New to the forum, and with bike problems

Hi everybody, first post to the forum. I recently bought an 85 maxim x 700 and let me tell you, I love the bike! It is a blast to ride. Recently I went for a ride, 90 miles on Saturday, 80 on Sunday. Well, the bike sat for about two and a half weeks after that.(gotta love the rain, right) I noticed a small gas leak while it was sitting. finally clear skies, I decided to take it to work, so I started it up, let it run for 5- 10 mins, idled perfect. Hopped on it, went to leave the driveway, ran like crap. The fuel light was on so I switched it over to reserve and took off great. stopped at the local gas station three blocks away, fueled it up, turned the gas back to on and took off. after that the maxim ran terrible. Every stoplight I would have to rev it up to keep it going, but it would still die. I'd start it up, take off quick to the next stoplight; same problem. Finally after four lights it died and I couldn't get it to start. Looking down, I saw gas just pouring out the airbox drain. About an hour of letting it sit on the side of the road, (and going to grab my truck to officially make it a trailer queen) I got back, and tried it one last time. She started, so as quickly as I could, I raced her back home, before she flooded again. Since then, I've been having the same problems. So long story short, it is flooding gas on me, I think it's either the petcock vacuum or maybe the floats in the carbs, I don't know. If anyone could give me some advice, maybe shed some light on the subject, it would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

Rebuild the petcock??? I had some flooding going on and one thing you can do is check your float levels. WET SET. Look it up there are some good write ups in here. But when was the last time the valve's were checked. Carbs cleaned... I'm new at this but until you check everything out your not gonna be sure. Welcome and this is just the start.

 

Hold on now.

First off, at this point it's HIGHLY LIKELY that your crankcase is filling up with gasoline.

You have a CARB FLOAT issue. A malfunctioning petcock will only enable it; the real problem is one or more float valves not shutting off as they should.

STOP RUNNING THE BIKE. Pop the oil filler cap off and have a whiff. If it smells of gasoline in there the very first thing you need to do is an oil change; and then fix the problem before you wreck your motor.

 

hey thanks, I've got the carbs off, taking my time, as to not strip the screws on the bowl. And I noticed that breather tube coming from the crankcase and was kinda worried. so I'll stop what I'm doing and change the oil first. Thanks again.