Hey y'all, I'll give you the back story below but the point of this question up front: - when testing carb bowls for leakage, will filling them with water not yield as accurate of a result as actual gasoline?
Back story: My '74 CB550k always had a slow drip from carb 2 drain tube. After I bought it, I did the basic going through process, including setting float levels. Most were off, so after I set them all to stock and put everything back together the same carb still dripped. I took them back apart, swapped needles (and maybe floats, I don't remember, been a year) between carbs and dunk-tested the float to see if it sank or made bubbles. Float passed the test, but the same carb still leaked.
So I took the bowl off and filled it with water from a nearby hose - no leaks.
So at this point I figured the only thing left that made sense was the float seat. Said fuck it, I'll deal with it later and just attached a vacuum hose so it'd drip on the ground and rode it (it was just a drip after all...)
Flash forward to last week, after the bike set for a few months while I was moving I decided to finally rebuild the carbs, everything but floats got replaced (was really hoping the float seat would fix it). I also made sure all float pins/pivots moved smoothly so the floats weren't binding or sticking.
I fired it up tonight, and woefully I still have a carb drip...only technically it isn't the same carb anymore.
In my excitement to get the carbs together I accidentally swapped bowls for 2 & 3, which really to me didn't matter, except that I can't turn the drain screws (which I've never used and don't really plan to). But I noticed the bowl for number 2 is now number 3, which still drips.
So coming back around to my point - I tested that bowl with water, and it didn't leak. Is there enough of a difference between fuel and water that I wouldn't see a leak with water but it takes fuel to leak? The leak followed the bowl so I figure that's gotta be it, but then I accidentally may have mixed up the floats.
Thanks, and sorry for the length of the post, but then I warned ya up top didn't I?
Back story: My '74 CB550k always had a slow drip from carb 2 drain tube. After I bought it, I did the basic going through process, including setting float levels. Most were off, so after I set them all to stock and put everything back together the same carb still dripped. I took them back apart, swapped needles (and maybe floats, I don't remember, been a year) between carbs and dunk-tested the float to see if it sank or made bubbles. Float passed the test, but the same carb still leaked.
So I took the bowl off and filled it with water from a nearby hose - no leaks.
So at this point I figured the only thing left that made sense was the float seat. Said fuck it, I'll deal with it later and just attached a vacuum hose so it'd drip on the ground and rode it (it was just a drip after all...)
Flash forward to last week, after the bike set for a few months while I was moving I decided to finally rebuild the carbs, everything but floats got replaced (was really hoping the float seat would fix it). I also made sure all float pins/pivots moved smoothly so the floats weren't binding or sticking.
I fired it up tonight, and woefully I still have a carb drip...only technically it isn't the same carb anymore.
In my excitement to get the carbs together I accidentally swapped bowls for 2 & 3, which really to me didn't matter, except that I can't turn the drain screws (which I've never used and don't really plan to). But I noticed the bowl for number 2 is now number 3, which still drips.
So coming back around to my point - I tested that bowl with water, and it didn't leak. Is there enough of a difference between fuel and water that I wouldn't see a leak with water but it takes fuel to leak? The leak followed the bowl so I figure that's gotta be it, but then I accidentally may have mixed up the floats.
Thanks, and sorry for the length of the post, but then I warned ya up top didn't I?
