Just tonight I noticed a small amout of gas on the floor in my garage under my sons LT50. Its dripping from the air filter case off the carb. Why would this be happening all of a sudden? Its not that much but a small size circle about the circumference of a grapefruit. The bike wouldnt start as normal on the first pull with the choke open. I pushed the throttle when pulling it and it started up and idled fine. I shut it off and pulled it again about 10 mins later and it started no problem. It appears to have stopped dripping but the airfilter case is still a bit wet underneath where the exhaust portion of the filter case meets the other part. Anyone have any ideas or fixes? Could it be the carb float? I noticed I left the gas switch on since yesterday. Would that cause this to happen? Should I always switch it to off every night even if its going to be ridden the next day?

Here is another one of my concerns...I have fresh 89 octane gas in the tank and brand new super M oil in the tank under the seat. Is it normal for this bike (2 stroke) to smoke a little when idling and running? Its not that much but it is noticable.

Lastly I want to make sure I have the carb adjusted correctly. There are two spring loaded screws on the outside of the carb. What are the factory settings on these? If I screw them all the way in (tighten them), how many turns out are they suppose to be? Or should one be closed all the way and only one be adjusted?

I am going to pick up a service manual on ebay as soon as one becomes available.

I got this bike recently for my son through the bargin news so I am pretty new to repairing them and knowing all the settings. I am very handy and learn quick though. ;-)

Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

George

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: GeorgeL

Just tonight I noticed a small amout of gas on the floor in my garage under my sons LT50. Its dripping from the air filter case off the carb.</end quote></div>

This happened to our LT-A50 the day we picked it up. I believe your older unit has the same basic engine and carb, so perhaps my data will help you.

I found the fuel was coming from the carb, not the airbox. This led to the discovery that the fuel petcock does not have an "off" position. It has a normal position, and TWO "prime" positions. The prime positions permit fuel to freely flow into the carb whether the engine is running or not. I thought one of the primes was the "off" position, but by leaving it there fuel was flowing straight into the carb and eventually out onto the ground. Now I leave the petcock in the normal position all the time except just before a cold start, when I turn it to prime for 1-2 seconds to flow fuel into the carb before starting. That almost always yields a one-pull start even on a dead-cold engine.

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Here is another one of my concerns...I have fresh 89 octane gas in the tank and brand new super M oil in the tank under the seat. Is it normal for this bike (2 stroke) to smoke a little when idling and running? Its not that much but it is noticable. </end quote></div>

Ours smokes like that too. It's not bad, but it's there. I bought a quart of NAPA 2-stroke oil and still haven't used it up yet (that little engine doesn't consume much oil). When it's gone I'm moving to a higher quality 2-stroke oil. Doing so on our 2-stroke jetboat made a HUGE difference in smoke and smell. There really is a difference between cheap and expensive oil!

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Lastly I want to make sure I have the carb adjusted correctly. There are two spring loaded screws on the outside of the carb. What are the factory settings on these? If I screw them all the way in (tighten them), how many turns out are they suppose to be? Or should one be closed all the way and only one be adjusted?</end quote></div>

I don't have my manual with me, but one of those is the idle set screw. With a fully warmed up engine, I set that to "fast enough to keep the engine running, slow enough not to engage the centrifugal clutch". I don't remember what the other springed screw is for off the top of my head.

Hope this helps!

 

It does help thanks.

Let me ask you this on the gas switch though...

It turns forward (facing the front tires) down (facing the footpegs) and backwards (facing the back tires). Which is the "on" and what are the others directions used for again?

Which position should I leave it in when not using the bike?

thanks again!
George

 

After reading your post again I think I remember seeing the word "on" on the gas switch and it would be facing forward towards the front tires. I think I actually may have turned it "off" really the primer and thats why there was gas on the floor.

I think I'm all good. When I get home tonight from work I'll test it out.

On another note, I was just reading somewhere that the smoke is sometimes caused my bad piston rings. Could this be true? If so and I let my son keep riding it could I do damage to the cylinder?

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: GeorgeL
It turns forward (facing the front tires) down (facing the footpegs) and backwards (facing the back tires). Which is the "on" and what are the others directions used for again? </end quote></div>

IIRC, the on position is the middle one and the prime positions are the extremes. It should be molded into the plastic coaming piece that surrounds the ****; you might have to look at an angle to see it.

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Which position should I leave it in when not using the bike?</end quote></div>

Always leave it in the "on" position unless you're starting a dead cold engine. In that case, what works for me is (as stated above) turn on the choke, move the petcock to one of the prime positions for 1-2 seconds, then back to on, then start the engine. This sequence usually gives me a one-pull start. Warm for a moment, then turn off the choke, then let the engine warm up for a few minutes before riding it hard.

As for the smoke and bad rings: Unless you're leaving a trail of smoke that's hard to see through as it's ridden, it's probably normal 2-stroke behavior.

 

AWESOME!
THANKS A MIL!