Hosed Hose
I rode to work awhile back and as I pulled into the plant the bike started running very rough. When I coasted to a stop I noticed a nice (not) trail of gas following me. Figgered the float valve had some trash on it preventing it from closing. I rapped the float bowl a couple times and it quit spewing gasolio onto the ground.
Didn't have any problems on the way home, but I dropped the float bowl and saw a couple little tiny balls of trash. I couldn't ID them, but thought they might have come from inside the fuel line as it was an old piece I'd had to use when the fancy colored line I'd bought leaked. Even had to clean out a mud dauber's nest before putting it on the bike.
I took the bike to work Tuesday and about two miles from the plant it started choking down on me again. I made it to work, rapping the float bowl to try and clear the stuck valve. Once again, the boogers could've followed me 'cause of the trail I left. Sure doesn't do much for the gas mileage!
When I fired the beastie-girl up to go home she made it all of a quarter mile before starting to flood out again. I shut the petcock down and fiddled with how much it was opened, trying to find someplace it'd let enough gas in to run, but not flood. It is next to impossible with a standard petcock. Anyway, it took well over an hour to get home, but the bike finally cleared itself and ran the last twenty miles in good form.
I dropped the bowl at the house and found almost 1/16 inch deep pile of those little balls that I'd seen the day before. After putting them under a magnifying glass I recognized them as pieces of rubber that were sloughing off the inside of that old fuel line. I yanked the line off and made up a new one from some donated braided nylon line. Then I put everything back together, patted myself on the back, and fired her up, only to watch gas come shooting out the overflow line, again. DANG!!!!!
Off with the bowl, again. Now it appeared the float valve was damaged and unable to completely seat. I scrounged through my many goody boxes until I found the remains of an old rebuild kit that still had a float valve in it. I put it in and slapped everything back together. Now she'd start up, but wouldn't stay running without cranking on the throttle to let the accelerator pump shoot raw gas into the carb throat. DANG, AGAIN!!!!
One more time, off with the float bowl and look at everything. This time I noticed the new float valve was a wee bit different than the old one. Not much, but just enough that I had to reset the float level tab. The new valve was a little longer than the old one so it seated sooner, not allowing a high enough gas level in the bowl to keep the bike running. Once I set the level properly, ol' Sloptail ran like the sweet li'l girl she's always been.
And I am a happy man, again!
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 Chrome sucks.
Barges are for chopping. Otherwise, they might as well be Gold Wings!
Ride it! Beat it! Break it! Fix it! Ride it some more!
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