Think i have a bad fuel line..... =(

O.k. here we go.
My Bike is a 1982 KZ440 LTD with only 1,240 original miles... I started it up today just to take it for a spin and when I went to give it gas it suddenly started to act like a moped and go no where(no power)... Fully PINNED it struggled to get to 30mph and lost speed going up a hill... So I managed to get it home and let it sit in my driveway for about 2 hours(off) and then when I went back to check, it pissed gasoline ALL under the bike... So I pulled it onto the grass and put a pan under it and let it sit. I have no idea what happened. The last time I started it was about 90days ago which I had the bike tuned and filled up with 93octane. Could a gas line from sitting for the past 25years be bad? I checked it and it seemed that it was dripping from the carbs over flow tube. Could it just be from being PINNEd that I flooded the carbs but no power? Should I drain the carbs again...
I don't want to start taking apart the thing until I know what's wrong... 90days ago it ran MINT! So if anyone could help me that would be great. I have had bikes in the past and I have never had this experience..

del

Today's gasoline is crap! It goes stale in a quarter the time of when I was starting up with bikes.

Your first problem ( loss of power ) may well be a plugged air vent in the gas cap. The pissing carbs suggest dirt in the float valves. How clean is the tank? Take a carb bowl off without demounting the carbs. How much sediment do you find in there?

KZCSI

Your petcock is malfunctioning. There isn't all that much gas in the float bowls and if you had a LOT of gas flow out when the bike was parked, the petcock is not shutting off. It may also be malfunctioning when riding. Check the vacuum line to the petcock for integrity and if it is good, then replace or rebuild the petcock.

also... didn't mean to disregard the info regarding fuel. It was good and correct. Drain tank and carbs and replace with 87 octane. Your bike is designed to run on 87 octane and 93 octane will cause incomplete/poor combustion and foul plugs and eventually soot up your combustion chambers.

Post edited by: wiredgeorge, at: 2007/09/12 09:21

Nice looking bike Crazy. Wiredgeorge is the expert in this area and I would certainly follow his advice. I've had similar problem with my bike (2Xs). The bike would spit gas/drool into the airbox and leak out from there. What was happening was I got some debri in the carbs that prevented the floats to closing completely alowing gas to continue flowing when the bike was running. I tapped the bowls with a rubber mallet to dislodged the crap and drained the bowls. It fixed the problem. I'd replace your old lines, put in an inline fuel filter with fresh gas. Check to see if you have any crap in your tank and clean that as well. Your petcock should have a filter on it in the tank you may whant to check its integrety. My bike experienced the same sluggish behavior you described when this occured due to flooding in the carbs. Let us know what you find out as this will help other member of this site. Good luck.

Great looking bike! Ed

O.K... I got it done.. Thanks for all your help... It wasn't my fuel nor my fuel line as I originally thought...
It was infact the Floats... I draind the bowls, took the carbs out, undid the bowls and while i was playing with the floats I noticed that the one was getting stuck more then the other but both were dirty.. So I got my Carb Cleaner sprayed and played with them for 20mins and eventually they started working flawlessly... So after I put them back together I cut the fuel line and added a inline fuel filter between the carbs, You don't even see it. Started the bike up and then "Snap" no more overflow...
Thank you everyone for your help.. I would like to now nominate my bike for bike of the month... Its a 82 with 1,240 original miles...