[Adam-n-nevada]

I've been noticing a liquid accumulate in the tiny tube that is fastened to the bottom of the air box. After several time of emptying it out, I finally took a whiff of it. It is gas.



What could be causing this? It has been indicated to me recently (and I've discussed it here, on the old forum) that I may have a worn valve guide due to some smoking that I had.



TW does not smoke anymore at all, which I'm happy about. I believe it may have been a small stint within the break-in period that it smoked. So...I'm thinking my valve guides are fine.



But, what could be causing the gas to backtrack into this overfill. It seems to me, that I remember reading about this a looonnnnggg time ago, but I can not find anything.



Thanks for your help.

Adam

 

[jbfla]

Adam,



The most likely culprit is the carb float and/or float valve.



...the float is set too high...or



...the float valve is stuck open or partially open, caused by crud in the float bowl, or by build up of varnish on the end of the float valve from old gas.



You may solve the problem with a treatment of Seafoam added to your gas but...

more likely, I think your carb may need to be disassembled and cleaned.



There may be other possibilities but is what happened to my TW after sitting for six months, and I forgot to drain the carb before storage.



jb

 

[Adam-n-nevada]

hey jb,



hmmmm.....I was thinking carb-gunk related issues...but, I've acquired this bike less than two years ago, when I purchased it as a "left-over" brand new TW, with 1/10 of a mile on it. I've never let it sit more than a month at a time and during those times of neglect, I've used both seafoam (as gas treatment) and also run seafoam in the bike every two thousand or so miles.



Eh, I don't want to disassemble the carb yet. Perhaps I will just deal with draining the little tube every few hundred miles.



Thanks your input. I shall increase my seafoam useage! I actually just ran some through it, last week

thanks again,

Adam

 

[qwerty]

That little plastic tube is slit on the bottom to make it easy to drain. It's called a "condensation trap" and is supposed to fill with fluid. Water has an affinity to the alcohol in gasohol. When running gasohol in humid weather I have to drain my condesation trap every 200 or 300 miles. What you are seeing is probably perfectly normal. Most people don't know the trap exists, so simply ride with it overflowing. The overflow pretty much goes right through the engine with no harm done.

 

[jbfla]

If it's only the small tube filling, I would agree with Qwerty. With your relatively new bike and your use of Seafoam, I don't think it's anything to worry about.



jb