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ACL 9000 · March 13th, 2020, 11:08 AM

I've just started trying to clean and prep my Ninja for duty this year. I bought it in 2013, I think, when I started riding. I think the last thread I started was probably back then, asking for help with a problem that turned out to simply be tight valves.

A handful of years ago I had a dealership go through the carburetors because I just didn't want to bother taking the time, myself. Since then I've owned a few more bikes and let the Ninja sit. A couple summers ago a friend of mine crashed it and messed up a footpeg, so it really hasn't been ridden much at all in a while.

I'm going to go through the whole bike fairly thoroughly to get it cleaned and prepared, but the first thing I wanted to do was establish that it does actually run. It fired right up and idled fine, but it was a little boggy on throttle and I noticed it was leaking quite a bit while it was on.

If I turn the petcock to off while the bike is running the leak will stop. If I kill the engine but leave the petcock on the leak will stop. I feel like this means the petcock is working fine.

I think the bowl gaskets are fine because the leak appeared to be coming from higher up.

I took the carbs out and disassembled them a little bit and the float needles seem OK, so I don't think they're leaking, and I don't think the floats stick or anything like that. Nothing was draining out of the overflow tube.

Now I'm just kind of puzzled. I was hoping for a simple solution like finding a bad gasket or a stuck float. I'm aware that there is some kind of crossover thing between the two carburetors. Is that pretty much the final remaining suspect in my investigation?

What should I be doing at this point? I saw on Murph's Kits I can get a couple parts, but I'm not sure yet how to get any O-rings to replace those that I think are leaking.

March 13th, 2020, 11:08 AM	#1
ACL 9000 ninjette.org member Name: A Location: CT Join Date: Jun 2013 Motorcycle(s): 2005 EX250, 1975 Suzuki T500, 2018 Kawasaki Z900RS Posts: 28	Leaky carbs on an '05 I've just started trying to clean and prep my Ninja for duty this year. I bought it in 2013, I think, when I started riding. I think the last thread I started was probably back then, asking for help with a problem that turned out to simply be tight valves. A handful of years ago I had a dealership go through the carburetors because I just didn't want to bother taking the time, myself. Since then I've owned a few more bikes and let the Ninja sit. A couple summers ago a friend of mine crashed it and messed up a footpeg, so it really hasn't been ridden much at all in a while. I'm going to go through the whole bike fairly thoroughly to get it cleaned and prepared, but the first thing I wanted to do was establish that it does actually run. It fired right up and idled fine, but it was a little boggy on throttle and I noticed it was leaking quite a bit while it was on. If I turn the petcock to off while the bike is running the leak will stop. If I kill the engine but leave the petcock on the leak will stop. I feel like this means the petcock is working fine. I think the bowl gaskets are fine because the leak appeared to be coming from higher up. I took the carbs out and disassembled them a little bit and the float needles seem OK, so I don't think they're leaking, and I don't think the floats stick or anything like that. Nothing was draining out of the overflow tube. Now I'm just kind of puzzled. I was hoping for a simple solution like finding a bad gasket or a stuck float. I'm aware that there is some kind of crossover thing between the two carburetors. Is that pretty much the final remaining suspect in my investigation? What should I be doing at this point? I saw on Murph's Kits I can get a couple parts, but I'm not sure yet how to get any O-rings to replace those that I think are leaking.