1983 KZ550M LTD (Shaft) Carb leaking fuel.

Hey guys,

I'm a noob at bikes. This is my first one and I'm willing to get into it to keep it around for another 20 years. The furthest left carb is massively leaking fuel down the float bowl. It does this only sometimes when on center stand and most times when on side stand. When running, no leaks. I want to learn how to fix this problem doing it myself so I've avoided any bike shops. I scoured the forum, almost 20 pages worth and couldn't find anything specific to my bike.

Recap:

1. Fuel leaking from furthest left carb, down the float bowl, when not running and on center stand.

Question...can I SEAL ALL the carb or is this going to require me to pull the tank and then rebuild the whole set. Should I do that anyhow? If so, how?

I need a detailed answer to this. I'm kinda at my wits end brothers and sisters...

Thank you.

Also why aren't my images showing up? They are under 2MB each and total file size is less than 10MB. I really have no patience for this type of technical bs mods...I want to get back to my bike.

First identify exactly where the leak is. Most likely it is where the carb bowl attaches to the carb. If so, this should be an easy fix. You will need to purchase a carb bowl gasket, with the fuel turned OFF remove the carb bowl, gently clean where the gasket comes in contact with the bowl and with the carb, and install the new gasket. This can be done with the carbs still on the engine and the fuel tank still mounted. The images below show two options for the screwdriver you'll need to remove the carb bowl. Ed

Thank you Ed, I believe that is the issue and it's not any more extensive than that. I'll give it a shot. As far as fuel turned OFF. my petcock has RES, ON, and PRI. Is ON the same thing as OFF since vacuum or will I need to drain fuel?

Picture 1.

Picture 2.

Rebuilding the carbs is pretty a right of passage with any 37 year old vehicle. I'd pull them off and break them down to piece parts and then clean and replace all the soft parts. Leaking typically means the float needles are not sealing and that can be as easy as cleaning them, or replacing them. And please don't purchase "carb kits" unless you find the need to replace a bunch of parts. Just clean everything and replace the O-rings and such. Z1 Enterprises should have a lot of what you need and partzilla will have some others.

SLKZ550 wrote: Thank you Ed, I believe that is the issue and it's not any more extensive than that. I'll give it a shot. As far as fuel turned OFF. my petcock has RES, ON, and PRI. Is ON the same thing as OFF since vacuum or will I need to drain fuel?

I think so, but be careful because many of the old vacuum type petcocks leak somewhat. Ed

If you don't have a manual, you can use a chain-drive manual which includes the 1982-1983 Kz550H (gpz) models. They use carbs that are similar to yours and you can use the manual as a reference for setting the float levels. If you follow the links in my signature, you will find downloadable manuals. Other info for the engine will apply as well.

The shaft drive models had their own series of manuals for Kz550's and I don't think I've seen an online version yet.