gas draining from carburetor drain hose

(yes, I know that's what it's for). Started running very rough,
missing, won't idle. When stopped, gas drains from carb drain hose.
doesn't drain while engine running. shut gas off and stops draining.
with gas off, will drain if drain screw opened (so gas in bowl). will
drain with drain screw closed if gas is on. starts easily. what the
heck is going on??

 

Two different tubes and you don't understand the function of each tube.

The carburetor drain tube (it is has one) will come DOWN from the
bottom of the float bowl. If it always leaks, the drain screw leaks.

The float bowl vent tube will come UP from the float bowl. If fuel runs
out of that hose, the float valve is leaking.

You can sometimes squirt Berryman's B-12 Choke and Carburetor Cleaner,
of STP carburetor cleaner or Gum Out carburetor cleaner down the
gasoline hose that comes from the gas tank and it will dissolve most
gum and varnish that make the float valve stick.

There is also the possibility that the float is set far too high

 

FB,
Thanks for the kind response. As it turns out, the rough running was
from a torn vacuum line. The gas draining was from a stuck float valve,
probably crud in the gas. The float chamber has an overflow stem that
drains out the same line as the drain valve, so in actuality, it is the
same drain line. Thanks for pointing out my lack of understanding.
There's lots of things I don't understand, but your lack of friends is
not one of them.

 

Yeah, well, you can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but
you can't pick your friend's nose...

 

Factory service manuals are way more informative for the basic stuff and
and way less insulting for the basic stuff than what your going to find here
in
this group.

You will find that in any of the technical/repair groups, from the
automotive
to anything else, that people don't have much patience for the basic RTFM
questions. Usenet isn't a substitute for a $25 manual that contains the
exact
specific information for your bike. Where Usenet works well is assistance
with
problems where the manual falls short.

Ted

 

Yes, I have a copy of that. It's mainly applicable to the 1990's
and later bikes. The FSM's for the earlier Hondas are a lot larger and
more detailed I think.

I follow the Chrysler automotive newsgroups and we've had one person
very recently ask how to rebuild the 41TE automatic transmission in his
vehicle because he didn't want to buy the FSM. This is a
computer-controlled
transmission. Chrysler has a completely separate manual specifically for
that transmission alone, that is as thick as the FSM! People are amazing
sometimes.

Ted

 

Agree absolutely.

And ther usually have a very poor appreciation of their own abilities.
"Well, I've torn down a car engine before...."

Any fool can tear down an engine. Not many can reverse the procedure.

Interesting to read the comments on factory manuals - browsing Ebay last
night, and there was an auction fgor a genuine factory manual for a
Z650. Buy It Now for £20. I didn't hesitate.

 

Who needs this endless discussion? This thread should have been a done
deal with only two posts.

What is it with you and your need to rave on and on and on about
problems that have already been solved?

After all, you're the guy who's afraid to dive into a simple damper rod
fork and "get 'er done".

Jeff Ralston didn't understand the plumbing associated with his
carburetor, so I explained the typical arrangement. Jeff solved his
mechanical problem almost immediately, then indulged himself by trying
to get back at me with an insult because he was somehow offended by the
firm language of my explanation.

Then you started in with a rant about the importance of factory service
manuals. I doubt very seriously if any factory service manual would
have covered the function of every single emissions control, vent, or
carburetor drain hose.

If a home mechanic doesn't have a basic understanding of how something
works and the function of the various parts of a system, a very
complete, but maddeningly vague shop manual written by the Japanese and
translated into "Engrish" won't be much help at all.

There is NO substitute for experience, a mechanic has to get his hands
dirty and actually spend time troubleshooting problems.

 

Ahem. Stones, glass houses, crashtinkle, etc etc....

 

Pots, kettles? Silk purses? Sow's ears? Can a king stop a cat from
looking at him?

 

<VBG>

 

It was until you decided to add one more with your nose-picking comment.
Once you did, you opened the thread up for anything irrelevant.

What is it with your need to try to prove you can fix any bike without the
manual? Is it a He-man complex, or MacGuyver envy?

That's what YOU say.

Well, if your only running bikes that were made by no-name manufacturers
in the back allies of Shanghai, perhaps your right.

I have yet to be disappointed by any FSM, whether written in Japanese and
then translated, or written in English. Since you have so much more
experience
than I do, could you please cite some specific examples of maddenly vague
entries in FSM's for name-brand Japanese bike models and what years they
are in?

A "mechanik" that does this without looking at the paperwork that came with
the engine is going to **** up a lot of stuff. We read about the sad
results
of this with dealership mechanics doing this all the time in this group.

You can't substitute the manual for experience, but you can't substitute
experience for the manual, either. Both are important. Unfortunately too
many people out there think that once they have enough experience they
don't need the manual. And this is not just the case with motorcycles.
You really need to do this with those lubricated condoms you keep buying
the next time you gu **** yourself, the slick side goes out, you see...

Ted

 

I don't NEED my big sister's *permission* to fix minor problems with
carburetor float bowls overflowing, Ted. You'd be a man yourself, if
your big sister hadn't dressed you like a girl and made you play "tea
party" with her dolls.