Hi guys, have you ever had a problem with the foam type floats soaking up gasoline and not shutting the needle completely, letting the carb overflow? Any help appreciated.
Thanks, David

Never had this problem. But logically if the float did soak up fuel, it would cause it to be heavy and sink shutting fuel off.
You might have a needle & seat problem.

This is wrong. I meant to say what Kevin 73 said below.

As I understand it, they'll do that if they get nicked and the protective coating is broken. Then they soak up fuel like a sponge and sink instead of float. It's easy to check, pull the float and see if it does...float...

You've got that backwards. When the float is low in the bowl (not floating) the fuel is allowed to flow. Fuel flow is shut off when the bowl fills with fuel causing the float to rise.

I do agree that it could be a needle & seat problem.

Yes, it happens. If you purchase a Nitrofil float (NAPA), it won't absorb fuel and that can't happen.

Yes, I stand corrected. I'm sorry about that. In the future I will keep from answering technical questions before I'm fully awake.
No advise is better than bad advise.
Please disregard my previous post. Kevin 73 is correct.

Thanks guys. Problem is...these carbs are on a '85 vMax and I doubt napa has floats for them. Yamaha has them for 30 bucks a pop...120$... and I'm afraid the alcohol is what's ruining them.

Remove the floats. Let them sit out in open air for a day or two to dry out completely. If you need to heat them a bit to get all the liquid fuel out, put a light bulb near them...but do so in an open area (garage, etc.) without any open flame in that room. Or stick them outside on the driveway in the sun for a few hours.

Once they are thoroughly dried out, buy a bit of epoxy paint that is impervious to gasoline and alcohol and put a thin coat on each float to seal them. Yes, it will add a little more weight to the float...but I think that is a relatively minor issue compared to spending $120 buck$ for carb floats.

Thanks Charley. I'm not convinced the floats are bad yet...still testing. Hard to believe all 4 would be ruined unless it is the gas-o-hall. Fuel pump is 3 psi. New needles, mechanics say they have NEVER seen a bad seat, floats set per spec and carbs are syncronized with mercury gage. Engine runs great in shop (not being ridden) then suddenly starts flooding even to the point of fuel wetting inside the pipes and of course smoking. Remove the air box and you can see the fuel is flooding the carbs. It's a real pain removing and re-installing/syncro those 4 mothers. We are just sick of it and are about ready for a fire.

Is the fuel pump sending out too much pressure for that type of carb? Some are not really designed to handle much pressure at all. The extra fuel is getting into the carb somehow...either via the valve/seat (overpowered or stuck open) or by some other path. You might want to think about the possibilities for that 'other path'. Good luck on your search.

Thanks. 3 psi is on the top spec. I'll look for leakage "outside" of the seats. I hadn't thought of that.

Did the carb run fine but is now flooding? Any other recent changes or mods?

Please further your description of the problem.

"85 Yamaha vMax with under 5K miles which has been sitting for past 15 years. It has aftermarket pipes and the carbs have been re-jetted to match them. Ran good when it was parked.
Removed, cleaned and sealed a very rusty tank. New fuel filter and flushed system. New sparkplugs and oil. Cleaned carbs and new needles. Checked all carb passages with gage pins. Set floats, re-assemble 4 carb set, adjust linkages and vacuum tune and match all 4 carbs. It cranks and runs great until the carbs flood while ideling, which may be after running 5 - 15 minutes. Plugs don't look wet but there is fuel (not water) inside the pipes and smoke along with poor running. You can remove the air box with filter and see fuel leaking inside carbs. Sometimes not all 4.
I no longer think the floats are bad. I am leaning to thinking the fuel pump pressure regulator is faulty due to the tank rust passing thru early on before I knew it was there. I am going to look for an external regulator adjustable to 2 - 3 psi.
Thanks for your interest. I really don't want to SET it ablaze.

Gonna put in the new seats when the cover plugs and o ring seals get here.

I think even the nitrophyl material isn't capable of withstanding 10% alcohol in our pump fuels. Blame the EPA and Iowa corn farmers lobby in DC for your problems.

If you can, run the brass floats. The plastic/fiber floats will degrade with ethanol over time - yeah, blame the EPA. The ethanol has not been approved to be compatible with components used in older vehicles. Our government does care about what it does in older vehicles. They are just now approving ethanol for use in 2006 and newer vehicles. The E15 mandate is a political win for the ethanol lobbying group. It is soo bad that the small engine manufacturers are fighting the EPA on ethanol use in its entirety.

our "government" could care less about older vehicles and are doing all they can to destroy them, zync in oil, ethinol etc. we need to educate ourselves about candidates and hold them accountable

He!!, our government doesn't care about US!!!...let alone our old cars.

At one time you could take your old (synthetic) float to a good auto parts store and they had a scale to weigh them. They could tell you pretty quickly if your float needed to be replaced. I haven't seen one of these "scales" in a while, but they may still be out there.

On the other hand if you can take a small "Postal" scale with you to the store, you can weigh the new one against your old one and tell pretty quickly if it's absorbed fuel or not.

Good luck... GUSTO

OK, contrary to everybody saying they have NEVER replaced the seats, these are bad and won't seal. We removed one and it is obvious they will leak. So, we replaced it and did a several day test...no leak with full fuel pump pressure.
These seats are pressed in with a strainer and a plug pressed on top tp keep the fuel from leaking, simular to auto carbs with plugs covering internal passageways......Well, after removing the other 3 seats we find the new ones are .001 smaller so they won't press like the first one did. These are Yahama parts too. I hope loc-tite will hold. I really don't want to make 3 seats.....Anyone have experience with loc-tite and gasoline?

more to come, or a pic of a big fire.