Huge gas leak??

Woke up this morning to a house smelling of gasoline...freaked me out!
Walked out into our garage and viewed my '82 kz750ltd, which I've been working on since feb, with a giant puddle under it of straight gasoline.

This is my first kz but I've fiddled with cars and scooters...is this just a float issue?
What's bizarre is I took a ride with my wife yesterday and the bike performed like champ...pulled strong up to 80mph on the freeway- but on the way home, through our community, it started to backfire.
Backfiring is due to poor carb conditions right? Too rich or too lean?

Any advice on a huge gas leak, probably from a carb?

Thanks!

DO you close the petcock after riding? If I don't I get a little gas leaking from the overflow tubes after sitting a day or so. I am not saying I should get the leak but if I close the valve after riding it doesn't leak. Others with more knowledge can probably be a little more detailed with other suggestions. Are you talking half the tank full of gas leak or less?

Chris

Before running the engine again, open up the oil filler cap and do a "Sniff Test". If you smell gasoline in the oil,DO NOT RUN THE ENGINE, AS DAMAGE MAY HAPPEN! The oil probably is diluted, making it unusuable for engine lubrication, also depending on how much gas/oil is in the crankcase, a situation known as "Hydrolock" may occur. Liquids are not compressable, but metal will bend/break(connecting rods) if the oil/gas level is high.

I suspect a stuck float or a submerged one has let the gas run for quite some time.

I actually don't normally close the petcock on any of our three bikes but I certainly tapped it off this morning on the kz after the majority of the tank was on the floor...first time though! Must be something new.

Is it easy to diag & fix a float in one of the carbs?

It could be a simple fix like removing the possible crud from the needle valve seat for the floats. or if the floats have rubber tipped needle valves, the E-10,E-15,or E-85 gas has eaten away at the tips.

To clean the needle valve seats, get some cotton swabs,metal polish & with the float assemblies removed, spin the cotton swab with some metal polish on it between your finger and thumb.Follow up by using rubbing alcohol to remove any residue.

I had a problem with two of my over flow tubes splitting .
Took a while for me to figure it out, the floats were right but it would still drip until the fuel in the lines drained.

Isn't there a vacuum petcock on that 82 ?

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messed around with it after work today...definitely the petcock soaking the entire left side.
What's the rebuild Entail? alot of work or just piece it back together with new gaskets and o-rings?

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Just going with a gravity feed, rather than a petcock? Is that what you were stating?