Hey guys, for those of you with Yamaha bravos, or about any old carburetor sled. I saw a new issue I’d never seen before on mine last week. It was flooding out bad, just puking fuel into the intake. I rebuilt and cleaned the carb, no difference. Checked the fuel pump, etc, all the carb circuits.

Finally I pulled it for the third or fourth time and was looking at the float needle (tried replacing it with a new one from the cheap rebuild kit....no surprise the new one was garbage, and the wrong size lol). I was looking at the original one, and it had worn a slight lip on the lower edge that prevented the valve from closing all the way sometimes causing the intermittent problem.

I filed the lip flush all the way around, reinstalled, and it’s like it never happened.

One more thing to check come the off season.

Great tip..... thanks for sharing.

Pete

When you described the problem I knew immediately what the issue was but I sure never thought about filing the needle valve ! Good idea !

Yeah, since it was an intermittent issue for a bit I thought it was just early season carb icing keeping the needle from closing, so I added heat it seemed to help for a bit, then it came back with a vengeance. I knew something was preventing the float from sealing off the pump, but it took a little magnifying glass inspection to figure out exactly what.

I’ll cut it some slack, since it’s a 1994 Bravo, and has been used a lot...as long as I have plenty of gas it drags me and the catch home.

I have an 89’ Yamaha Moto 4 four wheeler and it had the same issue. Like you I cleaned the carb with no luck. Finally looked at the needle and found the same thing.

Maybe Yamaha used the same carb?

My Bravo has the same issue now although not as bad as yours. Its been to cold to pull it apart but when it warms up maybe I will try cleaning up the needle instead of replacing it.