Topic: Quick tip if one bowl starts to over flow:

[evanphi]

Jut did this today... maybe it'll help someone else out!

I noticed that when I was riding to lunch I was getting a rich stumble. When I pulled in and shut off my petcock, there was a puddle of gas under the bike from my #4 overflow tube, confirming my suspicions. This has been a problem before where it is just a small piece of something-or-other that gets trapped in the float valve. Normally if I was home and I saw this on startup, I would take the bowl off, dump the gas, flick the float up and down a few times and reattach the bowl. This would normally get me all dirty and smelling like gas, but I had to be back to work very soon and not smelling like gas.

Today I had an idea: Drain the bowl of fuel, then refill, allowing the quick flow of fuel to rinse out the float valve. How to do this without spilling gas everywhere? Let the bike run out of fuel while riding! I did this twice on my ride back to work (very empty roads) and it seems to have done the trick.

Hope that helps if you get a random stuck float. Of course this won't fix it if it is happening ALL THE TIME to you. You should be diagnosing your issue further up the pipe.

OH and of course don't do this on a highway or something. That would be dumb.

[carnivorous chicken]

You can also try tapping the float bowl.

A friend had a bike and the float would stick only when she forgot to turn the gas on and the bowl would run dry. As soon as her bike sputtered, she'd pull over and turn the gas on, and the bowl would overflow once it filled. A little tap on the bowl with the handle of a screwdriver did the trick.

[Bankerdanny]

You can also try tapping the float bowl.

A friend had a bike and the float would stick only when she forgot to turn the gas on and the bowl would run dry. As soon as her bike sputtered, she'd pull over and turn the gas on, and the bowl would overflow once it filled. A little tap on the bowl with the handle of a screwdriver did the trick.

This worked for me on my 550 last month before I replaced all the float needles and seats. I rode around with an adjustable wrench and periodically had to give the #1 carb wrap (mine was sticking shut and open).

After I replaced the sets I held on to the old ones for potential use and gave the needles and the inside of the seats a light polish with 0000 steel wool, which probably would have fixed the issue if I hadn't replaced them.

[ekpent]

 I don't like the idea though of running the bowls dry just for the fact that I wonder if it could pick up any sediment that may be in the bottom of them and get them in a jet. Don't like running my gas tank on reserve for that same thought even though I think they are clean.
  Probably all just in my crazy head !   

[Gurp]

I do both. If i notice while riding i run the bowl dry.
If iatna startup i smack the side of the bowl.

[eigenvector]

I've never actually had tapping the carb or the float bowl fix a dribbling overflow valve. 

As for letting it drain then letting the fuel flush the valve - that does work occasionally.  More often than not the fuel valve is simple stuck cockeyed in the inlet or the fuel valve plunger is jammed.

I see this problem occur with ethanol fuel that is fairly old, probably the ethanol is messing up the rubber tip on the fuel valve.

[HondaMan]

I just pop off the bowl, dump it out, then open the petcock and let it dribble wide-open into the bowl for a bit, watching for the small, dark creature who was standing in the hole, pushing open the valve....then I put the bowl back on, and thank myself again for not getting the 500/550 as my ''main' bike. I always feel so badly for those who need a tiny screwdriver just to get the bowls off.

[seanbarney41]

I just pop off the bowl, dump it out, then open the petcock and let it dribble wide-open into the bowl for a bit, watching for the small, dark creature who was standing in the hole, pushing open the valve....then I put the bowl back on, and thank myself again for not getting the 500/550 as my ''main' bike. I always feel so badly for those who need a tiny screwdriver just to get the bowls off.

yeah, had to do this late at night last saturday night...love those roundtops!

[Deltarider]

All models:
1. Tap floatbowl with stump end of screwdriver. If that doesn't help >
2. Remove drainscrew and flush floatbowl by opening and closing the petcock. Collect gas.
If 1 or 2 (or combination) doesn't work, remove floatbowl for further inspection.
Models with crosshead screws: replace screws by dito allen on first occasion.

[carnivorous chicken]

You can also try tapping the float bowl.

A friend had a bike and the float would stick only when she forgot to turn the gas on and the bowl would run dry. As soon as her bike sputtered, she'd pull over and turn the gas on, and the bowl would overflow once it filled. A little tap on the bowl with the handle of a screwdriver did the trick.

I should add -- the problem with her bike was that the float tang was getting caught up on the end of the valve, not that the valve was leaking or had something caught in it.

And it's one of the reasons the twins are a breeze too, simple clips to snug up the float bowls.

[evanphi]

I've never actually had tapping the carb or the float bowl fix a dribbling overflow valve. 

As for letting it drain then letting the fuel flush the valve - that does work occasionally.  More often than not the fuel valve is simple stuck cockeyed in the inlet or the fuel valve plunger is jammed.

I see this problem occur with ethanol fuel that is fairly old, probably the ethanol is messing up the rubber tip on the fuel valve.

I've never had the screwdriver/mallet trick work either, which is why I wanted to try this the other day. My fuel valves also don't have rubber tips, so no issues there.

Also yes I love my roundtops... I could dump the fuel quickly if needed, but it is a very rare occurrence for me.