Leaking Fuel

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Petetherat

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I was leaving work this morning and noticed my ZL1's tank was empty, which was odd. I filled up, came home, and found fuel leaking from the #2 carb. The bike had been sitting while I was on deployment (in the Navy), except when my neighbor rode it. Any ideas?
 
Be very careful!
This could well be a potential Hydrolock situation.
It sounds like you have a problem with your fuel tap - it should NOT allow fuel to flow unless there is a vaccumn created by your engine turning over. (unless you have left it in the Prime position).
Also - sounds like you have a stuck needle valve in the carb - which is not shutting the flow off as it should.
This means that you can get fuel overflowing into the cylinder head and either down into your crankcase - so check oil level and smell the oil for gas.
Worse still is tht you get a pool of oil sitting on a piston - and you try to start the motor - bent rod!
That is why a number of guys have gone to a manual - Pingel shut off valve. HTH.
 
After doing some homework, I'm guessing the same thing. I was going to try some Berryman's to clean the carbs. The petcock was left in the PRI position (my bad). Wish me luck, she's my daily driver. Where can I get the manual valve you mentioned?
 
yep, I got em and that is a link to my store... thanks vinney !

Petetherat-- you can do your window shoppin' on the ebay store and then pm me here and you will get the zl-oa hook a brother up deal pricing, if you prefer to use ebay for whatever reason I will not be able to change the price for you.

vinney is correct you have a problem with the needle valves in your float area, its not likely to be corrected by berrymans, seafoam or any additive, its probably a bit of rust or crud rather than fuel gook residue. you will likely have to pull and clean up your carbs to correct this problem.

there is a "get lucky" fix that might help. turn off the fuel valve and open the drain plug on your float bowls to empty them of fuel. when they are empty close the drain screw and put fuel valve back on prime, you may want to gently tap on the offending carb with the plastic end of a screw driver while it fills. the idea is to wash the crud past the needle. by emptying the bowl the float drops all the way down and opens the needle valve to the max and when the fuel is turned back on the initial rush of fuel may move the bit o' crud out of the needle seat area and restore the seal. If it dont work the first time repeat twice more as needed, if that dont do it ... you aint gettin' lucky..... pull the carbs and clean em up.

would be a good idea to pull and check your fuel valve as well, most of the stock fuel valves have a deformed filter screen that does not seal properly allowing these kind of things to get into your carbs... this is why most guys who have changed to pingle fuel valves have done so

good luck... hope ya get lucky... I have a few times !
 
i kept finding little bits of crap in the needle assembly that was holding the needle from seating.putting an external fuel filter stopped that.
 
blackzl9 said:
i kept finding little bits of crap in the needle assembly that was holding the needle from seating.putting an external fuel filter stopped that.
Click to expand...

Yep. Yu have a classic example of a float valve stuck open. Been there. I was lucky. I did experience hydrolock , but was able to get the piston moving without damage. Dangerous situation.
 
No hydrolock so far, running Sea Foam now, leak slowed but not stopped. I didn't get lucky with the drain valve. Thanks anyway Brac. It's going to have to wait another 4 days till I go on leave. I'm not looking forward to pulling the tank and carbs, but i guess I gotta learn sometime. I did talked to the auto body shop, they said they would only charge $50 to straighten my front fender.
 
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Good luck! Don't be afraid and follow the manual on the float height adjustment/checking. Make sure you inspect and clean the float needles and replace all o-rings. Polish the float valve seats with a q-tip and some metal polish.

I don't recommend aftermarket kits, I would buy the float bowl gaskets, air screw o-rings, and fuel tube o-rings from the dealer. I bought 4 K&S carb kits and found them to be a waste of money..poor quality
 
hiya ive just had the same problem with my zl750 turned out too be the little spring loaded pins on the needle valve units going weak after 25 years and not pushing hard enough on the seats inside the carb to shut the fuel off solution was replace all 4 needle valves and set the hight of the float when refitted to 17 mm from the carb body with the carbs inverted hope this info helps you
 
One of my carbs was leaking because the float itself was cracked and just filled with fuel. Lucky I have extra carbs to use for parts.
 
I completely lucked out and used Sea Foam to stop my fuel leak. Lucky me. Still have to rebuild my petcock valve.
 
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