Me: New guy, Minnesota, 47, retired on disability in April
Bike: 1999 Roadstar with 16K miles
Problem: Carb puking

Yes, the dreaded carb puking, dripping gas under the airbox on start-up. It's never done this before, but the bike sat pretty much unridden last year (back problems, hence the early retirement) and then over the winter. I don't imagine that was very good for it, but I come from a long line of idiots. I installed a new battery and new spark plugs and a fresh tank of gas with some Seafoam in it. Aside from some smoke on start-up, which wasn't unexpected given that the bike sat for so long, it seems to be running okay. Still have to change the oil.

I've read several threads about carb puking elsewhere, but I'm not sure I saw a real solution to the problem. It isn't happening just on hot days, not that we get any hot days in northern Minnesota. It's happening on start-up while it's idling and warming up and it's a new problem. It started yesterday. I turned it off and cleaned up the spilled gasoline, turned off the petcock as suggested in another thread and started it up again and it seemed to work for a while before starting again.

Is this something that goes away once I have the bike out on the road? I'm not really relishing the idea of gasoline spilling out onto hot pipes and a hot engine. If it's something common to Roadstars, I can handle that and any minor annoyances when I'm first starting it up to go for a ride. Is there something besides starting it up with the petcock in the "off" position that I can do? I can't really answer complicated technical questions like how my carb is jetted and that sort of thing. I'm a verified, certified 100% moron when it comes to mechanical aptitude, but I'm trying to learn.

Thanks for any advice!

If it did not happen before and it is happening now especially when the engine is running you probably have some gunk in the float needle valve that is making it stick open. A carb cleaning is probably needed. My scoot still pukes on occaission when it is hot and I have learned to live with it. Messy and annoying, but like a beautiful women I am willing to over look some minor issues for all the other benefits.

I agree with cruiserbob, clean the carb, sometimes you can just take the bowl down fill it with seafoam or one of the others like mmo or ringfree, put it back on to soak the jets, turn off the gas and use the fuel pump to feed some in through the lines and let it sit for a while..
fire it up after 1/2 hour or so and see if it stops flowing.
judge this by how much varnish is in the float bowl if its heavy, just take the whole thing off and disassemble and clean completely..

unklscrufy. Fellow moron here. Usually, when I do something, I break something else; costing me much more than if I took it in the shop in the first place. Always learning something new though from this great site.

I had gas leaking from my hypercharger, just once when I turned on the key and it magically went away (did it in front of a HD rider, how embarrassing). It only did it once and never since. Sorry I can't really help, but still, welcome to the clinic.

How much can you ride with a bad back?

unklscrufy

If it sat for that long things are probably gummed up. I agree witht he others. Carb cleaning time.

Dont post much, but read a lot,lot,lot...
Still new but dont feel that way.

unklscrufy, I had the same problem with my 06
took the air cleaner off and found it was leaking
from a be-bee pressed into the side of the float bowl
from the inside of the carb. The best fix for me was
some gas tank repair puddy and some epoxy on the outside. However the
best fix is a new float bowl from the stealer ship.
The Hag

Welcome to the Clinic Unklscrufy.
As has been noted , a cleaning is probably in order. Here's what I've done in the past. If the fuel leaking is not severe (and that matters), I take it down the road kinda hard. If a little piece of trash is preventing the needle from seating , many times this method will dislodge the trash and all is well. We call that a 285 tune up in these parts.

If I'd disassembled my dirt bikes every time the needle got stuck , I'd spent more time in the shop and less in the woods. Now , that being said , don't do anything you're not comfortable with. And another thing , you need an open flame or spark to ignite fuel , not just heat.
Just a thought , do with it what you will. BB

I'm new to the clinic live in middle Ga. I ride a red 07 1700 I've been reading you guys comments here a while now you guys now your bikes.

My bike doesn't leak at idle but I rode with some fella's on Sunday and the two behind me said that whenever I got into the throttle they could smell gas? is this a sure sign that I'm runnig rich ?

I have a Kuryakyn twin air kit DG-hardchrome 3" sideburners and my main jet is probably a dyno -195 not sure though. I'm at around 37.mpg


:unsur e:

Welcome Dcoley. It could be. Or not. The Roadies use an accelerator pump on the carb which gives the motor a big shot of fuel when you grab a hand full. You sound a little low in the MPG race , but if you are on it hard , do a lot of in-town riding , etc... MPG's drop. How do the plugs look? How is it jetted? If the jetting is in the right range , and the plugs aren't black , Ride and smile. A quick smell of gas from a Roadie isn't the end of the world. Constant smell , and black smoke are another horse altogether. Confused now? BB

I ride a '99 and I always have a concern about the puking and it seems to do it a lot and not just when it's hot. I always try to turn the gas off several seconds before shutting it down... then start up and turn up gas on, but even at that, sometimes it floods on startup. I always try to keep my hand off the throttle to keep from turning it in any way, and even that does not seem to make a difference.

I really don't have an answer; I just know it sucks!