Gas coming out of lower tailpipe

1627 Views 8 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Ajsorvillo18, Mar 25, 2020

Ajsorvillo18

Discussion Starter · Mar 11, 2020

Hello all!

2001 Volusia rider here.

Recently I've had a couple of issues and reading the forums have helped me out immensely. But now I need to ask for some safe advice!

About two weeks ago the fuel gauge was not reading correctly and I ended up running out of fuel, luckily as I pulled up to work. After filling it up I had a few random easy fixes pop up, which were corrected by previous posts. But yesterday I had one I haven't been able to find. I use my bike as a daily driver, and with my recent promotion I've had to ride for longer distances. Which is great. But in my way back home yesterday the bike stalled out on the exit ramp close to home. I did end up being able to get the bike home. Turning it over I had to hold the throttle open a little bit. Put it in the garage, but fuel had leaked out of the bike.

This morning I tried turning it over. At first it would only engage the stater, but not turn over. Then with the throttle open a bit it sounded like it was about to, when I noticed fuel was leaking out of the lower tailpipe.

I'm thinking it is an issue with the carburetor. Maybe a stuck open float? Or possibly some debris in it somewhere? I do not have a manual, but would love to know what y'all think.

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Skrapiron

· #2 · Mar 11, 2020

Either the float is stuck and dumping too much fuel into the combustion chamber, or the igniter is no longer working and you have no spark on the cylinder. The easy test is to remove the tank, remove the plugs, ground the electrode to the frame and press the starter. You should see a bright blue spark. Anything less is cause for concern. Beyond that, you will likely need to tear into the carb and see what is going on. Additionally, you should run a compression test on both cylinders. Anything less than 152psi is considered below service.spec.

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Ajsorvillo18

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 13, 2020

I absolutely will try these this weekend!

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Ajsorvillo18

Discussion Starter · #4 · Mar 14, 2020

So took the tank off and checked all the lines going into the carb. Decided to try starting it up, and after a couple cranks it started up fine.

Now as I was putting the tank back on I did see a lot of corrosion on the petcock valve. And that it was gumming up on the downward side of it. Took it apart and the small o-ring on the shaft was in pieces. So I think that may have caused fuel to flood in.

After I put a new o-ring on it I started it up again. Ran fine for a few minutes then oil started to come out of the air filter....

So um now what?

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Ajsorvillo18

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 21, 2020

This morning I emptied out the oil to see if there was too much in there. In total there was about 6 quarts of oil in it. And it wreaked of gasoline. Could there be a faulty seal somewhere?

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ipartola

· #6 · Mar 22, 2020

One thing at a time man. Too much oil will make it overflow into the air filter. That’s the correct and expected thing to happen (well aside from having too much oil obviously). Next, figure out if your carb is all set up correctly. Is it stock? Is your air intake stock? Exhaust? If so, verify that you actually have stock jets in there. Verify that none of the hoses are cracked.

Definitely do a compression test and check spark. If those are good, I would check the PAIR valve as well just to be sure.

Are you sure it was gas leaking out the tailpipe? Could it be oil? Oil would make sense: you have too much oil. It gets puked into the air filter to be burnt off. There is so much that some gets into the PAIR valve instead and gets injected into the exhaust with the air it’s supposed to be injecting. If there was only a little of it that might make some sense. This particular theory would be hard to verify now that you changed the oil and have the correct amount but would have been easy to check when it was full: disable the PAIR valve and see if it stops doing that but smoke a bunch of white smoke as the oil gets sucked into the cylinders instead and gets burnt off.

Basically, check the basics, change the oil and see how it does. My Volusia has a hard time starting up after a disassembly. I think the fuel pump is weak on these bikes and it takes it cranking a bit to get going which can drain the battery and make it not start for that reason, so make sure to put the battery on a battery tender.

Good luck.

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yoda43

· #7 · Mar 22, 2020

If raw fuel was running into the cylinder past the rings, it could get in the crankcase, which would then be over full, smell of fuel and then push oil into the air filter. But that much fuel going into the cylinder in that manner would result in scored cylinder walls due to the oil being washed away. It is good you drained it, fill it with fresh oil and I would suggest tearing the carb apart and cleaning everything. If it is gummed, and the o ring destroyed, the rest of it needs addressed as well. After reinstalling it, check, clean and regap the plugs and see if it starts and runs better.

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ipartola

· #8 · Mar 22, 2020

yoda43 said:
If raw fuel was running into the cylinder past the rings, it could get in the crankcase, which would then be over full, smell of fuel and then push oil into the air filter. But that much fuel going into the cylinder in that manner would result in scored cylinder walls due to the oil being washed away. It is good you drained it, fill it with fresh oil and I would suggest tearing the carb apart and cleaning everything. If it is gummed, and the o ring destroyed, the rest of it needs addressed as well. After reinstalling it, check, clean and regap the plugs and see if it starts and runs better.

Ah very good point. But that would mean there are multiple problems at once: worn rings to get the gas into the crank case AND a carb that is sending too much fuel into the cylinders. If he only had gas coming out the exhaust one time, could it just be that he flooded the engine?

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Ajsorvillo18

Discussion Starter · #9 · Mar 25, 2020

I'm going to have to hold off on tearing apart the carb for right now. I like to make certain that I have the proper replacement kit when I do, so I can just reassemble and go. Right now it's basically winterized until I can order the parts.

Buuuuut. It did run well with the tank off and disconnected. I know it was just running the fuel that was in there, but that was also when the excess oil was coming out of the air filter.

As for the oil, it was pretty obvious that it was a mix of fuel and oil. I just hope it had nothing to do with the cylinder rings, I'd rather rebuild and calibrate carbs than do that lol.

Hopefully I can get it back up and running soon. I'm really going stir crazy not riding!

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