Carb Issues - '82 GS850L

[BeanTown]

Recently bought a junker 850L to fix up and am having trouble with the carbs.

I know the answer the my question is do a complete carb overhaul, but i wont have a garage for a couple weeks or so and want to try to find the specific problem in the meantime.

I initially found excessive fuel in the oil and had an issue of fuel gushing out of the airbox. I pulled the carbs and reset the float height and unstuck and cleaned them. It is idling a lot smoother, but still not without about 20% choke. More importantly, I now have fuel coming out of the #2 and #3 exhaust pipes. at least i think its fuel. its coming out kinda grey and seems more like 50% water.

Im going to work on the carbs a bit more tomorrow, but dont have the parts or shop for the complete overhaul.

Any specific theories in the meantime?

[cowboyup3371]

Your petcock will probably be shot so run through a test of it; there are plenty of threads here detailing how to test it

Past that, clean your carbs PROPERLY. If I can do it on a 40 acre piece of property in a storage shed, you can do it in your place.

[BeanTown]

wait , isnt it supposed to flow with suction on the petcock? and not flow without?

[cowboyup3371]

Oops, sorry

[tkent02]

Bean town, are you Frijoles and beans?

[BeanTown]

Si Senor

so no carb theories? just gonna have to go on intuition... good luck to me

[koolaid_kid]

I initially found excessive fuel in the oil and had an issue of fuel gushing out of the airbox. I pulled the carbs and reset the float height and unstuck and cleaned them. It is idling a lot smoother, but still not without about 20% choke. More importantly, I now have fuel coming out of the #2 and #3 exhaust pipes. at least i think its fuel. its coming out kinda grey and seems more like 50% water.

First, welcome back. Been wondering where you were.
Now, as to your issues:
What is the #2 & #3 pipes? The left pipe handles 1 & 2, the right pipe handles 3 & 4. Not sure why you would have condensation in your cylinders, but if it were white smoke it would be fuel. It sounds like you need to pull the carbs again and try once more.
Second, what did you unstick? The needle and seats? If so, you may need to do that again. I would double-check the float heights while you are at it. I have rebuilt 3 sets of carbs for my bikes and all 3 sets had the float levels incorrect.
Once you do this, bench test the carbs prior to installing them. In other words take your fuel cell and connect it to the carbs, which should be in the correct "on the bike" orientation. If you use your fuel tank, put the petcock on PRI. It should last at least an hour without any leaks.
I do this every time, and twice I found a needle and seat that needed to be cleaned again.
Hope this helps.
Hasta.

[BeanTown]

Thanks for the response, going to pull them shortly. The fuel is leaking out of the exhaust seam near the oil drain plug on the #2 and#3 exhaust pipes. plugs are also wet. I think while im at it im going the check to make sure im getting spark. Aren't cyl 2&3 on the same coil?

[koolaid_kid]

Yes. 1 & 4 are paired and 2 & 3 are paired.

[BeanTown]

Your petcock will probably be shot so run through a test of it; there are plenty of threads here detailing how to test it

Past that, clean your carbs PROPERLY. If I can do it on a 40 acre piece of property in a storage shed, you can do it in your place.

Carbs cleaned properly, floats readjusted, dripping down to a minmum but still there. Checked the petcock again and got fuel in the vaccum line. looks like i should have dont that one first