Dripping fuel from carb intakes?

So the mileage on my xj650 has gone from about 50-45 MPG to about 35 MPG and I have been trying to figure out why exactly. The following has happened over the last couple months:

The bike has a hard time turning over in the morning occasionally, plenty of voltage but the starter has a hard time cranking the engine through the first few revolutions.

There has been a strong smell of gasoline in the garage in the morning.

Occasionally I'll get home with steam rising off the engine below the carbs after riding at 70MPH on the freeway. Stinky steam, like evaporating gas.

This morning I noticed that a small amount of gasoline had pooled off the center stand, I traced it back up the carbs and watched gas drip out of the K&N air filters
on carbs 2 and 3. It didn't look like there was fuel on the outside of the carbs, it just looked to be coming from the throttle intakes and dripping out of the filters.

So my conclusion is that the bike is having a hard time turning over because there's fuel pooling in the intakes and the engine is having a hard time compressing all that fuel on the first few revolutions. It's doesn’t seem to be consistent, yesterday at the office it didn’t drip at all and didn’t smell like fuel at 5:00, but this morning it probably lost half a liter after sitting over night.

As for the petcock. The petcock valve on my bike has never functioned properly. It will switch back and forth from On to Res but if I pull the tank the valve will not shut close as it’s supposed to and so pulling off the tank involves quickly adding an extended fuel line that I lift above the tank. I have had the bike for a good six months though and the non-functioning petcock hasn’t seemed to be been a problem before with no leaking fuel.

So what should I do? Obviously I need to stop riding it every day until I figure it out. What does the pet cock rebuild kit involve? The previous owner rebuilt the petcock valve a year ago supposedly, I wonder if he forgot a spring or something else that closes the valve. Should I get another pet cockvalve and start over? Does anyone have an exploded view of the pet cock so I know which parts to account for?

Thank you!

 

Stuck float valve or floats set to high!!!!

 

You have two problems at once. Petcock leaking through and float valves not sealing.
The carbs need to come out and be serviced, needles and seats replaced and levels checked. Rebuild petcock at the same time. Lots of good how to articles on this site, just search for them.
If you don't have a manual I suggest to get one.

 

mlew is right.

Check your oil. Gas can work it's way to your crankcase, diluting the oil. Open the cap and sniff, if there's any hint of gasoline, change it an the filter.

 

Dang it, not the carbs again. I guess it’s about time that the bike gets some attention again.

I have the manual and access to the many good how-to articles here.

Do the rebuild kits have needles and seats in them or do I need to order them in addition to?

 

CHECK THE CRANK CASE, TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh, I see someone posted that already. Well,, check it again.

dave

 

I took her apart and did a quick cleaning of the carbs, the float needles and seats looked okay. If I check the fuel levels should my 81 maxim 650 carbs have fuel levels that look like this 550:

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff65 ... els005.jpg