M900 w/ FCR's flooding. Stuck float?

[txyz]

I recently bought a 96 M900 with V2 heads and FCR 41's. Its been running good but the other day I noticed it was barely idling and had poor performance in the low end. I look down and gas was dumping out of the vent hose. After I got it up to speed on the highway it ran fine and the flooding stopped. I got home and drained the float bowls and it has been running fine until today, the same thing happened  while cruising down the highway. When I got home I saw it was coming out from the vent hose and also somewhere on the left carb.

Do you see any problems with just pulling the float bowl covers and douching them out with carb cleaner. Or do you think I should just pull the carbs and do a rebuild? If I just pull the covers, how is the accelerator pump tube connected? Just a friction fit?

Im not really wanting to pull the carbs now since its still good weather and I ride every day, but I will if you think its necessary.

[Cicero]

Are you running gas with a high ethanol content?

[txyz]

Im guessing its all 10% here, isn't that standard? Im in Texas and always use 91 octane. Ive only had the bike a couple weeks though.

[Cicero]

I've never owned a carb'd monster fyi, but I've heard carb'd bonneville owners complain of a similar issue when running 15% ethanol. (On my injected bonne, the manual says no more than 10%)

How many tanks before you noticed the problem?

[txyz]

2 or 3

[koko64]

I occasionally get that issue due to the types of fuel we run down here in Oz. Since I run a manual tap, I turn it off for ten seconds while at speed and then back on when the motor just starts to falter and this seats the floats. I have heard the floats slam shut when doing this at idle. Giving the float bowls a tap with a screwdriver handle can help seat them.
According to a Shell engineer some of the modern fuels are quite waxy with fuel injector detergents which ironically clog the float needle and valve in low fuel pressure applications. Maybe the ethanol eats the float seal rubber, but I thought the FCRs are compatible with alcohol race fuel.

[txyz]

I occasionally get that issue due to the types of fuel we run down here in Oz. Since I run a manual tap, I turn it off for ten seconds while at speed and then back on when the motor just starts to falter and this seats the floats. I have heard the floats slam shut when doing this at idle. Giving the float bowls a tap with a screwdriver handle can help seat them.
According to a Shell engineer some of the modern fuels are quite waxy with fuel injector detergents which ironically clog the float needle and valve in low fuel pressure applications. Maybe the ethanol eats the float seal rubber, but I thought the FCRs are compatible with alcohol race fuel.

So do you think a fuel additive would help? I've never used any additives before, any recommendations?

[koko64]

I wouldn't bother with a fuel additive unless you had a clean tank to start with because it just cleans the crust off my tank and sends it to the carbs. Might be worth it if you clean out your tank as well.

Try tapping the float bowls or run the bike with an oil pan under the overflow, turning the fuel off with a hose clamp, letting it run down then opening it again in an attempt to slam the float needles shut. Another bodgy method is to open the drain bolts one at atime and let some fuel (motor off) drain into a cup then tighten the bolt. This can sometimes wash the top of the needles clean.

All of these have and haven't worked for me. As a last resort I have removed the carbs and cleaned them.

Currently, I am using the tap on/off method with great success. Many would recommend a manual tap If you don't have one. It makes servicing easier and avoids the future problems that occur with vacuum taps.
Good luck.