How do you fix a float that keeps getting stuck??

[400MXer]

this is the second time it's happened. After i'm done ridding the gas just starts pouring out of the overflow, and them it will do it while i'm riding too! the only way to get it to stop it to shut the gas off. Am i right, is the float stuck. well this is the second tiem it's happened, the first time it stopped on it's own. Any suggestions?

[hollywood43]

I'm no expert here but I had a similar problem not too long ago. My problem ended up being two things: 1) worn out needle/seat, and 2) a bad on/off/res valve. So even though I would turn the gas off, it would just keep coming. The only difference is that it would take a little bit of time since the gas would slowly leak past the needle and seat. If you have a Keihin carb then the needle/seat is not replaceable.

From my experience with snowmobiles, if you have a float problem and the gas starts pouring out then I would try to wack the float bowl with something like the handle on a screwdriver. If the gas stops then you unstuck the float and it popped up to shut off the fuel. If you pull your bowl, look at where the needle is hitting the float. It could be possible that you run the gas down in the carb and the needle drops all the way down an is getting hung up somewhere.

[400MXer]

Alrighty, i'll try beating on it a little...and if that doesn't work i'll rip the carb down. i'm not really all that concerned because i'm getting a FCR 41mm SOON, but for the time being.

[wilkin250r]

You may have a rock or something stuck in the float valve. I had a similar problem on my 250X, always overflowing. Turned out I had a small rock stuck in the float valve that kept the valve from closing all the way.

I'd suggest cleaning the carb and spraying carb cleaner through every fuel passage you can find.

[White_Knuckles]

Originally posted by hollywood43
If you have a Keihin carb then the needle/seat is not replaceable.


This seems odd, every Keihin I've seen has a replaceable rubber tipped needle and a threaded seat that can backed out and replaced. This is a high fail item in all carbs. Honda should have part numbers for each item and a complete assembly. Other post discuss replacing the float needle on 400EX's.

[hollywood43]

I had an old Keihin PWK34 (or 35, I don't remember for sure) that didn't have a replaceable seat. We're talking 1988 time period. They've probably come a long way. However, I decided to stay away from them and switched to a Lectron.