Leak Question

[lshafer]

I took the week off to ride around. It's been beautiful in WI this week and I've put about 1000 miles on the bike just putzing around. No serious rides, just here and there with no real purpose. It's been fun.

 

Anyway, my travels today took me to my local dealer. My sales guy was interested in taking a look at the mods to my bike (flanders bars, Road King exhaust being the main ones he was interested in). Well, I was getting ready to leave and backed out of the stall and noticed a wet spot where I'd been parked. I said, "well at least I'm in the right place for a leak to start!!!" So, they pulled the bike into the shop and took a peek. The tech looked it over and said it was coming from the overflow hose on the gas tank. That has never happened before and I've got just over 10,000 miles on the bike and have been in the exact same situation many times before - i.e. warm day with a half tank of fuel.

 

That leads me to two questions which I was hoping to get some thoughts on. First, as long as I've owned the bike I've never had a leak from that hose. Why now? I could completely understand if I over filled the tank but that wasn't the case with only a half a tank. Second and more importantly, the liquid that was coming out of the hose smelled like gas but had the consistency of oil. Any ideas? I asked the tech about it and he said if I'd never experienced a leak before from that hose, who knows what was in it when the fuel started coming out. Huh!!! That didn't make any sense to me at all so I thought I'd better ask all you experts.

 

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Thank,

Les

[flb_78]

Sounds like a carb overflow from a sticky float.

[BradT]

Possible the oil is overfilled and it is overflowing. More than half way up site gauge and this may happen.

 

Hopeing that is all it is.

 

Brad

[lshafer]

The oil was changed about 1500 miles ago. If it was the oil being over filled wouldn't it have done this by now?

[friesman]

if the oil is overfilled, it might only pull it up into the airbox after a lengthy ride. If its one of your first longer rides since the oil change you wouldnt have noticed it before.

 

Brian

[Dano]

If the oil level is above 2/3rds, vacuum from the carbs will draw oil vapors from the crankcase up into the airbox where it collects in the left rear corner. The excess will then drain out of the hose you're seeing. Usually ends up with a thorough cleaning of the underside to get the oil off!

[BOO]

Hummm the Tech says it's the Tank overflow? Why because it smells of gas? Hummmm.

I go with the guys here, first thought would be the oil level. Just because you never noticed it before I would still check the oil level, this bike is pretty touch about the oil level.

And it could have been the carb overflow as well for many reasons.

BOO

[Condor]

This is just a thought, but if the oil smells like gas, check the level of the oil in the crank. Raw gas can be leaking down into the engine oil from a stuck float in a carb causing the level to rise and the crank to overflow??? Smell the oil in the engine to see if it is 'gasious'....