Fuel overflowing

[burple05]

So I wash and spit shine my bike this morning.   Turned the fuel on backed her out of garage.   Fuel was just poring out of front vent tube.  Manual pengel valve.   Any idea why.   Just road the other day.   Ran great,.always has.    Floats stuck?    I pulled all the plugs.   Right bank all.had what appeard to be small amount of fuel blow out she cranking engine.   Needhelp...
   

[rug_burn]

   Has the bike been sitting all winter before the last ride or something?   
   Are you saying all the carbs are overflowing?  If so, it may be that the gas just decided to go bad, or maybe some rust or other debris came out of the tank and contaminated everything. 
  It's hard to say without further investigation.

[Leathel]

yup crap in the float or stuck/ bad float or bad valve

My floats were out of shape and needed replacing, didn't let the valve close completely (hit the carb body first)

[burple05]

 I ride year round.  Never sits idle for over a couple of weeks.  I did add a good dose of Berrymans to the tank, just as general maintenance to the carbs.  I'll at a dose a couple times a year and burn it through to keep them clean.   Rode it 60 miles or so.  She sat for a couple of days.  Then this happened.  Bike has never had  a problem with carbs before.  Always runs strong, easy starts, no dead spots or hiccups in acceleration.  Am I gonna have to pull the carbs on her?  God I hope not.  Any fixes to try first?  On the bright side.  I did get to ride my buddies 2016 Road Glide special.  It was nice, comfy, I liked the radio and heel shifter.  Felt pretty sluggish compared to the Valk.  Felt like it had a very narrow torque curve.  I wasn't impressed with it's acceleration much.  All help is appreciated.

[The emperor has no clothes]

I ride year round.  Never sits idle for over a couple of weeks.  I did add a good dose of Berrymans to the tank, just as general maintenance to the carbs.  I'll at a dose a couple times a year and burn it through to keep them clean.   Rode it 60 miles or so.  She sat for a couple of days.  Then this happened.  Bike has never had  a problem with carbs before.  Always runs strong, easy starts, no dead spots or hiccups in acceleration.  Am I gonna have to pull the carbs on her?  God I hope not.  Any fixes to try first?  On the bright side.  I did get to ride my buddies 2016 Road Glide special.  It was nice, comfy, I liked the radio and heel shifter.  Felt pretty sluggish compared to the Valk.  Felt like it had a very narrow torque curve.  I wasn't impressed with it's acceleration much.  All help is appreciated.

Pulling the carbs and cleaning, refurbishing them isn't nearly as tough as it may seem. Give yourself plenty of work space and little containers for holding parts. It kind of sounds like you may have the same problem Leathel had with the floats, being that it was all on the one side. Plenty of people here to help you thru it. 

[rug_burn]

Me-  I'm a little suspicious of all those carb cleaner additives after one of them burned holes in my vacuum lines. 
      This is after trying just about every one I could think of, so I can't say which did the damage.   
     And none of them cleaned the carbs enough that I didn't have to pull them and do the job myself, anyway.   

[Ricky-D]

Actually soap and hot water does a much better job cleaning the carburetors that petroleum based cleaners.

Reason being that what you'd be cleaning is organic based crud like algae and fungus, both of which are more susceptible to soap and water.

These deposits are mainly the result of running ethanol enriched gasoline.

The days of "varnish" deposits in carburetors have long vanished.

About time to enter into the 21st century don't you think.

[Bighead]

Me-  I'm a little suspicious of all those carb cleaner additives after one of them burned holes in my vacuum lines. 
     

How in the world did a fuel additive burn a hole in your vaccum lines?  Vaccum lines only have an air vaccum on them no fuel should ever be in a vaccum line.

[rug_burn]

     It happened , I think, when I first got the bike running- kind-of, after letting it sit for about a year, and having the gas go bad in it.   The choke was on all the way, and it apparently sucked up a little fuel from the vacuum take-off,  I guess.  Must have been super rich.  
        I know, it should never have happened unless there was a lot of liquid fuel flying around on those rough starts,  But I sliced them open afterwards, and the vacuum lines were all checked and cracked inside, and had small holes right at the end of the vacuum nipples.   The hoses (fairly new)y sure didn't like something that got in them.

[burple05]

Got her going again.   Got a long 3/8 extension held it against carb bowls, gave each one a couple of taps with a hammer.   Turn fuel on.   Presto, no more leaky.  Not a drop.   Went for a test ride through town. Jumped on the interstate. Wilder up to 115. Back to the house. Sharon good, always has. What are the chances of that happening again? I did start it after I washed it and let it run for a little bit without turning the gas on. Wood carburetor bowl void of gas cause that float to stick open? I think it shouldn't but maybe.   Am I good or should the carb rebuild be done?

[Ricky-D]

You're good.

It may never happen again.

[Bighead]

Quit turning the gas on off.

[Ricky-D]

That remark is antithetical to everything we profess regarding the fuel system on this forum.

[ridingron]

I have ridden over 300K miles on several models and brands of bikes (Suzuki, Guzzi, BMW, Honda) and have never turned the gas valve off. Admittedly about half those miles were on bikes without a valve to switch. I deleted the vac. fuel on my ST1100 on the side of I-40 some where in Arizona. I put about 100K miles on that ST without the valve or problems. I've switched to reserve a few times but never off.

I ride the Valkyrie several times a week (locally central Florida) for a little over 10K miles a year.

[burple05]

I always turn the gas off with the Pingel manual valve.  Every now and then I forget to turn it back on when I take off.  She'll go about a mile or 2 and I'll feel the running low on fuel, just reach down and twist the fuel on and all is good.  I turn it off for the very reason this thread was started.  If something goes wrong with any of the carb floats or seats.  Dam sure don't want a hydro lock to happen.  To each is own.  I appreciate all the help and comments that this forum provides.  I learn something almost everyday on here.  One extra thing I learned from this incident.  I prefer my old Valkyrie to a 2016 Road Glide.  Honda did it right with this one.   Gonna be 85 degrees this weekend in Arkansas boys.  Get out and ride if you can.