Gas in oil tank!!!

[hadleesdad0823]

I have a '95 XL883 Hugger that has an S&S Shorty Carb. Just happened to check the oil today and it was completely full. I smelt gas in there also. Hopefully the float is just stuck open allowing gas to flow into the oil tank and nothing serious. The bike runs EXCELLENT! Does anyone have any other suggestions or should I just take the carb off and go thru it? I know I have to change the oil and filter as well now and maybe do it twice to get all the gas out. I also think i need to put a bigger jet in the carb anyway because the baffles were removed from the pipes and it will die if it's not choked a little bit at all times. Any suggestions on that issue would be greatly appreciated as well. Thanks

[ridgerunner1965]

gawd just take the carb off and go thru it, they are simple.

evos dont like no back pressure, look into lollipops to give you some back pressure in your exhaust. you mite replace your float needle as well. it prob is not seating and dumping gas into the engine. turn off the gas when you shut it off. report back.

[farmall]

S&S has not only tuning instructions but videos so check those out. If the carb needs dipping I use Pine-Sol (not generic pine oil) undiluted. Lots of articles on Pine-Soll carb cleaning on the net and you can even pour the Pine-Sol back into the jug for re-use such as cleaning floors.

This guy took nice pics:

http://advrider.com/forums/showpost....69&postcount=1

[docmel]

I have never seen gas in an oil bag, even with flooded/stuck open carbs. I cant even see it being possible with the sporty design, but anything is possible I guess. Older oil does smell gassy when sniffed from the oil tanks. Let us know what you find

[hadleesdad0823]

I've actually done a lot of research online and apparently it's fairly common because I ran into a lot of information about it online. My neighbor has been riding and working on Harleys for 45 years now and he said to drain the oil, then put new oil in, start the bike and let it run for 10 minutes, then drain it again, put a new filter and new oil back in and I should be good to go. The bike was sitting for 8+ months and he said possibly it was just stuck and hopefully it is unstuck now, but I'm a little hesitant about just doing that because there was no gas in the oil when I first started it up and just changed the oil 200 miles ago. So I think it would be best to take the carb off and go thru it because the baffles were taken out of the exhaust pipes and for the bike to run properly I have to keep it choked a little bit at all times or it will die. So I think I need to put bigger jets in the carb any way to get it to run right and I'm also going to add lollipops to the exhaust pipes to help it out a little bit as well. I have two children under the age of 3 so I'm just trying to do a little work here and a little work there whenever I have the time so I'll probably take the carb off and wait till the kids go to sleep and then go through it and see what I could find out. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks

[jonnyoz]

Definitely clean the carb. Even if it was a little piece of grit that got stuck and is gone now...how do you know? Might not be grit, could be some varnish on the seat or needle valve. If it was grit, maybe there's more hanging out in the float bowl waiting to cause trouble.

Make sure to thoroughly clean the needle seat and the needle itself, including the tip and sides. If there's some buildup on the sides of the needle it could stick. Also make sure the float doesn't have any pinholes in it that could let gas in.

I had a similar problem recently on my 03. I would think your bike must have been run while there was a leak in order for gas to get back into the oil tank...but either way...what I did was run it with the return oil line disconnected to pump out all the shitty gassy oil since I had gas leak into the crankcase. I just made sure to keep the oil tank topped up while I was pumping out the crap. This way you guarantee you're not introducing any more contaminated oil into the system. Once I saw good oil coming out, I changed the filter and topped up with fresh oil.

While a leaky petcock shouldn't matter much with a properly functioning carb, it's worth a check IMO... my problem was two fold - leaky petcock AND fricky carb.

good luck

[farmall]

I have to keep it choked a little bit at all times or it will die.

Typical symptom from sitting. Low speed jets clog first. Use a BRIGHT light to inspect after cleaning. Don't go nuts and take apart the throttle shaft as some noobs do, just clean the carb with it in place.

[Shacknasty]

You gotta clean that carb and check the float height. Wouldn't hurt to clean the entire fuel system from tank to carb...

[hadleesdad0823]

I finally have time to post an update. I cleaned the carb, put bigger main & intermediate jets and I disconnected the vacuum advance and just capped it off and the bike is running excellent! Everything was great until it started making a whining type noise from the front I believe. My bike is so loud, I can't hear it until I start slowing down then the whining whirling noise stops between 5-10mph. I'll start a new thread on this and if anyone has any suggestions, please comment. Thanks for the help!