I replaced petcock and carb gaskets but they still

I replaced petcock and carb gaskets but they still leak!!!!!!!!
I replaced carb bowl gaskets and petcock gaskets (disk witch 5 holes and diaphragm)
Carb gaskets were too big so I had to trim them, I could mess up one of them but not all 4! Did I buy junk gaskets from ebay?
Any smart people around? Help!

You may want to measure fuel level in the floatbowl. Sounds like the fuel level is too high.

The fuel level inside the float bowls should never be up that high as to leak past the gaskets. while you have it apart clean your float valves and set the float levels. Confirm float levels on the bench by using an aux fuel tank or the bike tank to supply fuel to the carb rack and check the FSM for how to measure the fuel level with a clear plastic tubing.

As for the petcock leaking, where is it leaking? From around the valve? Dripping through the fuel tube even when shut off?

jdvorchak is correct, if your floats are functioning correctly and the float heights set correctly so the fuel in the bowl is at the correct level then the gaskets should not be leaking when the bike is sitting. However the gaskets shouldn't leak period, because fuel could still leak out when the bike is running with acceleration/deceleration, bumps in the road etc. causing the fuel to move around.

I recently had an issue because my petcock was not turning off that one of my carbs started to overflow even though I'd recently set the float heights using the clear plastic tube to check the actual fuel level. That however was coming out of the overflow as intended not the gasket. Once I ran the bike next time it immediately stopped doing it, although my petcock is now functioning. I have to remove my carbs again for another reason, so will look into why that was happening on that particular carb.

It's still hard to see why the gaskets would be leaking in themselves, they are not anything high tech, I would expect even cheap ones to do the job or even ones made from cereal packets.

redhawk4 wrote: It's still hard to see why the gaskets would be leaking in themselves, they are not anything high tech, I would expect even cheap ones to do the job or even ones made from cereal packets.

Cheap or too thin of gaskets, warped fuel bowls, stripped screws are possible problems here. As far as leaking gas then magically not leaking again, just sounds like some crud found it's way to the needle/seat and had a little fun.

Set floats and inspect needle/seat and seal on the seat

redhawk4 wrote:
I recently had an issue because my petcock was not turning off that one of my carbs started to overflow even though I'd recently set the float heights using the clear plastic tube to check the actual fuel level. That however was coming out of the overflow as intended not the gasket. Once I ran the bike next time it immediately stopped doing it, although my petcock is now functioning. I have to remove my carbs again for another reason, so will look into why that was happening on that particular carb.

I have the same problem on my #4 carb where the float will sometimes not shut off the flow. I just pulled the carbs for another problem and when I put them back on #4 overfilled again. I tapped it with a screwdriver and it stopped. But this has happened a couple of times to me. I cleaned the floats and valves numerous times. I polished or burnished the float hinge pin and still for some reason that float sticks open. Next I'll try to polish the valve sides and it's seat walls to see if maybe the valve itself is binding on the walls of the float seat. The carbs are still off the bike and when I bench test them I can't get it to leak or it never has. But put it on the bike and flows fuel in a steady stream out the overflow. I thought maybe it was the angle of the bike but this time it was on the center stand. Last time it happened I had been riding it for about 10 minutes and pulled up to a stop sign and looked down. There it was pouring fuel out. I tapped that bowl with my zippo lighter and it stopped immediately. Let me know if you find a solution.

I would check that the float on your #4 isnt dropping down too far. There's a tab on the float that hits one of the posts to keep it from dropping too far and having the needle hang up

That's a good point about the float going down too far because I think mine played up after the bowl had been drained, fiddling around doing something, i don't know if it would drop that far in normal running though. I used to have a Yamaha XT200 my step son rode, that did something similar to what you are describing, Everything would be working fine and you'd just be thinking "at last I fixed it", which was the cue for it to start peeing gas out of the overflow orflooding. In the end I had to break down and buy a new float which was very pricey for a Yamaha NOS part, not many options as it was a TK carb, but it cured the problem, I think the original solid float was a little porous or something, perhaps some ethanol fuel messed it up, but whatever the reason I think it was a bit "limp" in it's action due to a loss of flotation and therefore would get hung up from time to time. I have a few Mikuni parts carbs lying around I might just drop in another float, when I have the carbs apart this week for jets and a float bowl swap and see if that solves the issue, if I can't see anything else obviously wrong while it's apart.

floivanus wrote: I would check that the float on your #4 isnt dropping down too far. There's a tab on the float that hits one of the posts to keep it from dropping too far and having the needle hang up

thanks for the tip. I'll check it out tomorrow. now I have TK carbs on the KZ550 not sure if its the same. At least I think they are TK... Getting old sucks.

I am not sure whether you have an accelerator pump. If so, then your problem might be similar to mine.

My leftmost carb (the one that is the lowest when the bike is on the side stand) spews out of the overflow within 5 minutes of turning the engine off. Is that the #4 carb? My accelerator pump also leaks very slowly.

I am thinking that once I change the accelerator pump gaskets, the spewing will stop. I might also need to replace a check-valve - my leftmost carb (#4?) has no check valve - i think it is supposed to have one but it is just missing. I have no clue whether this is part of the problem.

BTW, here is an explanation of the clear tube method of checking the float level.
www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=76