What happened?

I was riding home from work today & all of a sudden @ a light the RPM's dropped & I got a bad gas smell. I changed the fuel filter to a slightly larger one on Tuesday and it solved a high rpm miss problem i was having. Now this evening it's running really rough below 3500rpm and ate gas on my way home. Any ideas?

I just went to the garage. The plugs look good, a little white @ the top, but not bad. The bike is bone stock w/ a 3 wk old Emglo air filter, the oil was changed about 2k mi ago. It's always had a slight valve tap in the #1 cylinder. I just started it again, it idled fine for a minute, then started stinking like fuel & died out. I don't know a ton mechanically, but am trying to learn. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sounds like a possible sticky float. One or more carbs may be overflowing which would account for rough running at lower RPM. Try tapping on the bowel and see if that helps. Let us know...

I was in the garage when you were posting the reply & haven't tried tapping the carbs, but I took the tank & air filter off. Looking inside the air box i saw that cylinders 1&2 had fuel coming from them & their plugs were black on the tip & electrode (sorry I only checked 3&4 earlier). Would this change the diagnosis?

if anything that may confirm Bluemeanie's diagnosis. If the float sticks, it will allow fuel to run into the carbs, even though there is no need. This will procude a gas smell, overflowing fuel, and rich burning on that or those cylinders (black spark plug) that are sticking.

I tapped and tapped and tapped then......all was well. Idling smooth, no fuel smell. You guys are great! Thanks so much!!!

KZ700A1 wrote:

I tapped and tapped and tapped then......all was well. Idling smooth, no fuel smell. You guys are great! Thanks so much!!!

That's more of a diagnostic confirmation technique than a cure of the underlying cause.... you might want to clean the carbs.

bountyhunter is on the money, IMHO.

You have eliminated the symptom, but maybe not the cause.

At minimum add an inline gas filter or change the existing inline filter ASAP. Similarly, clean the OEM Petcock filter if it's still installed.

Check your tank for rust and clean if required.

Best of success!

Thanks so much. I just installed a new fuel filter & will check the petcock filter this weekend. I dumped some Seafoam into it this morning w/ a fresh tank of gas. I need to clean the carbs or get them cleaned soon. If I'm doing the carb job, is there any other maintenance that I can do in that area while the bike is somewhat torn apart?

As long as you have the tank off, check your valve clearances........chris3