A female friend has a 1997 with 7,000 miles on it. The problem is this: When the bike is parked in a garage, you can expect the whole garage to smell like gas. replaced the plugs the other day for her and when i pulled them out, they were dripping with gas. What is the cause of this and what should i check? there is no obvious gas leaking out on the floor nor is there gas leaking from tank..everything under the airbox was dry and dusty. Changed plugs started bike and let run for awhile. Tried starting it again later and bike acted like it was flooded out and wouldn't turn over.
sounds like the needle valve in the carbs are sticking open......if let sit long enough it can hydro lock a motor........fix carbs and change oil to make sure all the gas is out of oil and possibly put a new petcock on b/c it is vac operated and shouldnt let gas flow even if the needles are stuck
Float needles for sure, very common problem. See if you can find a set of float valves with steel tips. Call "Factory", I used to get mine from them. BTW, your motor oil is contaminated with raw fuel every time this happens. Change the oil and get it fixed quick! http://www.factorypro.com/
+1. I had this happen a few times with an older GPZ I had. I had an entire 5 gallons of gas leak out through 1 stuck float needle overnight. filled up 2 cylinders completely (hydro locked!) and the rest leaked out all over my attached garage floor. Let's just say it smelled like gas, a lot and my wife wasn't happy. If you let it sit long enough or the leak gets worse, the cylinders will fill up and overflow into the airbox and eventually on the ground. Like the other guys said, take out your carbs and take off the float bowls and look at the float needles and where they seal. Mine had a piece of peeled off paint that was stuck on the sealing surface for the needle. Also, put a fuel filter on the fuel line going into the carbs from the tank after you get the carbs cleaned up. That should keep crap from getting back in there.
i would also check the fuel petcock and the inside of the tank for rust. sometimes the rust will destroy the petcock and the fuel will just run through it and lock the engine. happened to me once, pita. good luck
