99 Sportsman 500.
The carb has been leaking out of the drain tube itself, so i did the following already:

took it apart, cleaned it all out and put it back together, but still leaks. I took the bowl off, put the gas line on and turned it on. the gas started coming out like normal, so i pushed the floats up and the gas stopped like it is supposed to. released the bowl, gas flowed.
then put gas in the bowl itself while it was off the carb and nothing leaked.
put it all together and it leaks out of the drain hole again. drain screw was removed and cleaned, and it still leaks????????
do i need to adjust the floats???? and where she they be adjusted to when they are down? OR
is there supposed to be an o-ring on the drain screw itself???
please help, got a camping trip in a week.

 

IMO and if you can afford it just replace it. Carbs are fairly cheep (usualy under 150.00) just replace it. For me it saves allot of headaches!

 

ok, anyone else with an opinion on how to fix the carb rather than replace it?

 

Does the needle (needle and seat) have a brass or Viton tip?

 

Replace the needle and seat,then check that float is parallel with carb body when inverted,adjust tang on float if needed. Leaking should stop Good luck OPT .

 

Do you have a brass float or 2 separate black plastic ones? If you have the single brass one - make sure it doesn't have a hole in it and make sure it actually "floats". Otherwise, as said - it's an adjustment so when the fuel in the bowl gets so high, it DOES shut off the gas supply.

 

I bet the float has a small hole in it. If it works in your hand then it should work on the bike. The float must not be floating up. Remove the float and hold it under water and see if it bubbles or even floats or sinks.

 

Ditto on replacing needle and seat and adjusting float .