| Author | Message | ||
     Buellgrrrl |
My 2001 M2 has become fuel incontinent... saturday after a hard start I rode an unevenful (save for the curves) 200 miles. Topped up the tank before I put the bike away, temp had risen to 50s with ground still frozen (cool fuel). Sunday I'm about to torch that tank and a couple more when I note strong gas smell and puddle under Buell. Fuel dribbling from aircleaner, so I shut off tap and start investigating. I check gas tank, about an inch down from where I filled it. Pulled off the airbox and verified fuel in same, turned tap on again but no more leaks. Decide to let Buell dry out and rode BMW airhead instead. Today I checked all the easy stuff short of tearing apart the carb. Only thing I found was carb drain tube routed above carb instead of down towards shock as it should be. Put back tigether and started hard first time like it was flooded but no leaks. Waited an hour and tried again, this time starts normal with no leaks. Any ideas? | ||
| Newfie_buell |
Could have been a sticky float after all winter?!? Dirt, debris anything at all, even a drop of water may have caused it. | ||
| Lornce |
"Topped up the tank before I put the bike away, temp had risen to 50s with ground still frozen (cool fuel)." Could this be the answer? Maybe the fuel warmed from frozen ground ambient temps, expanded and overflowed through the carb's float needle? Was the tank's overflow tube pinched or constricted? Did you park it with the fuel tap in the "on" position? Cool that you had a boxer to ride, too.  Lawrence | ||
| Socoken |
ive had my float stick before too, sometimes just rapping on the bowl with the soft end of a screwdriver helps. my bet is fueling up after sitting all winter moved some debris or residue just enough to make trouble. now that its been flushed, should be fine. | ||
| Road_thing |
BG, if you parked it in a warm garage with a full tank of cold gas, I think Lornce hit the nail on the head. If it's not dribbling now, I think your troubles are over. rt | ||
| Buellgrrrl |
I'm suspecting expansion of the cool fuel too (and I've now learned to turn off the fuel tap after I shut 'er down!). BTW, I've had this problem with airheads too, usually cured with a rap to the carb to unstick the float or whatever. On the airheads this is usually caused by rust flakes from the fuel tank... a problem the Buells shouldn't have! I'll check it again tomorrow and if OK I'll start taking short rides again. If Ok by the weekend I'll be back to torchin' tanks on the Buell! | ||
| Koz5150 |
I once tanked up on a hot day. I parked my bike shortly after and it didn't take long for the heat of the motor to warm the cold gas and cause it to leak out everywhere. It only has happened once to me. | ||
| Djkaplan |
I'm not sure the overflow tube is actually connected to anything that will allow fuel to overflow. I think overflow tube is just vestigal. I'm basing this on a recollection from a long ago post. I do know that I had a stuck shut-off valve once and a cylinder flooded. I found no evidence of fuel escaping from the overflow tube. |
