Charlie's sage advice solved my "Loop"problem.

[bigbikerrick]

Hello folks , my 73 eldo has for about 3 years,had a problem where if the petcocks are left on, it will flood the left carb, and sometimes flood the cylinder with fuel ,hydrolocking it. I have good brown floats properly adjusted, replaced needle valves about 3 times, with viton ones, taken carb apart, checking, and re checking everything, etc. If left parked for a couple of hours , it doesnt do it, but over 6 hours, it would flood.
the  brass seat where the needle seats looked fine to me on close visual inspection, also.
A few days ago , I found a post where Charlie recommends taking a Q tip with polishing compound and chucking it up in a drill to carefully spin it and polish the seat.
  Well, I did just that, and my problem is solved!
I have tested it with the carb in my hand and pressurizing water in a syringe through the fuel banjo, while lifting and lowering the floats, looking for a drop of water from the valve under syringe pressure. Before the polishing, it would leak a drop, after polishing, no leaking! The ultimate test, I re assembled the carb, and left the bike with the petcocks open overnight, and then for over 24 hours, with no flooding!!
I am stoked, to say the least, and want to thank you, Charlie.                    Hopefully this little trick will help someone else in the future.
Rick

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Glad that little trick fixed it. 

[Chuck in Indiana]

Glad it's fixed. Probably wouldn't hurt to toggle the Donate button, and help keep this forum alive and well.. it's saved me *lots* more money than I've donated.. 

[jrt]

Glad it's fixed. Probably wouldn't hurt to toggle the Donate button, and help keep this forum alive and well.. it's saved me *lots* more money than I've donated.. 

True dat, and also consider sending it in to the MGNOC newsletter 'Tips' section. 

[John A]

That is a good idea, I've used an old float needle with some superfine valve lapping compound but it never occurred to me to use a qtip and a drill motor 

[Chuck in Indiana]

That is a good idea, I've used an old float needle with some superfine valve lapping compound but it never occurred to me to use a qtip and a drill motor 

That was one of the last things we did to Austin's KLR from Hell.. 

[brider]

Have to ask this: Is there anything wrong with shutting the fuel valves off after every ride? Or are the valves themselves prone to leaking?

I never had the problem BBRick had, but I won't say it's because I shut the valves off. I don't know why/when/how I developed that habit, but I do it now without thinking. Am I an outlier?

[Yeahoo Whoyah]

Shutting the fuel valve is the way to go. If the seats are leaking the fuel in the lines below the shut off valve would feed the leak. Looks like there is about 8-inches (times 2) of fuel line below the shut off valve which could empty past the leaking seat, even if the fuel tap properly shuts off.

[Cam3512]

Rick,

Do you leave the bike on the side or center stand?  I always turn off the petcock when I leave the bike for a decent amount of time.  Learned this the hard way long ago at a VA rally.  I left the petcock on overnight, and awoke to a huge puddle of gas under the bike.  The carb wasn’t the issue, but my fuel line had split.  Good habit to get into.

Cam

[bigbikerrick]

I always leave my bike on the sidestand. Its the civilian type sidestand, and with the slightly lowered rear, it doesnt lean over all that much, like the police stand bikes do.
I have a small umbilical hernia, and dont want to make it worse by straining to put it on the centerstand.
I always try to remember to turn off my petcock, and usually turn it off about a block from my home to leave the float bowls almost empty. Just an old habit, Ive done for years.
Its nice to know now, that if I ever do forget to turn it off, its, no problem.
Rick.