Zenith leaking gas

[Dadevilledisco]

Zenith on my 2.25 is leaking gas and putting out black smoke and idling terrible. Was doing great 2 months ago and now is rough! I raised idle with no improvements. Took off Air intake and watched fuel continue to drop into carb after engine was shut off and while running and accelerating I noticed an very irregular and excessive amount of fuel being dumped into carb, even leaking out onto exhaust manifold!
1. Is it safe to drive to Garage!?
2. Is there something I can do being a novice mechanic at best?

I feel like the Carb has crap in it as the sediment bowl has crap in it and feel like I have put more miles on it since I bought it then the previous owner and probably stirred up the fuel tank. Have new inline fuel filter as well. Is there a ball in the carb that gets gummed up and stuck that will allow fuel to pour in out of control? Dont want my truck to burn up! Help!

Thanks

Mark

[Dadevilledisco]

Sediment bowl is not that dirty at all, cant get the crew loose to empty, scared I am going to crack the bowl! Ideas?
Replaced Fuel filter inline, however the replaced one was clean as a whistle inside.... does that matter?

[LaneRover]

I have used adjustable pliers to start the nut on the sediment bowl before. I would guess that it is a problem with the carb and not your fuel filters.

I would check your plugs and see if they are also sooty which I believe means it is running rich, which would go along with leaking gas and gas continuing to go down the throat of the carb.

Clean the plugs off if they are sooty and see if that helps. It won't help your gas problem but it might help it get to wherever it needs to go.

Have you checked the screws that hold the top of the carb together and made sure they are tight?

[gudjeon]

Flooding and rich running on idle? My money would be on checking the float level. It doesn't have to out much before it runs like .......

[Dadevilledisco]

It is the float and tried running it dry by disconnecting the fuel line to dislodge trash in it x 3 and it still is flooding out. Runs great for 3-4 minutes with gas line disconnected! How difficult is it to adjust float and do I need to clean and or blow out with compressed air? There was sediment in the bowl under the float. Did not disconnect throttle linkage except for the main link so I couldn't remove top cover of carb. Will dive back in tonight!

Thanks for posts

[gudjeon]

Top cover holds the float, emulsion block (all the jets), needle and seat. For cover screws, two tiny split pins (accel pump & choke) undo choke and throttle linkage and fuel feed. Pull top off. remove and clean jets (make sure screwdriver fits these properly or they can chop off). Make sure you oil up the o-ring and replace if squished. This is the critical part that HAS to seal.

Float checked with top ass'y upside down. Check the Bulletin on the same regarding this as it is a sticky on this forum.