Mystery fuel drippage

[rpickle]

Well, in restoring the beauty, one of the items I worked over was the fuel tank and petcock. I POR15'd the tank and rebuilt the petcock. The first full tank of gas ended up in my crankcase (or atleast enough of it to raise the oil level out of sight). I read after that, the petcock rebuild kits were suspect. I then ordered an OEM part. I installed it and all was great. Well I though it was OK. I found a small drip area underneath it one afternoon last week. Appeared to have come from the airbox drip line. I wiped it up and before I rode off the next morning to work I checked it. All was dry. Rode to work the rest of the week, no drips. On my return from an extended ride, I filled the tank. This morning when I checked the bike, it had a bigger puddle than the other day. I pulled the fuel line from the petcock and little to no fuel came out of it. It still showed just less than a full tank. If the petcock is not letting fuel out, then where is it coming from? It has made its way back into the crankcase too. I'm a bit bummed. Thought I would be riding it a few thousand miles before any more maintenance!

Any ideas?

Thanks

Rick

[cloudbreakmd]

Are you leaving your petcock in the prime position? If so the float needles in your carbs may be worn and fuel is coming out of the overflow from the cabs. Sniff the oil in the crankcase for the odor of gasoline or look at it to see if the level is too high. If it is, you have fuel in the oil. Change the oil and filter and fix the carbs. Hope this helps.

[rpickle]

Hi. Thanks.

I double checked the fuel valve position. It is in the "on" position.

In "prime" will the fuel pour out of the tank when the fuel line is removed?

Rick

[cloudbreakmd]

The prime position bypasses the vacuum operation the petcock. But be sure to check the oil and make sure the floats are not misadjusted or stuck inside the carbs.

[Guest]

Your just draining the bowls with either dirty or bad float valves and seats.

[rpickle]

chef, that confuses me (easy to do, aye!). The float needle/seat are above the float bowl. How can a dirty seat drain the fuel bowl? I can see maybe it would drain the fuel in the fuel line from the petcock to the fuel rail. Wouldn't that cause the bowl to overflow?

Can a partialy blocked tank breather cause the fuel to flow when it shouldn't if the bike was out in the sun?

Thaks

Rick