Hi, my problem I'm having is on my 96 sportster 1200xl with stock evo engine and carb,. the second day I got the bike , I noticed gas spewing out of the overflow tube from the carb. So I took the carb off and examined the diaphragm and found a tiny pinhole in it., So I went to the local harley shop and got the new diaphragm in there, replaced it, and it performed flawlessly for a while. I have ridden the thing like 5 times since and hadn't started it since july 4th and today I start it up and it's spewing again!
do you think I need to rebuild the entire carb? It had the 10K service in 02 but the original owner hadn't been riding it much. Is there a chance there is crap in the bottom of my fuel tank that is getting in there or something like that.

thanks for the help.
ben.
seattle

 

Had this happen to me more than once. The problem is your float valve, the little pointed thing that clips on to your float that shuts off your gas flow. It is either dirty, has some trash stuck on it, or is worn out. Clean out the passage that the valve rides in also.

 

sweet , thanks for the advise. It actually calmed down this weekend and hasn't been leakin' again, so maybe that little chunk of crap that was in there blew out or something.
'
take it easy..

 

If your gas tank vent is blocked that will cause overflow, too. I don't know if your bike has the vented gas cap or a separate vent.