Dirt in gas

[Chris Cochran]

Ok, the bike will sometimes start and run fine. For a max of 30 seconds. Now that's down to maybe 10 seconds. Not only that, but the past two times I've tried to start it the thing has pee'd fuel from a hose that ends down between the center stand. Is this the same hose that drains the float bowls?

Thinking my fuel pump may be gooked up, I pulled it, did the points maintenance on it, cleaned the electrodes in the four pin connector, and changed to a new fuel filter.

Still, same 10 second time limit until shuts off.

Back to the gas coming out of the hose: Before, I just put something down to absorb the waste gas that came out. Today, I put something to catch it so I could look at it. The pictures shows all sorts of dirt/crud with some being pebble size. I cut open the old fuel filter and there was no crud in it (the light colored spots you see are just residue from the hacksaw doing its' thing). What REALLY surprised me was that it was completely dry inside the filter. I don't see it evaporating in the time I removed it to the time I sliced it open. Regardless if there is crap in the fuel tank, it didn't make it into or past the old filter. When I put the pump/new filter combination back and attached the fuel line from the gas tank, I saw gas going into the new, semi clear walls of the filter.

All this being said, am I correct in assuming that the crud/dirt is all coming out of the carbs? And, am I correct in assuming that since the old filter showed no signs of crud, then the tank should be clear? In other words, the trouble is on the carb side of the fuel pump and not the tank. For that matter could this be coming FROM the fuel pump itself?

Note: The picture of the clear plastic lid with junk in it shows an inch long thingy but that is something that blew in from the trees. The paper towel shows what the paper towel caught when I soaked up gas from the plastic lid. And the last pic is, of course, the old filter.

[Chris Cochran]

Went out about 30 minutes ago and drained them again. Result: Perfectly clean gas.

I did not try to start it at that time. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

[Chris Cochran]

This morning I got it to run for a good minute and a half. I was holding it at 2K rpm's. Profuse white smoke was coming out of the exhausts but for now I'm not concerned with that as it could be anything from internal spider webs to moisture to whatever burning off. More attention to that later. For now it's why gas is dumping during the time the starter is engaged/or running.
This picture show a LOT of gas that came overboard while getting it to start. This is not from a carb drain but just what was coming out as the starter was engaged/motor running. I'm disregarding the small amount of crud in there as I forgot to wipe the lid clean before using it so that might be residue from yesterday. The thrust of this picture is the sheer quantity of fuel there. With the container laid flat it was a full digit deep, using my left hand trigger finger as a calibration device.
Then the thought occurred to me that while yes, I have drained the carbs and looked at what came out, I did it all at once and not individually. I had just opened all the screws and closed them up at the same time, so I could only look at the cumulative result of the group. This morning I opened and looked at each carb individually. Carbs 1 thru 3 drained pure fuel with no crud visible. Carb #4 (far right side carb) did not drain anything at all. Zip. Something is going on in there...

[triton28]

Where was this fuel coming out from? You mention it was not from a carb drain. When you say it was not from a carb drain do you mean that fuel was NOT draining from the nipples/hoses at the bottom of the float bowls because the drain screws were seated snug into the float bowl? I don't quite get what you are saying; where was this fuel coming overboard/dumping showing up at?
Remember, an overflow situation in the float chamber can and will drain out of the small nipples/hoses at the bottom of the float bowls even if the drain screws are seated snugly into the float bowl as the overflow passage is independent of the drain screw.
It sounds as though #4 drain passage has a buildup of crud/debris blocking it preventing the fuel from draining provided of course that #4 cylinder is operating as designed with a fuel level in the float bowl.
Try using an infrared heat thermometer and see if #4 cylinder is in fact getting up to the same relative temperature as #s 1-3. That way you at least will know that fuel is getting into #4 float chamber and the likelihood of #4 drain being blocked is probably real.
Sounds as though the float levels/bowl cleanliness needs to be checked out but, that is just a guess on my part.
Dave

[Chris Cochran]

Me saying that it was not from a carb drain meant that I was not draining the carbs at the time. All the drain screws were closed and the carbs were in normal operation setup. That being said, when I try to start the bike, or get it started, this fuel drained from the same hose (I'm guessing since the flow of gas is in the same area under the bike).

The overflow situation confuses me a bit. Are you saying that there is a separate drain hose for overflows? Or is it the same hose but has two different gas origination points in the carb (the drain point down low and the overflow point up higher but still uses the same hose?

I'm thinking I might remove the bottom part of the #4 carb and see if there is a mudslide in it. At least it is the end carb and can be reached.

[triton28]

yes you are correct: there are 2 gas draining originations in the float bowl and each one uses the same hose.

[Chris Cochran]

I've decided to just pull the carbs and rebuild them. I've only done this once before and it was a single carb so this will be interesting.

Time to study up on it.