new carb leak after being stored for the winter

[Brybo86]

So I put my 1986 Kawasaki 454Ltd away in November, put seafoam in the gas tank and drove it around for a bit then shut it off and drained both carb bowls. Today I went out to start it up and change the oil. I put the fuel petcock on the Prime position for about 10 seconds then back to ON. Set the choke and turned it over. Started in about 2 seconds, and seemed to be running great. I aired up the tires and drove it around a bit to warm up the oil.

When I got back I drained the old Amsoil 10w40 w/Amsoil filter(nice brown color but was kinda noisy as I could hear lots of clatter) and put in Rotella T6 5w40 w/Napa Gold filter. It was then that I noticed a drop of fuel on the bottom of the left carb.

Upon closer inspection it seems to be coming from the front edge of the bowl. Where the bowl mates to the actual carb. I tightened the screws a bit on hat side of the bowl but they weren't really loose at all. Mb its my imagination but the leak seems to be slower. When sitting a drop forms over about 10 minutes.

My thoughts are that sitting over the winter without fuel touching the bowl gasket has caused it to shrink slightly. This has caused a slight leak.

Plan: Leave it and drive it like this for awhile and hope the gasket will swell slightly and stop leaking. I really don't want to remove the carbs since that was a lot of work when I did it before. Obviously if it continues to leak I'll have no choice but to pull the carbs.

What do you guys think?

 

[oldhp]

Run it and see if it stops leaking. For what its worth when I stored my JD lawn tractor with double dose of SeaFoam, I never drained fuel bowls. Never a problem and starts up like it was shut off yesterday.

 

[The motor guy]

what happens is the float sits on the bottom of the bowl and I guess it can get stuck and keeps allowing fuel in causing it to leak out of the air filter intake. If you want you can undo the bolt that holds the bowl on and just wiggle the float a little bit to unstick it and then reinstall the bowl and see if that helps

 

[Chris142]

The gasket is usually an oring. I'm betting that It dried out and shrank.

 

[Phishin]

All the isopropyl alcohol in Seafoam will dry out the old rubber gasket. It's happened to me on my Hondas.

I quit using Seafoam and only use Blue Stabil. No more spring time leaks. Seafoam is not a good fuel stabilizer. Why add more harmful alcohol to fuel and let sit? I learned the hard way too.

 

[Robenstein]

I agree...blue stabil or another dedicated stabilizer is better than a "one size fits all" product like seafoam for storage. Hope they swell back up for you.

 

[Trav]

Try rapping the bowls lightly a few times with a small plastic hammer or screwdriver handle.
You may have a slightly sticky needle that may not be seating 100%.

 

[HerrStig]

BMW's "of a cetain age" sometimes trouble their owners with "Bingfoot" (gas on the boot) when the carb float system sticks. I've found Lucas helps, but usually the vibration of the running engine frees it right up. The trick is not to set around with the fuel petcock on, crank it right up.

 

[Doog]

Originally Posted By: Brybo86


My thoughts are that sitting over the winter without fuel touching the bowl gasket has caused it to shrink slightly. This has caused a slight leak.

What do you guys think?


I think you are 100% correct. I had the exact same thing happen to me back in the late 70's and now I store all fuel systems full with a double dose of stabilizer.

 

[Doog]

Originally Posted By: Robenstein
I agree...blue stabil or another dedicated stabilizer is better than a "one size fits all" product like seafoam for storage. Hope they swell back up for you.


+1 on the marine stabil. Excellent stuff. I have let boat fuel systems sit 2 years with a double dose and fire right up.

 

[buck91]

Whats different about Red vs. Blue stabil?

 

[Robenstein]

Well the blue stabil is designed for marine applications but works awesome in others because its meant to treat ethanol laced gasoline and by looking at the directions on the two bottles, the blue is more concentrated to deal with the harsher marine enviornment. The red stuff works well also and is cheaper, but I always double dose the red stuff. Once had a car sit 5 years with gas in the carb with a huge dose of red stabil in it, and it fired right up. It always had gunked up over winter before that.

 

[Brybo86]

drove to work today and checked when I got to the garage...

bottom of the carb bowl is completely dry!

 

[Robenstein]

Awesome news!