I had a real bad night Tuesday. Bike was puking gas out the carb and finally died. It was coming out of a vacuum line that I had plugged. I guess the gas pressure was enought to make the plug come off. So I got that fixed and then gas was coming out of the air breather.

This is an SS Super E carb. 86 EVO ST. Well, after all this, I've got to pee. And here comes Johnny Law. Takes me to jail at 2:30 am. Tows my bike.

I get the bike yesterday and I'm thinking the float might be stuck or something. So I have some carb cleaner and seafoam. Got to crank it and gas/oil is coming out of the crankcase vent/breather. So I got gas in the oil, great! I manage to get her going and ride it home (short ride, 10 minutes). I went ahead and changed the oil/filter. Anything else I need to look at?

BTW, I just put new tanks and petcock on the bike the day before. So this was the first ride with the new tanks/petcock.

TIA.

 

Either the float was stuck/broke or the needle valve was stuck/dirty or your new tank is not vented, built up pressure and that pushed gas past the valve. And what vacuum line did you plug and why?

Next time, look out for johnny law at 0230 and don't do whatever he took you to jail for.

 

It's a vacuum line on the right side of the carb (looking at the carb side of the bike), pointing down. I plugged it cause it wasn't attached to anything when I bought the bike. It was just open.

The one cap should be vented. I used them on my old tanks a a couple weeks. There is an extra vent line on the top of the RH side tank that I left capped. But it still has the cross over hose. I did notice the gas took a long time to transfer fromt eh right side to the left. And then looked yesterday and the right side is completely empty while the left has a little gas in there. Maybe a 1/5 tank.

I think one of the valves on the bottom of the tank is mostly clogged with the tank liner crap. I pushed a wire through one of them and could not get the wire though the other one. I did that two weeks ago and forgot to fix that before filling it with gas. I just figured the gas would flow slower from tank to tank. Didn't realize it would cause the gas to go into the oil.

Any tricks to cleaning out the little valve stems on the tank?

 

That's not a vacuum line on your carb. It's your float bowl vent/overflow. Leave it open. Download the manual for that carb from the S&S web site. It's free.

OK, time to learn some stuff about your bike. No more blindly capping off lines. There is one valve on the two tanks, and that's the petcock valve. Anything else is not a valve. Gas got into your oil because the carb flooded with gas, the gas ran down the intake into the cylinder head, past the rings and into the block.

Step 1: Buy the shop manual for your bike. Just suck it up and do it. You blew way more than that already on towing and jail. If you're not going to buy the manual, then pay someone else to work on it or sell the bike.
Step 2: Remove the tanks and flush out the crap in them. Remove the petcock and clean the screen. Blow out the connections (what you're calling valve stems) with some compressed air. Look inside with a flashlight and make sure there is no more crap anywhere in there.
Step 3: Put the tanks back on the bike and connect the hoses exactly as the book shows. Make sure you run the tank vent line if it has one, which might be the one you capped off. Gas should flow between the tanks easily. If you are talking true fat bobs, then there are two connections between the tanks: On at the bottom and one at the top under the speedo.

 

well its a pain to get the carb off but id get a rebuild kit and rebuild, its not brain surgery. i did mine and it worked out great. my acc. pump was shot.

 

Thanks Dr Hess. I have the clymer manual. I just didn't clean the connections like I should have. Got in a hurry I guess. The one I have capped is on top of the tank. The right side fat bob has two on top and one on the bottom. The old tanks had an extra on the bottom. It was capped with a short hose.

 

OK. The "standpipe" I capped is for the vapor value on 1992+ models. So I should be good as long as the cap is a vented cap.

 

OK, you're getting there. Just go slow and pay attention. Also, I _strongly_ recommend NO BEER until the wrenches are off the bike and you're cleaning up. That's my rule when working on my vehicles. Now, if I'm working on someone else's vehicle, that's different. I also don't work on other people's vehicles professionally so they get what they get.

Uncap the carb overflow and run it down to the bottom of the frame somewhere.

Un-gunk your tanks and lines. Make sure you have the two tanks connected by a clean line at the top and at the bottom. Use 1/4" fuel line, not vacuum line, especially at the bottom.

Rebuild the carb. Clean out the needle valve and/or replace it.

 

What has happened is the tank liner has clogged up the standpipe on the bottom of the left side tank. I did get my wire through there once but can't seem to get it through again. Tried some air but I only have a portable air pump, not a high CFM compressor.

Thinking about putting something in a drill to try and get through the clogg. Basically need a really small snake, like for a clogged sewer line. The curve of the pipe isn't helping!

 

I'd try a guitar string as a snake. Maybe a gauge that will not flex too easily but small enough to do the job. I'm thinking a .036 should do it. Any music store should have it, about $1.00