Anyone know of a good motorcycle forum? My Honda Shadow is spewing gas out of the overflow tube at a great volume. I started the bike a few weeks ago with no problems. I've got everything off down to the carbs but they look to be a problem to remove and I'd like to avoid that if there is another solution. If there is a MC forum as good as this one...I can probably get some answers.
Quinton
What makes you think you can't get the answers right here? ;)
Float stuck, turn gas off open the drain and tap on the float bowl with a screw driver handle then turn fuel on tap some more. might come out of it or might have to remove float bowl and needle to clean, inspect or replace. Not sure if carbs would have to come off to remove bowl on this bike or not, usually could only get away with it on 1 cyl bikes. hope this helps.
Quote from: Hilltop366 on January 30, 2013, 06:25:58 PM
Float stuck, turn gas off open the drain and tap on the float bowl with a screw driver handle then turn fuel on tap some more. might come out of it or might have to remove float bowl and needle to clean, inspect or replace. Not sure if carbs would have to come off to remove bowl on this bike or not, usually could only get away with it on 1 cyl bikes. hope this helps.
Float is stuck! Sometimes a sharp rap against the body of the carb will dislodge it, but usually it needs disassembled,cleaned and reassembled. Tim
I agree with the above 2 posts. Stuck, dirty, worn, float. The "rap" method may work, but I think you're in for pulling the carbs, and cleaning out the float needle, or possibly replacing them. The rubber tips that are on most are affected by todays "E fuels". I hate the stuff, and treat all my gas for it. Let us know how you make out.
Chuck
Quote from: Jeff on January 30, 2013, 06:23:54 PM
What makes you think you can't get the answers right here? ;)
He secretly does. But he's to shy to ask out right. ;D
RAIDER BILL may be of some help.
Quote from: POSTONLT40HD on January 30, 2013, 09:19:11 PM
RAIDER BILL may be of some help.
He wants to fix it not burn it ;D :D :)
Raider Bill is too busy identifying and arresting dogs that violate his bike tires. :)
Raider Bill don no nuttin bout no steeking rice burners :D :D
Floats are stuck, use a bigger hammer ;D ;D
Ya see......I told you he would know what to do.
He's my horse if he never wins a race. :D :D :D
Thanks Raider for your input on this problem. SO much knowledge on the Forum. ;D
I agree with others on the stuck float
as far as a motorcycle Forum I am a mod at a fairly new one, will not give a link till Jeff gives a OK, but a search for "allcyclesgroup" should find it
I go by BadNews there
mburrow
It may be a stuck float but with the large amount of fuel that it is bypassing, I'm not sure. I'm just hoping to find someone that has worked on those specific carbs that may have some insight into alternative reasons. I've never had a stuck float problem before...holes in the floats but never stuck. It's hard to imagine that the small inlet hole could pass the large amount of fuel that is coming out the by-pass tube. But what else could it be? I'm gonna try one more time and then pull the carbs.
Sometimes there is a simple overlooked solution to a seemingly complex problem.
I'm reminded of the time when I had un-hooked every thing on a formula rear engined race car to pull the engine/transaxle...thinking that we had broken the transaxle...when I happended to look over to see that we had only sheared the bolts on the half shaft. Dumb! Don't want to do the same trick here.
to me any thing that keeps the float from closing the valve is a stuck float,
if the fuel is coming out the carb over flow tube it has to go through the valve,
there is a remote possibility that a crack in the carb. fuel inlet.
any time you do any thing to 1 or more of the carb's they all will need to be synched
(re-tuned)
Qweaver,
Regarding a motorcycle forum, I've spent close to the same amount of time on Adventure Rider as I've spent on the FF. It is mostly more "dual sport" or "adventure off road" oriented, but most guys with dual sports and big adventure bikes own road bikes as well. I have never had a question I couldn't find the answer to regarding motorcycles on that forum. advrider.com
Be careful though, it can be addicting if your really into motorcycles. ;)
The best way to search the forum (anything for that matter) is using a google search, and not the forum search function. Try typing this into the google search bar:
honda shadow spewing gas from carb site:www.advrider.com
Of course, you can type anything you want or need, but use the "site:www.advrider.com" and it will only give you results from that one specific website. I use that for the FF all the time.
The problem with using google search looking for things on a forum, is you only get what google indexes. If the results you seek are not in a guest accessible board, google will not have it. It also will not find anything newly posted. It cant return a result until it indexes the forum again, and there is nothing to say, that when the google bot crawls the site, it even takes the road to the new content. The Forestry Forum's internal search will find what you need, if you give it what it needs. It also does incremental updates every 10 minutes, and a total re-indexing every evening.
Thanks for that website info Piston. I'll give it a try.
I filled the tank with 2 gal of gas mixed with a can of Sea Foam and have been starting the engine for a few seconds during the day. One carb is now running OK but I'm still getting by-pass but not near as much as before. I'll give it another day of soaking and then resort to pulling the carbs.
Qweaver, You have something between the needle and the seat. Some times if the carb has a drain screw on the float bowl you can shut the gas off,take the screw out and get a blow gun with a rubber tip on it and give it a LITTLE dose of air. Sometimes this clears the passage of debris and your back to running again! But if you are getting debris in there in the first place you are going to have to clean the system sooner than later,it will happen again and not in a place you want it to. (Murphys Law) Good luck with it. Tim
The reason for shutting off the gas and draining the carb is to open the float completely then try to flush out what is stuck in there by running more gas through it while tapping on the carb, if that is why it is stuck. I would try it a few more times before taking it apart.
I might add to check your oil to see if the level has gone up or if it looks thin. Some bikes the gas can get in the base, best to change it if in doubt.
I would like to hear more about the Formula race car if you would like to share.
Adding some Seafoam fuel treatment may help too :)
I was a machanic for a Formula Ford owner while studying Automotive design in college. I got hooked on Formula cars and ended up designing, building and racing Clubman formula cars in Australia. These are 1000 lb rockets based mainly on the Loutus Super Seven that evolved into really fast machines far outpacing the orginal Super 7s.