Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Gas leaking from carb vent

Just brought home a new-to-us 05 Bonneville America. Stupid low miles on it (118). Rational for this bike is to give my wife a "real" cycle to ride after she masters her Burgman 400. And will give me an alternative to my ZRX. Had one Triumph previously - a 68 Bonnie I sold 30 years ago. Really looking forward to this one.

Thus as you can guess - lack of use will result in a few problems. Not a surprise - if I wanted new I would have paid more for new. Making the tune/adjust/clean list up. One of the must-do items: When the petcock is turned on, gas drips in a pretty stead stream from the carb vent line. Previous owner said "they all do that - leave their mark". Well - no, they do not. Figure a carb float is probably stuck. No doubt the carbs are pretty gummy. But the bike itself starts and runs well.

I have not yet gotten a shop manual (know when the new Haynes book hits the shelves). I have not the most expereinced carb mechanic - thought I get my ZRX all re-jetted several years ago. Any other thoughts in the mean time from those out here whom know? I need to put some carb cleaner in the gas and run it a bit (Techron haas worked well for me in the past).

Thanks much for any comments. Gary

Floats are not closing well enough. could be some gummy residue in the the needle seat. They just need a good cleaning. Take 'em off and do it right. Its an easy enough job.

Quick question - is there a recommended "carb cleaner" to use? A spray-type I will assume. Don't have any on the shelf in the garage.

Also - till I get a shop manual - And good directions on this forum for carb removal? ( I have done some searching looking here - need to do more).

And - does anyone sell a set of replacement czarb screws - to replace the phillip-head screws with allen heads. worked out well for my ZRX.

Again - all comments are welcome. Looks like a good forum. I hope I can contribute down the road.

SeaFoam for a carb cleaner and FastEddy Sports for your vendor needs. web page

Check out the Vault for our knowledge base:
http://www.bonnevilleamerica.com/forums/...age=0#Post89123
And get a can of Gumout or something similar with a skinny nozzle to clean those needle valve seats before you run a tank of Seafoam thru the motor.

Gary, you can get the float bowl screws in stainless at Home Depot or Ace Hardware (Hackmann). Hex head make removal a lot easier than the soft screws that are in there.
Just take one of the originals with you ta match it up. Let me know if you want to borrow either of the manuals. I live in St Charles.

I use the pray stuff you can get a autozone, it works every time.
PM me you e-mail address and I'll send ya an e-mail from the manual on cd rom.
Get your bolts from your favorite hardware store.

Hi Gary.

I too recently purchased a 07 America (prudence) with yes, Stupid low miles on it (1182). I got lucky with the seafoam. Didn't have to physical clean anything. I did have to dielectric grease all the electrical connections though. Especially the CDI. Prudence was purchased April 4th and now she has 12,045 miles on her. So I guess the seafoam did the trick eh? Oh yeah I had to mount a set of tires on her, adjust the chain, change the rear brake pads and such other stuff as cropped up. Guess it is time for a valve adjustment too.

All the other fellows got you on the right track to sorting your wife's new ride. You'll find step by step instructions on pulling the carbs on Pat's site. As you may want to clean the secondaries as well. Or not, if you can drop the bowls and clean up the float needles and seats once removed, with the carbys in place. On Prudence the motor has a freaking block under the left carb (865 motor). Makes for dropping the left bowl a pita. Pulling them for me is easier.

Again - appreciate all of the input. Unfortunetly - I put a tank of fresh gas w/ Seafoam in here. I am assuming that I will pull the carbs and give her a good cleaning, but thought I would see if the Seafoam helped on its own. Hope to get to work on it this Sunday. Else maybe leter next week. Bike overall is in great shape. Only cosmetic blemish is that the chrome top shock collars have a lot of surface rust. But some chrome cleaner and elbow grease got them looking like new.