guys what is this?

[ribbert]

Leopard,

Try tapping the #4 carb with a hammer. Note, TAP, not hammer. I had a leak out of my #1 carb and this fixed it. Surprised that no one had suggested that. 

CraigO

I used to regularly mention it but repeated carb tear downs seem to be the favoured fix with comments like this.

You do not have any issue posting pictures of how you knock your fuel bowls, and on & on & on.....

My carbs have leaked at intervals of 2 km's, 20km's, 2000 km's and 20,000km's. They have sometimes leaked repeatedly over a week or on a trip and then nothing for a couple of years. At the moment they have not leaked for probably 30 or 40,000 km's.and are still the originals. If I ripped them apart every time they leaked I would have wasted a lot of time in some very inconvenient places.

There is no doubt some point at which these parts need replacing but the FJ's seem prone to this occasional leaking phenomenon and as I have experienced, the problem is not always worn seats.
All I have ever done is tap them, I carry a steel rod in my bag for just that purpose and it stops the leak for any of the intervals mentioned above, a big rev helps sometimes too as does draining the bowls.
The success of this depends largely on the tapping implement and technique though.
There is nothing wrong with replacing the needle and seats but I don't think a carb tear down is necessarily required every time your FJ has a bout of incontinence.


Noel

[rktmanfj]

Mine did it coming into Shady Valley last year at the ECSR.

I used the tapping technique combined with cycling the fuel pump a few times, in case it was just some debris that got past the filter.

Added some StarTron ASAP, as well.

They're still working fine today.

[red]

so relieved. the more I ask the less sour this purchase looks.  anyone have contact information for Randy to service my carb? I need it up and running Monday so I can attend class @ 7am and it's leaking fuel from one of the overflow hoses.

Leopard,

If any of the carbs are leaking, you have two problems.  One is, for sure, a carb is leaking.  The other problem is that you have a fuel pump that should shut off the flow of gas, and now it leaks.  If you park the bike indoors (or next to any structure), I would not depend on the carbs alone to stop the flow of fuel when the bike is shut down.
http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=11556.msg114558#msg114558

Cheers,
Red

[theLeopard]

red,

joe at racers machine figured out the guy who sold me the bike had crossed up the fuel line and it was draining fuel directly into the carbs (circumventing the pump entirely) through the solenoid unit. now i'm just trying to figure out what to connect to the solenoid, bought a manual online today just waiting for it to arrive.


ron, craig, et al,

you guys make me feel like i'm in a room full of Fonz's. it's awesome! 

[Capn Ron]

ron, craig, et al,

you guys make me feel like i'm in a room full of Fonz's. it's awesome! 

You can read a bit about that night in Arizona here:

http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=10252.msg98910#msg98910

As much as I'd like to take credit, I spent most of the night awake in the hotel room surfing the carb files here on this forum.  I wasn't looking for a solution for a stuck float, but it registered in my head as I was reading and the next morning...sure, enough...Symptom of a stuck float!  I just did what others on here suggested.  There's a TON of great info here from others who have gone before you and resolved things.  The biggest difference in this forum is that folks are willing to SHARE that info for the betterment of all!   

Cap'n Ron. . .

[movenon]

I second what Ron said.  I just did some top end work on the bike and between RPM sending me the valve stem seals, a service manual and using the search function I was able to do the job nicely.  There is so much information here and everyone is so willing to help almost anytime of the day or night.

Here is a quot from John Wesley that reminds me of the attitude of members on this forum.

"Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can."

George

[mark1969]

There is nothing wrong with replacing the needle and seats but I don't think a carb tear down is necessarily required every time your FJ has a bout of incontinence.

Good point, as mine was leaking from one of the float bowl overflows a few weeks back. After making sure it wasn't massively flooding out, I too it for a spin and its been fine since. Having rebuilt the carbs recently, I knew everything was good seals wise, which helped..