Fuel Leak - New One on Me - and Question for Ducatiman
My daughter and I got all ready to go riding for a couple hours, but when she started the 250, gasoline was dripping from the front of the carburetors. It was coming out pretty fast, like several drops per second, from what appeared to be around the float bowls or near them. Not wanting to have the bike burst into flames unexpectedly, we canceled the ride, which was a bummer, since she was leaving in a couple hours.
I got the carbs off the boots so I could turn them over enough to get a good look, removed the bowls, and looked around for something that was causing the problem. (I'm really glad I did the battery box mod.) The float valves and seats looked fine, the float level was set accurately, the bowls were clean, and I couldn't see any reason for the leaking. The only thing I could figure might be leaking was the bowl gaskets.
I got out my EZ-Turn fuel resistant grease and put a very light coat on the O-ring gaskets, and reassembled things enough to test the seal. Sure enough, no more leak. I'm not very experienced with O-ring bowl seals, and I've never seen one just start leaking out of the blue like this before, but now I have.
I guess I'll buy a couple of the O-rings. Gordon, is it a standard industrial size round O-ring so I can just order them from McMaster-Carr?
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