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Carburetor WTF? BIG gas leak!


JaSSon

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My GF rides an 82 KZ1000. It's an old air cooled I4 Japanese standard bike. And I found this strange: The petcock does not have an "off" position. It has on, prime, and reserve. This morning when we woke up the garage stank of gas and both our bikes were sitting in a puddle of it. There was gas leaking in a steady stream from the left side crank case. Damn. The oil window was a cloudy brown color. Double damn. And when I pulled the oil drain plug about 2 gallons of oily gasoline came spilling out. Triple damnit!

So, now what? I know bare minimum the engine will need all the gaskets replaced, but what about the engine bearings? Shot, I assume. We were busy this weekend and did not ride, so who knows how long it's been like that.

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dont necessarily need all gaskets replaced.....this happens, petcoc got stuck open, I would leave case open to breathe for a bit, put new oil in run it to temp a few times, drop oil change oil/filter again put fresh in and go.

repair/replace petcoc

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drain everything, and give it some time to air out, refill the case with fresh oil, and give it a bunch of rotations, work the oil back into the main bearings... then do a fresh oil change again, change the filter, clean the carb, and buy a new petcock with an off setting (they are pretty cheap) it should fire right up and be fine...

these old I-4s are pretty bulletproof

I had the same thing happen to a 80's KZ550LTD, and at the time it cost me 3 weeks of allowance to fix ($15)

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The float in the carb got stuck open tap the bottom of the bowls on the carb or the petcock is stuck open take apart the petcock and clean it. Do a oil change start it run it for a half hour then check to see if the oil cloudy. My girlfriend 250 ninja with 3000 mile on it did the same shit some thing in the gas mess with it. this is what I did.

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Technically your petcock in the "on" position is its off...unless there is vacuum from the carb. Prime is wide open, and reserve is reserve. Put an on/off petcock on it so that doesn't happen again. You'll also need to cap the vacuum line that went to the old petcock at the carb.

As others said, the float stuck. There should be an overflow so it doesn't flood the engine, maybe its clogged? Perhaps its time for a carb cleaning and replace the seals on the floats too.

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The petcock was leaking earlier this spring, so I rebuilt it. It has a new diaphram and new O-rings already. I"ll either replace it or install an inline shut-off valve.

The bike is sitting with the oil filter and drain plug off, and I'll let it sit that way all day. But I'll replace the crankcase gaskets, look in to refreshing the carbs (serious, ugh), and fill it with oil and hope for the best!

Edited by JaSSon
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Pan gasket should be fine. You must have left it in prime. Carbs shouldn't be that bad to go over on that bike, just a pain to get in and out if I remember right. I'm so glad I have an efi bike tho.....

The petcock was indeed set in the "on" position. That was the first thing I checked. And I'm going to replace the side cover gaskets, because fluids were literally streaming out of the left side cover.

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The float in the carb got stuck open tap the bottom of the bowls on the carb or the petcock is stuck open take apart the petcock and clean it.

BOTH imo. even if the petcock fails, the float should still keep the valve shut.

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if you're replacing side cover gaskets anyway, definitely take the clutch apart and re-oil all the plates/inspect for damage to the friction plates...

you don't want to tear it all apart again just to mess with a clutch you could have easily checked while it was apart already.

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