dies after idling for a few minutes and leaks gas from exhaust

[mdills981100]

Greetings...

I purchased a bike back in February 2012 and have made about 6 or 8 trips to work and back - about 34-mile round trip, totalling a little over 200 miles. The bike is a 1998 VT1100C2 ACE. The first thing I did was purchase a Clymer manual. I've read the Troubleshooting section of the book, along with other chapters concerning fuel delivery issues, with no luck.

I've been on and off this site for the past 3 or 4 weeks taking suggestions from other posts and have solved a few things just by reading from here. But, I can't find a post that explains the problem I'm having exactly the way I'm having it. For example, I read a post about gas leaking from the exhaust pipes, but it was while it sat in the garage overnight, and mine doesn't do that. It leaks after the bike dies and I attempt to restart it.

Scenario:

I start the bike. It starts with no problem, without the choke, and warms up fine. I get on and take it for a 50-mile trip to get the Sea-Foam through the system. It has no loss of power at any speed or in any gear. There's no popping during deceleration like I've read on other posts concerning carburetor issues. I stop at a stop sign, it idles and I take off as normal. When I get to my brother-in-law's house, I leave it running at idle for about 10 minutes while talking to him. When I get back on to leave, it dies. I hadn't touched the throttle, it just died. Since I have the fuel cut-off relay jumpered out, the fuel pump just keeps on pumping. Next thing I know, there's gasoline running out of the exhaust pipes, both of them. I shut off the fuel valve and let it pump. Eventually, I get it started, though it sounds like crap. If I let off the throttle it dies. I get it started again, and at about 1/2 throttle, I opened up the fuel valve slowly, let off the throttle, and it idles as it did before. I take off home because I didn't want stranded, and it ran fine all the way home...? This is the 4th time that this "flooding" issue has happened to me. It just takes a notion to die, and after its death it's flooded so badly that I can't hardly get it started back. Shouldn't the fuel pump pressure switch still operate as it normally would, even without the fuel cut-off relay...?

When I've started the bike previously, even with the cut-off relay jumped out, I would turn on the ignition switch and the fuel pump would pump until the line was pressurized and stop. It usually starts that way, and even when I shut it off, go inside for an hour and come back out to ride, it starts that way. This time, the pump wouldn't stop. I had to shut the fuel valve to prevent too much gas from getting to the carbs.



A quick rundown of what I've done so far:

• Replaced battery
• Replaced r/r with Mosfet r/r from roadstercycle.com - recommended by this site - and I'm glad I did
• Found fuel cut-off relay to be bad (jumpered for now)
• Did flow test on fuel pump. I got around 47 ounces per minute, and the manual says minimum of 27, so I guess I'm OK with fuel flow.
• Ran 3/4 pint of Sea-Foam through system with 4 gallons of gas - full tank

Besides changing the air filter (which isn't that dirty) and the fuel filter, what am I missing...? I'm changing them just to rule them out.

Thanks for reading...

MED

[gat803]

First off, there is no fuel pump pressure switch.
The fuel pump runs until the pressure stalls it out, and then when the engine uses enough fuel to drop the pressure enough the pump runs again, and so on.

You have either or both of the following problems. The first being a defective/dirty fuel inlet needle in the carbs. The second being a defective or improperly adjusted float/floats in the carbs.

Either way fuel is getting past the carbs and into your motor then draining thru the exhaust. This is bad for several reasons. With that much liguid fuel going into your cylinders you could easily break something important when you try to restart your engine. Air will compress as the pistons come up, liquid will not.

The other biggie is filling the crankcase up with gas. This dilutes the oil and just about eliminates its lubricating properties. Your motor won't last much longer in this case than it will in the fist one.

Check the oil. If the level is high, looks way thin, or smells like gas, you are probably already in trouble. Don't run your bike until you resolve the carb issue. You are flirting with a catastrophic engine failure.

This has nothing to do with jumping the fuel cutoff relay.

[sweet041100]

It seems like you didn't have a problem until you talked to your brother-in law. Try everything you listed in the same order except don't talk to him. Troubleshooting is all about controlling variables.

[Scrapdog2grand]

gats rite on with that, I dont think the pump pressure would push the float valve open, but I supose it could happen, if float valves and seats are dirty or not seating properly, it will push the additional fuel through the carb, check out what norvin went throught if you can find his thread. and would look into getting the FP relay taken care asap. while also taking care of the things gat recommended.

[mdills981100]

Getting what back to stock...?

I plan on pulling the carbs tomorrow evening, so I'll post back what I find inside.

[Scrapdog2grand]

sorry, I was reffering to the fuel pump relay.

[mdills981100]

It's definitely on my list to replace. I'm going through the carbs tomorrow, for my first time, so I'll report back afterwards. There'll be more questions, trust me... I'll be using the Clymers manual and taking it one step at a time so hopefully I only have to do it once.

Thanks for the suggestions...

MED

[Scrapdog2grand]

check out this posted thread!
Not Firing On All Cylinders

[tubes_rock]

Are you sure it's gas dripping from the exhaust. it would take a lot of fuel to make it drip. LOTS of fuel.

Perhaps what you're seeing is condensation, like what you see coming out of a car's exhaust pipe while sitting at a stop light.

--Justin

[John Hopkins]

When you remove the carbs. don't split them, or you will have to re-sync them, you can see if they are in sync by moving the throttle drum while watching the throttle (butterfly) valves they should open and close at the same time.

you will need two repair kits, a can of spray carb cleaner, a camera and a tube of silicon gasket gel before you start work.

John.