Gas under carburetor

[drewp]

I was warming up my Crusader 350xl to change the oil, when I lowered the throttle all the way my RPMs dropped and the engine started to sputter. I turned the engine off and smelled gas. There was a pool of gas under the carb, maybe a couple of teaspoons. There is not a visible leak, I soaked up the gas, and no new gas has appeared. I will be contacting a mechanic and not starting the engine, but does anyone know what could have caused this and what the fix is?

[km1125]

Probably the most common would be some dirt in the float valve, causing the gas in the float bowl to overflow. Could be other things, but that's the most common.

I'm assuming you have electric fuel pumps, given the vintage. But if you still have mechanical ones, then it's possible there's a rupture in one of the diaphragms, which will cause fuel to be pumped to the float bowl past the float valve, which could also overflow the carb. If you have mechanical pumps, look for a small tube from the pump to the carb, it's usually clear or yellow. If you have that, see if there's gas inside it. There should be none if everything is working correctly.