Hose on bottom of carborator where does it connect to?

[kjm3232]

Hi we bought a 96 Kawasaki bayou from my wife's cousin in may. We had the carburetor rebuilt by the Kawasaki dealer in June.it was fine until the other day.i was turning it on every couple days just to charge the battery. Yesterday I started it and did other chores when I came back it was off due to no gas. I put gas in and restarted it. Ran it for another five minutes or so and shut it off. This afternoon went into our shed and smelled gas and saw a puddle on the floor. Saw that it came from a hose that was connected to the bottom of the carburetor but the other end was disconnected and just hanging down. I looked for a place where it connects to but didn't see any obvious place to attach it. So can someone tell me where it connects to? Thanks in advance.

 

[Clint S]

My guess is that is a water trap and there should be a plug in the end of it. The water is heavier than gas and settles in the tube. You take the plug off every so often and drain the water out. Without the plug in the end gas would just pour out.

Edit I think where your holding it is the valve assembly that opens and closes the tube to drain the water????????????

 

[tomplum]

Is there possibly a screw on the other side of the bowl bottom for a shut off?

 

[nybirdman]

That is an "over flow"tube;just so the gas doesn't drip on the motor;not connected to anything.Your carb float is stuck or have a bad needle and seat.On mine(apart a hundred times),just shut-off the fuel shut off when not using.Do not plug it;you could flood the motor and ruin it.

 

[RandyT]

Most atv carbs have a hose off the bottom of the bowl to prevent gas from running onto the engine when the float valve doesn't seal it connect to an overflow tube inside the carb . If that is what it is then the rebuild didn't last long, which is not surprising with todays fuel issues, But if you plug that line it will cause the carb to overflow and fill the cylinder, air cleaner box, and possibly the crankcase with gas.

 

[brown40]

That is an "over flow"tube;just so the gas doesn't drip on the motor;not connected to anything.Your carb float is stuck or have a bad needle and seat.On mine(apart a hundred times),just shut-off the fuel shut off when not using.Do not plug it;you could flood the motor and ruin it.

I think Birdman got it--two issues unassociated.

Hose is for draining the water out of the carburetor bowl end of/beginning of season/before removal. Rerouting can be a pain and may have been missed?

Gas pouring out sounds like stuck float valve. May just have got the needle stuck up. Pull air intake boot and see if it travels freely down and see. If not I'd pull the carb & check everythings clean and moving freely. 96 should be straight forward.

 

[/pine]

FWIW...adding Seafoam to the fuel will often free up sticking float valves etc...

 

[bspeedy]

Do yourself a favor and learn how to clean out the carb. It is a fairly simple task that will be greatly aided with a cheap harbor freight ultrasonic cleaner. The guys at the Kawi dealership are going to stick you for 90 bucks an hour each time, so that learning will save you tons over the long haul. In some cases, it's best to just replace the carburetor. A new carb is 30 to 50 bucks on amazon (if yours is a Bayou 220). For comparison, the oem needle valve: VALVE-FLOAT,#1.5 (16-166) | MotoSport is 38 dollars from motosport. New oem carb is 350 bucks. Ouch.

Pull the carburetor and take the float bowl off and we can likely guide you.

 

[4570Man]

I'd guess it's an overflow tube for when the float gets stuck. I watched someone tap a carburettor with a hammer. That actually worked and the float unstuck. The truck that had set for 8 years ran fine after that.

 

[dfkrug]

MotoSport[/url] is 38 dollars from motosport. New oem carb is 350 bucks.

I run a Chinese replacement carb on my 86 Bayou 300. It took a lot of tweaking to get it to run right, including
modifying the jets for richer mixture and the cable controls. AND the float needle leaked.

The OEM carb (Keihin) is far far superior to the Chinese units, from my experience with about 10 of them. The
only reason to replace the OEM is if corrosion has destroyed any part of the carcass. A used OEM carb on
eBay is a crap-shoot cuz it may be corroded inside. New is indeed over $350.

The drain valve screw on the bottom or the carb is indeed used to drain out old gas/water from the
carb. But that is also where you get corrosion from water sitting in there. Sometimes, opening that
screw is a mistake, as then it refuses to seal again. Best to take off the bowl and clean it. The hose
directs the effluent to the ground, or container.

 

[bspeedy]

For sure the Keihin would be a superior unit if available. I would not try the full replacement until I determined that I could not get the old carb to work. Interesting to hear your experience with the aftermarket carb. I've never used one (suspecting the results you got) but a good friend bought one for his honda atv and it worked perfectly right out of the box.

I'd say read any reviews on such things and buyer beware. Unless the machine has tons of hours or has been sitting for years, you can usually get things sorted with the ultrasonic cleaner and a bit of hassle, maybe a pilot jet and needle valve...

 

[dfkrug]

I've never used one (suspecting the results you got) but a good friend bought one for his
honda atv and it worked perfectly right out of the box.

I am not totally down on Chinese carbs. You do need to take apart new ones to clean them and make sure
all screws are tight. QA is lacking, but materials are not too bad. A recent one had a leak thru the casting in
the float bowl. No problem getting a replacement, even when getting it directly from China.

That said, I have an ultrasonic cleaner, but use it primarily for M/C carbs, and chainsaw cyls. ATV carbs have
very accessible jets and air passages which can be inspected and cleaned readily. My last unsalvageable
OEM carbs were a Mikuni with a broken float pivot, and numerous Keihins with seized pilot screws.

To the OP's Q: that hose and other(s) hang down and connect to nothing. On some ATVs, the carb drain or
vent hoses connect to the airbox to limit dirt infiltration. The carb drain hose and the bowl overflow hose
is usually the same hose.

 

[ruffdog]

Like others have said, it's a overflow. If you pull the float bowl, you will see it is connected to a brass tube that SHOULD be above the fuel level unless the float sticks. You need to SEE what foreign matter is sticking the needle valve open. Is there more of it in the fuel line and fuel tank? Is the real problem contaminated fuel vs the carburetor? Is the fuel tank vent plugged so under expansion it pushes fuel past the needle valve? Many variables that need a experienced eye.......

 

[crazyal]

The hose usually serves two purposes, one is (as others have said) used to allow excess gas inside the carb fuel bowl to drain out without going into the engine can causing damage. The other is as a drain for the bowl when it needs to be emptied (also mentioned). They usually tie together with a tee. If you have gas coming out of it and your tank is draining I wouldn't ignore it. Most likely it's not going to fix itself and it does have the possibility to get worse leaving you stranded. The petcock (if you have one) on the bottom of the tank may also have a filter of some sort and a trap to collect water that should also be checked every so often.

When you had the carb rebuilt did you remove it and bring it to them or just dropped off the machine and let them do the work?