I just like to ride.

 

We don't need to take the bike inside, but a big fan is always nice! Give me a call or PM me with your phone number so we can work out a date. If anyone else wants to meet in Tyler and see the work, we can have a party! Provided, of course, that you want to open up the invitation to others; not everyone can deal with multiple bikes converging on their house.

Goose

 

Very nice offer, great to have people like you on this forum!

[FuzzyRSTD]

There is an absolute minimum of two hours work to do this (if you are experienced and work heads-down with no interruptions), probably three or four hours in most situations. Even more with bench racing and teaching thrown in.

 

The work will include pulling the carbs, cleaning and fixing the problem, float level set, carb sync, and mixture adjustment. Any shop that has ever worked on a 2nd gen and knows what it takes to get the carbs out will charge at least $200 for the job (probably twice that for all I listed) - I'll do it with you for $150 + beer to drink and the cost of a cheap hotel if I need to stay over. No costs for travel - I just like to ride.

 

We don't need to take the bike inside, but a big fan is always nice! Give me a call or PM me with your phone number so we can work out a date. If anyone else wants to meet in Tyler and see the work, we can have a party! Provided, of course, that you want to open up the invitation to others; not everyone can deal with multiple bikes converging on their house.

Goose

 

Great jester Goose. Glad I belong to this group with people like you. Thanks for all your help in so many ways here on this site. You got my vote for the award that goes to them that go far and beyond to help another rider out.

 

James

[Zorrander]

The bike is now running thanks to V7Goose. He is an upstanding individual and makes me proud to be a part of the venturerider site.

 

He found a ton of brown junk and sand inside the carbs even after the supposed cleaning that was done by Arlington Motorsports when I purchased the bike. The covers over the floats were completely coated in goo that had been sitting for a long time. All the floats, jets, and tubes were clogged with crap. Also, the carbs had apparently never been resynched and are now correct. The bike is running 100% different now. There is no hesitation on turning the throttle and there is a definite huge gain in power.

 

V7Goose also gave me a variety of tips and pointers on the royal star bike and even took the time to fix a crack in my left fairing.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to come down and help me out. I doubt any mechanic would have ever gotten this bike running as well as you have today and then they would have charged me $500+ for their minimal efforts. After watching what you did I should be able to at least get the carbs out and cleaned if similar issues arise.

[Sleeperhawk]

did you pay him $150 plus hotel expenses and beer, sounds like a heck of a deal.

 

[Zorrander]

He ended up riding back home and we did make a nice stack of empty beer cans.

[V7Goose]

Just got home - ugly traffic in Dallas - 20 MPH and 105 degrees made the tail end of the ride real nasty! Other than that, it was a very productive day - 300 mile round trip with about 6 hours of bike work in the middle.

 

It was great to meet you, and I'm glad you are happy with our results. Just blows my mind that Arlington Motorsports charged $800 freakin bucks to do nothing more than scrape the inside of the float bowls with a screwdriver! I hope everyone in the DFW area sees this and stays the hell away from those crooks!

 

Hope to see you out on the road sometime,

Goose

[Zorrander]

$110 an hour for labor... I found a receipt where they charged him $268 for an oil change and checkup. $220 in labor and 48 in parts. Not sure how they can say they took 2 hours to change the oil and check fluid levels.