Fuel leaking out of exhaust

[WaltL]

When I posted earlier, I thought the white smoke I was seeing from both exhaust and what was dripping out of the collector was coolant, but it was fuel and a lot off it!   I guess I need to pull and rebuild the carbs.

[JimC]

I agree, and I would be very careful, I would not attempt to start the bike without checking for hydrolock first.
Looks like you dodged a big bullet.

Jim

[hubcapsc]

It might be real easy to fix... my buddy's bike's petcock diaphragm was bad
and his did that... his petcock was extra bad, in that the PO had tried to fix
it by closing off the weep port... gas ran down the vacuum hose into cylinder
#6 and shot out the exhaust and the exhaust vent holes on the bottom of
the muffler. And gas in a top-end can cause hydrolock like jimc says...



-Mike

[WaltL]

Thanks for the replies.   First, when this all started the stopcock was on...

After the bike cranked and billowed white smoke and leaked fluid I shut it off, thinking is was coolant (bike was on a rug in the shop).  Later, I tried to crank it (before you guys posted) and it turned over briefly and then stopped.  Then I got the same solenoid click that had started me down this path initially.  Pressurizing the system led to more fluid leaking from the center of the pipes and that's when I confirmed it was actually gas and not coolant.

I put the bike on the lift and when I came out yesterday morning there was more gas and maybe some oil mixed in under the bike (still coming from pipes/collector area, I think).  The stopcock has been in the off position, so perhaps that has failed, but didn't notice much more had leaked today.

I'm planning on draining the oil as I'm sure the case is full of fuel , but haven't had time to get to it yet.  The bike has run a bit rich and also poor mpg since I purchased it 3 years ago, and while Seafoam has helped, a carbie rebuild has been on the agenda for awhile, only much more pressing now, I think. 

So how do I test for hydrolock?  I hope I haven't damaged anything with what I've done thus far   

[JimC]

I am not a betting man, but I would be willing to bet that you have already had, or do have hydro-lock.
Do a search on this board on hydrolock, and I would think you will have  weeks worth of reading.

Just keep your fingers crossed that the starter gears did not get broken, or you will be pulling the motor along with your carb rebuilds.

Jim

[WaltL]

Will do.   I've been reading about it... doesn't sound like fun.  Hopefully, if you win that bet, I haven't damaged any internals.  Sure don't want to be pulling that big motor.  I'll post an update once I've drained the oil, pulled plugs, etc... and see what I have.  Fingers crossed.

[Willow]

I am not a betting man, but I would be willing to bet that you have already had, or do have hydro-lock.

I would take that bet.

Remove the spark plugs and turn the engine over.  If you've a cylinder filled with fuel it will spray out a BUNCH.

I don't think you ever answered the question of whether the drool had been recently drained.  If not that could result in what you're seeing.

[WaltL]

Okay, here's the update I promised:

After draining a crankcase FULL of gas, I left the drain plug out for a day and no more gas came through  (the stopcock has been turned to off ever since I discovered the problem).  The next day I pulled the tank, and removed all the spark plugs, looking closely at each one, added new oil & filter and then turned the bike over.  It looks like I dodged a bullet, since everything seems fine and I don't think the bike was ever hydrolocked, or at least if it was I didn't break anything.     

I assume the cylinder #'s are just like Goldwing 1500, so below I've got a diagram and I'll refer to that for what I found:

 front
2-1
4-3
6-5
rear

All the plugs looked normal, but cyl #1 smelled of gas and had a bit of residue on the electrode.
On engine turnover, some fuel came out of #1, but A LOT more shot out of cyl #4.  After I turned her over several times and cleaned up the mess, I decided to check compression on all cylinders.

Here are the compression test results based on above numbering.
front
160-180
180-160
175-160
rear

From what I've read, these numbers look pretty decent and I guess are probably expected for a bike with < 40K mi.

Now for a few questions related to fuel valve and carb bank removal:

1)  How does vacuum affect the pingel valve, e.g. with the tank off and no vacuum, should fuel flow in both ON and RES positions?  Mine does.  If it's failed, I have the diaphragm kit to rebuild it.

2)  Regarding carburetor removal.  There's a pretty good video on YouTube for this, but the most impt. part isn't shown:  Airbox hose removal  and install.  I figure I can get the clamps and hoses off the tubes connecting to the underside of the airbox with long nosed pliers, but how in the world do you get them back on?  There is just no room.  Any tricks?

3)  It looks like the plastic deflector that's on the Interstates and is part of the pods may need to be removed in order to get the bank of carbs to slide out.  Is that the case?  It tucks under the crash bars and looks like a pain to remove w/o damaging it (I tend to break plastic bits).

Thanks for the help, & advice!

Walt

[gordonv]

1)  How does vacuum affect the pingel valve, e.g. with the tank off and no vacuum, should fuel flow in both ON and RES positions?  Mine does.  If it's failed, I have the diaphragm kit to rebuild it.

The vacuum is for a fuel shut off. No vacuum present, no fuel flow in any position. So you do have a petcock failure. Fix that.

3)  It looks like the plastic deflector that's on the Interstates and is part of the pods may need to be removed in order to get the bank of carbs to slide out.  Is that the case?  It tucks under the crash bars and looks like a pain to remove w/o damaging it (I tend to break plastic bits).

I'm unsure of exactly what it is you're referring to. You need to take the pod(s) off, to slide the carbs out one side. I removed the engine hanger from one side, as suggested.

If you are referring to the sheet of rubber that is a heat deflector, laying on the engine from the rad, leave it, no need to touch it.

I thought I had a post on my carbs, but I can't find it. 

[Lyle Laun]

Walt:
If I understand your note correctly, I think you have an OEM petcock not a Pingel brand petcock. Sounds like your petcock failed as it flows without vacuum applied.
You can get by with just doing the cover set on the OEM petcock, but a better plan might be to replace the OEM petcock with an after market Pingel valve and learn to turn it off when you park your bike.
This would avoid or at least postpone having to pull your carbs.

Lyle

[WaltL]

If you are referring to the sheet of rubber that is a heat deflector, laying on the engine from the rad, leave it, no need to touch it.

Yes, that's what I'm talking about, but it's more like plastic at the ends.  It flairs out at the ends where the pods fit over them.  It also kind of abuts to the linkage covers.

If I understand your note correctly, I think you have an OEM petcock not a Pingel brand petcock. Sounds like your petcock failed as it flows without vacuum applied.

Correct, it is an OEM valve.  I thought I saw someone refer to them here as a Pingel. 

This would avoid or at least postpone having to pull your carbs.

The PO only rode the bike ~1,200 mi in 8 years.  So it sat a lot and it has run rich since the day I got it.  After many cans of SeaFoam and other carb elixirs, it has gotten better, at least the unburned fuel smell is mostly gone, but I get poor mpg (~25 mpg w/o horsing around) and low end throttle response is very poor, esp on slow takeoff where it will stumble unless I continuously blip the throttle.  I hate to tackle it, but it really needs to be done and I'm too cheap to pay someone to do it.

[The emperor has no clothes]

If you are referring to the sheet of rubber that is a heat deflector, laying on the engine from the rad, leave it, no need to touch it.

Yes, that's what I'm talking about, but it's more like plastic at the ends.  It flairs out at the ends where the pods fit over them.  It also kind of abuts to the linkage covers.

If I understand your note correctly, I think you have an OEM petcock not a Pingel brand petcock. Sounds like your petcock failed as it flows without vacuum applied.

Correct, it is an OEM valve.  I thought I saw someone refer to them here as a Pingel. 

This would avoid or at least postpone having to pull your carbs.

The PO only rode the bike ~1,200 mi in 8 years.  So it sat a lot and it has run rich since the day I got it.  After many cans of SeaFoam and other carb elixirs, it has gotten better, at least the unburned fuel smell is mostly gone, but I get poor mpg (~25 mpg w/o horsing around) and low end throttle response is very poor, esp on slow takeoff where it will stumble unless I continuously blip the throttle.  I hate to tackle it, but it really needs to be done and I'm too cheap to pay someone to do it.

Its not that hard of a job. I take the air dam out to remove the carbs. But some leave it and remove the engine hangers to get the carbs out. The air box is easy enough to get out. Getting it back in with the rubber boots all lined up correctly can be tedious. With the amount of sitting the bike has done, I'm sure the carbs need it. The petcock cover set needs to be done also. Probably vacuum lines and vacuum caps also. A desmog is a good idea.