carb floats/needle... leaking oil/gas

[JohnnyPossum]

So. I'm relatively new here... I had a friend help me build my bike over the past year, now its ready to go and I've taken it out, put maybe around 800 miles on it since I've gotten it.... Its a 92 katana with a 01 bandit engine. the engine had about 8k miles on it. the rest of the bike has about 30k miles on it.

so, initially my petcock wasn't switching between the on,off,reserve and was constantly on. so then my fuel was leaking constantly. I then found out a bit from my dad about how the carbs work and that my float/needle wasnt positioned correctly or something (sorry Idk jack about carbs). So I talked to the guy that helped me put the bike together and he said the carbs were completely redone b4 I got it by a mutual friend of ours, said not to worry about it just to remember to turn the gas to off when I'm done riding.

much easier said than done.

anyways, did a petcock rebuild, seemed to stop any gas from leaking as long as I switched the gas to off when done riding. now A couple days ago on my way back home I popped whatever off of my bike that was holding my shifter lever on from coming off, so that popped off and while I was on the side of the road putting it on quick, I noticed oil along my left back fairing. I did a check as good as I could and everything seemed in decent condition except for the smell of gas due to me continuing to forget to turn the petcock off.

So I got home parked my bike in the garage, and this morning I had a very small puddle on the floor under the bike which clearly appeared to be oil and not gas. I then checked the oil level on the bike, which was way above full, and looked very watery, which I looked something up online that said if my gas keeps dripping it'll leak into the area for the oil. So I figured maybe theres to much in there, and I need to change that out anyways. Did an oil change, everything is running great. except for the part where my bike seemed to still be dripping a very small amount of oil. as in maybe a drop every 20 minutes-ish. So I parked it after my ride say about 6 hours ago. I go into my garage to see if its leaking oil or not, and its leaked out a bit of gas even though the petcock is turned to off as well as some oil...

When I attempt to start the bike it won't start as though its out of gas so I believe its the gas in the bowl that just continued to drip down?

Now that I've said all this, my main questions are. Would it be difficult to adjust the float/needle in the carb with 0 experience working with it, is it safe to rely on just the petcock if I don't adjust the float/needle , Does it sound like I may have damaged my engine due to the fact that oil has now started to leak from it? I havent done an extensive search to see where its coming from as of yet so this is preliminary. Thanks for your help. sorry for all the text. Take care and best of luck to you all

ALSO for any1 that reads this, the guy that helped me put my bike together just had me use a rubber o ring to put on the shifter to hold it there but I'm curious if theres something that is meant for it that hopefully wont pop off so damn easy. thanks

[arsenic]

Consider there is no "off" on the petcock, I'm going with no.

[92xjunker]

Wow....Kick your friend in the nuts. +1, you need to deal with the carbs. And install the circlip on the shifter. I would go over everything you guys did, if o-rings were used to hold hard parts on, what else is wrong. Just sayin.

[shpielers]

So...you have a few problems. Carbs aren't supposed to leak fuel, ever. So you need to get that fixed first. The floats could be set too high, the orings on the floats could meed replacing, or there's debris keeping the float valve from sealing.
2) there is no off on the petcock. Looking at the dial, 9 o'clock position is reserve, 6 is on and 3 is prime. It's vacuum actuated, so when res or on, it should only flow fuel when vacuum is applied. Prime should always freely flow fuel.
3) good call on changing the oil, but until you stop the carbs from leaking fuel, you will continue to contaminate your oil. Don't ride until you get it fixed, you'll kill the engine pretty quick with thinned out oil.
4) hell no there should not be an oring keeping the shifter on. It needs a circlip. There's also a washer before the circlip. They're maybe a buck at a hardware store. Get one so you're shifter doesn't fall off while you're riding and you're up a creek without a paddle.
5) not trying to be unduly mean, but your friend is an idiot. I have many idiot friends, nothing wrong with it. But know you have to take what he says with a grain of salt. He doesn't know much about bikes or he'd never tell you not to worry about carbs that leak, or to put an oring on instead of a circlip. At best, you end up with a destroyed motor from the fuel thinning out your oil, at worst, your shifter falls off when your riding and you end up wrecking. Its awesome that you're learning how to work on a bike for yourself. But I'd highly recommend a lot more reading the manual, and a lot less listening to your well meaning, but less than well informed, friend.

[JohnnyPossum]

I really do appreciate all the help. I know my friend ghetto rigged a few things, I plan to fix everything in more detail, this coming winter I want to sand/buff/polish out my frame and make it fully chrome, then throw everything back together, I even got a brand new harness for the 01 bandit engine in the bike so I don't have to work with the cuts/splices the guy has made to make it all operable.

the only thing none of you actually answered there, is with my limited knowledge on bikes, which I can take everything apart and put it back together but I dont know the terminology for damn near anything... would it be very difficult for me to fix the carbs myself? cuz I want to get out riding and Im not trying to pay these mechanics hundreds of dollars to fix this for me. I'd rather learn by myself.

I do have a haynes manual for my bike, it seems to cover just about everything including a bit with the carbs... the thing is that I don't want to take it out, start working on the stuff, figure out its way beyond me and have no idea what to do.... not sure if thats a possibility exactly but I figure you guys will have some sort of idea

[arsenic]

What carburetors are you using? The Katana ones or the Bandit ones?

[92xjunker]

Ooops, good question I assumed the KAT carbs. It's not that hard at all 13mm +- .5mm is the float height you need for the KAT carbs. But rebuild kits first.

[JohnnyPossum]

What carburetors are you using? The Katana ones or the Bandit ones?

the bandit ones, the only difference is I have a throttle positioning sensor, other than that I'm told that the carbs are the same, thats information my friend gave me. so I guess take it with a grain of salt eh. lol...

yea this guy has been working on bikes for a while for what I know. I payed him about $1100 total for all the parts for the bike as well as his help putting it together... hes obviously not a professional but I'd like things to be a bit nicer than they are obviously.

[arsenic]

I don't really know much about B6 carbs. I do know they aren't the same as Katana carbs, even a little. B6 carbs are Keihin, Katana carbs are Mikuni. I don't know what years are what with the B6. I know some years of the B12 use Mikuni BST36SS, which is the same as the 89-97 Katana 750. I can't help you much as I'm not familiar with B6 carbs.

[skjeflo]

hes obviously not a professional

Clearly...

Might want to head over to a Bandit forum for info on the carbs and engine in general. At the very least your carb floats need adjustment. Fuel should not get by the needles unless the level in the bowls lowers to the point that the needles open. Yours would appear to be open at least a bit all the time.

As noted above, if they are working properly the carbs should NEVER leak fuel, externally or internally (inside the engine).

The shift lever needs to be properly fixed. You NEED that to ride the bike.

(An O-ring? Seriously? Time to stop letting your friend try to kill you by working on the bike...)

[JohnnyPossum]

the carbs should NEVER leak fuel

he was litteraly trying to tell me due to the weight of the gas in the tank, that the needle wasn't able to hold up that kind of weight or something... it sounded really fkn odd wat he was telling me at first. I just gotta get that shit fixed now.

[skjeflo]

RUN, run very fast AWAY from that "mechanic"...please...

[katana bob]

he was litteraly trying to tell me due to the weight of the gas in the tank, that the needle wasn't able to hold up that kind of weight or something... it sounded really fkn odd wat he was telling me at first. I just gotta get that shit fixed now.

Wow. just wow.

[JohnnyPossum]

I don't really know much about B6 carbs.

I found this, which I believe is the information I'm looking for. they refer to g1 and g2 as well though (which I've never heard), its b6 carbs which I never heard b4 the comment I quoted. Can any1 confirm for me that this is the information I want?

http://forums.banditalley.net/index.php?topic=8903.0

the only reason I'm asking for confirmation here instead of there is cuz I have to wait like a day till I get approved to be able to post anywhere there. I'd like to pull the carbs out tonight and work on them in the morning

[arsenic]

I'm sure if dude said his manual says 17mm, there's a good chance it's right. Just for the record, if the float heights are 17mm, there is no way in hell they are just Katana carbs with a TPS. I'm not sure if that information is correct, but I'm also not sure it isn't correct.