possible stuck float

So I went on a 100 mile round trip today. At the end of the ride I was stopped at a red light when I reached my reserve and it died. Switched to reserve, let it fill the bowls and started. Rode maybe a half of a mile and stopped for fuel. After filling up I turned on my fuel and began talking for a minute turned back and had fuel pouring out the drain hole on the air box. Shut off the fuel and tapped the sides of the carbs. Opened up the fuel again and no more gas. What I think happened is when I ran the bowls dry one or more floats got stuck for a moment. Has anyone ever had something like this happen to them?

 

Not quite the same thing but, I had bike which I didn't use reserve for the longest time. Then one day I had to use it. Got it on the fly and bike kept running. Stopped and got gas then stopped for something to eat. Bike wouldn't start. Did an emergency cleaning on the petcock and lots of rust and residue came out. Got it cleaned and it started. My point is, there is a lot of sediment that is at the bottom of the tank that my not be touched until you go to a lower fuel level of reserve. So I suppose that has only one place to go and that is to your carburetors. These days, I keep a clear inline fuel filter for a little more protection.

Just a side note on that trip. I rode back home from Fort Lauderdale to Tampa the next day with my buddy on his bike (81 XJ550R). We left real late and at 1:00 AM in the middle of gator ally my bike starts dying. I go to reserve and nothing. Dies out completely. Got my buddy on his XJ550R to shine his headlight so I can check the petcock again. Turns out I had put the petcock gasket on backwards the prior day. Got it the right way, fired her up, and was able to make the last 20 mi of Gator Ally to Naples on reserve. Man that was stressful, LOL.

 

Yea I got the clear inline fuel filter it is very helpful when priming the bowls. Yea I can imagine that was a bit stressful. How much gas did you have? The 100 mile trip is my furthest so far working up to a trip to deals gap in late July. I believe 1000 miles round trip.

 

The trip form Tampa to Ft Lauderdale is 265 mi each way. So, 530 mi round trip. But this was 30 years ago, The bike was riding was about 9 years old at the time, the XJ one year old. But it goes to show you, it doesn't have to be a vintage to get sediment in the tank. It can even happen to a nine year old bike. A thousand miles is a good jaunt. Are you doing the Dragon? I would take off your petcock and clean it along with any sediment at the bottom of the tank. I would clean the carbs again before your trip if you find you had a lot of debris in the tank. Unless you are absolutely confident in them. Then I would definitely at least test out your reserve before going out on your trip. You can test it quicker by doing a bench test on the tank and let fuel drain into a container until it reaches reserve. Then try reserve. I am assuming prime position on a vacuum petcock won't drain past reserve.

 

There's two adjustments for floats. The tab to set when they fill and the other to stop them when you run out of gas, like you did. The floats go too far down and get stuck trying to push the needle sideways and up. I don't think there's a setting spec for it.
Just don't run out of gas.

 

There's two adjustments for floats. The tab to set when they fill and the other to stop them when you run out of gas, like you did. The floats go too far down and get stuck trying to push the needle sideways and up. I don't think there's a setting spec for it.
Just don't run out of gas.