While we're on the topic, I had properly winterized my bike by draining the fuel from the carbs but I was having a fuel overflow issue at the start of the season. Fuel overflowed into the airbox and crankcase. (The latter happened while I was at work and I didn't notice that I was running on tainted oil until I got home... fortunately it survived and there appears to be no damage.) Tore apart the carbs to check for issues with the float needles and seats but found none. In my case, the vacuum petcock diaphragm went bad. As we know, OEM petcocks for the 79 850 are NLA. So I was forced to go aftermarket which have a reputation for leaking.
Unfortunately that reputation is well-earned because mine did too, at first. As a stop-gap, I put a plastic cheapo fuel shutoff valve between the petcock and figured I'd deal with it later when I had more time. But to my surprise, after a couple of rides, the new diaphragm started sealing of its own accord and I no longer needed to use the shutoff valve.
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