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81 kz440 ltd- carb leaking gas 06 Aug 2013 17:14 #600110

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Here's the deal... I bought this bike out of a divorce deal. The guy pretty much said "I will b buried and rotting in the ground b4 my wife gets this bike!!!" So he sold it to me for $150! It had a few issues but nothing serious. I replaced piston rings and all the gaskets along the way, gapped the valves, replaced the battery, and snapped off a lot of bolts in the whole process.

After many choice words and a long battle with an exhaust bolt snapped off flush with the head and an easy out snapped off in that bolt I finally got it running!!!! SUCCESS!!!! Or not... It appears I have fuel pouring out of the bottom of the float bowls... I took those off and inspected them and discovered a crack in each of the overflow tubes. Soldered those up and put them back on and fired it up. WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO! No more leak! So I took it around the block, got back and had it sitting in idle when I noticed fuel gushing out of the bottom... again.... I don't know where to turn or where to even start trouble shooting...

It seems as tho its getting far too much gas to the carb and I'm not sure what to do about this...

Please help before I lose the rest of what little sanity I have left!!

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81 kz440 ltd- carb leaking gas 06 Aug 2013 17:47 #600117

  • nickleo373
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Check that video out. It helped me fix my carbs when they were leaking.
Nick
1981 KZ550C LTD
"If you ain't first, you're last"

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81 kz440 ltd- carb leaking gas 06 Aug 2013 18:25 #600123

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Take a look at the section labeled "TOOLS" in the following link regarding the JIS screws and soaking fasteners with Kroil before breaking them.

kzrider.com/forum/10-new-members/589649-...r-savannah-ga#594587

Regarding the carbs leaking from the overflows -

Fuel coming out of the overflow hose (the little hose on the bottom of the carb) is the common symptom of the 3 possible problems described below. Remember - NO SMOKING or other activities that could ignite the fuel while working on carbs!

The float valve is not sealing.
This may be (and probably is) just a matter of some minor dirt in the float valve and is very simple to remedy and can be done with the carbs still on the bike. Turn off fuel; drain carb by loosening big brass screw near bottom; and remove the 4 little screws on the bottom of the carb bowl. This will enable you to remove the carb bowl. You will then see the float. If you carefully remove the float you will see a stubby little needle that mates with a brass orifice; together, these two pieces are the float valve. Assuming there is no obvious damage to the needle or seat, use a Q-tip and some carb cleaner to clean the seat of the orifice and the needle. Be careful not to bend the tang that is attached to the float. This tang is the piece that the bottom of the float valve needle rests upon, and it determines the fuel level in the bowl, so bending it will change the fuel level. With the float valve cleaned it should no longer leak. To prevent a re-occurrence a quality inline fuel filter should be installed between the fuel tank and carbs. If there was damage the needle and seat should be replaced as a set; they are available.

The brass overflow tube inside the carb bowl is damaged
. When you remove the carb bowl you will see a brass tube attached inside and rising toward the top of the bowl. This is the overflow tube and it leads directly to the overflow nipple on the bottom of the carb. Normally, the fuel level within the bowl rises somewhat close to the top of this tube. If the tube becomes cracked or separates from the bottom of the carb bowl fuel will flow through it and out through the overflow hose. Checking the condition of the tube is very easy after you have removed the carb bowl from the carb. Simply hold the bowl level and fill it up near the top of the tube with water of alcohol and see if it leaks. A slight crack in the brass overflow tube can be difficult to find. You can connect a rubber tube to the overflow nipple, fill the bowl with water, put finger over the open end of the brass overflow tube and blow in the rubber end and look for bubbles. If it does the best remedy is to replace it although some folks have found creative ways to repair them.

The fuel level is set too high. This condition occurs when someone has bent the float tang as mentioned above. This condition can be checked using what is referred to as the "clear tube test." The test involves attaching one end of a clear piece of flexible tubing to the carb drain hole and holding the other end of the tube above the bowl/carb joint. When the fuel is turned on it should rise in the tube to a level 2.5 - 4.5 mm below the bowl/carb joint. If the fuel rises higher than that level it may run into the cylinders or over the upper end of the brass overflow inside the carb bowl (mentioned above) in which case it will run out the overflow hose. This condition is corrected by removing the float and gently bending the tang to raise the float valve needle position. Doing this may take several tries before achieving the desired fuel level.

Correcting each of these three conditions involves removing the carb bowl. This task can be made easier if a short screwdriver bit is used, and depending on which carb you are fixing a mirror may help you locate the screws on the bottom of the carb bowl. Also, it is not a bad idea to have a new carb bowl gasket available in case the old gasket is damaged while removing the carb bowl. Ed
1977 KZ650-C1 Original Owner - Stock (with additional invisible FIAMM horn)

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81 kz440 ltd- carb leaking gas 07 Aug 2013 16:16 #600302

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Thanks guys! as it turns out there was a little hunk of crud in both of the float needle ports. Slapped it all back together, low and behold, no more leaks!!!
Now ive run into a different issue… upon startup its taking full choke, full throttle, and just about all of my battery life…
Once I DO get it started and warmed up it sputters and puts for a while when I give it throttle… and after a little bit of that then it kills.

Any suggestions?

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81 kz440 ltd- carb leaking gas 07 Aug 2013 17:21 #600313

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Do you have any vacuum leaks around the carb boots? To check spray carb cleaner on the rubber boots with the bike running at the lowest possible idle without stalling. If the carb spray makes the bike stall or rev up you have a vacuum leak. If your bike's running pod filters without the proper jetting it could cause that problem too. The previous owner put pods on my 550 without doing anything to the carbs and thst caused it to turn on, idle like crap for a minute and then die
1981 KZ550C LTD
"If you ain't first, you're last"

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81 kz440 ltd- carb leaking gas 07 Aug 2013 20:02 #600332

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i used to have a leak on the carb boots... previous owner used some sort of clear epoxy that ended up cracking and chipping off. so i cleaned the rest of it off and JB welded the piss out of it and it works like a charm.
i dont have pod filters. they are the standard filters but upon further investigation, i realize that the air cleaner element(thin foam piece between the filter element and the filter housing) is missing... damn... not sure if the lack of air resistance that would normally be there if that cleaner where in place is my issue or not...

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81 kz440 ltd- carb leaking gas 07 Aug 2013 23:14 #600350

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You'll definitely want to replace that as it's damaged and is unable to clean the air going into your engine properly, however I don't believe it would be causing the problem you described. Did you clean your carbs when you took them off the bike. Dirty main/pilot jets could be a problem.
1981 KZ550C LTD
"If you ain't first, you're last"

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81 kz440 ltd- carb leaking gas 08 Aug 2013 00:06 #600356

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Last time I had it off I went to town on it with carb cleaner, brass brush, and 3 cans of compressed air... It's clean lol.

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81 kz440 ltd- carb leaking gas 08 Aug 2013 00:22 #600359

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Another suggestion would be to check the spark if you haven't already. A bad spark can sometimes mimic carb problems. I'm assuming you've already checked your engine compression when you checked your valve clearances and you synced your carbs when you reinstalled them back to the bike?
1981 KZ550C LTD
"If you ain't first, you're last"

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81 kz440 ltd- carb leaking gas 08 Aug 2013 07:52 #600370

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Compression is right around 150 on both sides.
I guess I haven't check the spark... New plugs about a year ago but that's not to say they arnt gapped right.
Is there an easy way to check if the carbs are synced?

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81 kz440 ltd- carb leaking gas 08 Aug 2013 08:03 #600371

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Ill do some trouble shooting tonight and let ya know what I come up with.

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81 kz440 ltd- carb leaking gas 08 Aug 2013 09:07 #600377

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KzHeadach wrote: ... Is there an easy way to check if the carbs are synced?


Poor idle, rough idle, weak pull-away from idle, noisy cam chain, are all indications of inadequate carb sync.

Good Fortune! :)
1973 Z1
KZ900 LTD

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Last edit: by Patton.
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