1986 Honda VF 1000 R Logo
Anonymous Posted on Nov 20, 2008

Air filter smell like gas

I pulled the air filter out of the bike last night and it smelled like gas. :shock: any thoughts as to why filter would smell of gas. I called a Honda Dealer the other night and asked them how much to tune carbs. What year they asked? 1983 I replied. We don't work on anything that old :shock: they replied. I called another dealership and they replied. Not a problem!! Bring her in. They said honda and other bike manufacturers have the same rule. Afyer so many years they don't work on them because parts can be hard to find. My view is what difference does it make how old a bike is. If the bike is in good shape and just needs minor work? Carb adj//valves adj etc etc. Honda shop 2 said they don't like getting deep into an antique bike as parts can be hard to find. I say if a customer takes a bike to a shop and it needs parts that the dealer can't find...ok make a list of parts and let the customer find the parts. Then give them to the shop and let's get the bike back on the road. We live in a world wide community. The internet always has parts for old cars and bikes.

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It's perfectly normal for an engine with a carb to have an air filter that smells like gasoline. The reason being is because of a concept called "fuel stand off" - in a nutshell, the air that is going through your carbs towards the cylinders gets bounced back towards the air filter when the intake valves close. Since carbs aren't that smart, the air coming back towards the filter picks up even more fuel from the float bowl, and then heads in to your air filter box to say hello.

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Might be Normal. My 06 Nighthawk with 1,000 miles, Did the same thing. Smelled like a lawnmower thats been sitting. I use it a couple times a week. What I did while I had the AF out, Was clean the carb with spray cleaner. Weird thing. My bike was idling at about 1800. Afterwards about 1500 rpm.

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