I have a 1994 883 Sportster that will drop a considerable amount of gas from what I have determined to be the Carb drain tube. When the bike is stopped, engine not running(just turned off) it will sometimes just drain a little or it will occasionally drain a LOT.
I have found to stop it I either turn off the gas at the Pedcock or I Start the bike up and the shut it off again and it usually stops it. I think it runs a little rich any ways but has anyone any idea what this might be. Do I need to pull the carb off?

i've tried dousing it in gum out.. it's better but still happens quite frequently.


Thanks

 

Likely your fuel filter, screen really, died of old age and fell apart. The petcock runs a piece up and down inside that which tears it up. Likely you're petcock has gotten hard to operate. You need the drain the tank to get to it and it's easiest to work on if you remove the tank. The easiest way to drain the tank is turn the petcock off and run the bike until it dies. Then pull the fuel line off the carb, stick it in a gas can and put the petcock on reserve. That won't drain all the fuel and you'll get a bit more drain out when you pull the petcock unless you remove the tank and turn it on it's side to work on it.

As long as you have the tank off you can use some seafoam or gumout to clean some of the gunk out before you put the new filter in. You might as well replace the fuel line and might well have it split removing it. You'll need two hose clamps for each end of it as well. Play around with the petcock to understand how it works before you put it back together. You'll have to get the filter from the harley dealer. Spray some gumout through the petcock to get anything in there cleaned out.

You don't have to pull the carb or do anything to it, but since you got this gunk in there it isn't a bad idea to clean the bowl out as well. The bowl is the bottom of the carb and is held on with four screws. The overflow line is connected to it as well. There's a float in there like a toilet has that controls the valve on the fuel line. Try to listen to whether you have any fuel in the float. If it has a hole then you'll get fuel in it and it won't float as it should which would cause this problem as well. If the fuel filter has tears in it and there's black gunk in the bottom of the bowl then there's your problem, but it doesn't hurt to check the float just to be sure. Spray a little gumout in feed and around the valve. The valve is a little delicate so don't stick the nozzle right on it.

You might have the problem again after you do this as you flush stuff already past the filter on into the float valve. If you clean all that black gunk out of the bowl then you should be able to tell if that's what happened since there will be another spec of black gunk. If it keeps doing it and the bowl stays clean then you have to start questioning the valve. So, to me, just incase it doesn't fix the problem you should clean the bowl to be sure what's happening if it continues.

 

Sounds like the float needle and seat may be not sealing.Could have some junk in the float bowl or the needle/seat assy. is damaged.
Or the float level is set to high.

 

Thank guys I appreciate it. I'll try replacing the fuel filter first as the petcock was really hard to operate when I got the bike, I had to hit it with some penatrating oil to make it usable. when it turn it to off, i do not have this problem, so thats my temporary fix for now.