Motorcycle Repair: Gas leak and starting issue, kawasaki vulcan 750, 1993 kawasaki vulcan 750

Question
Chris,
I drive a 1993 Kawasaki Vulcan 750.  I started working on it and got it back running after about a year of it sitting in a garage.  (I just bought it so I think it sat about that long.)  Well, I got it started and then it just dies, then when I hold the throttle the gas runs out in an almost constant stream.  I couldn't find anything that would case the problems, a crack or a bad tube.  So I took it to the shop.  They said I needed to carbs cleaned.  Do you know if this would cause the gas leak and the staying started issue?  Thanks for your help.  T. Marcus tmchrist@liberty.edu

Answer
Hi T.
 Actually, the shop is right.  When a bike sits in storage with fuel in the system, the fuel begins to evaporate and leaves what we call 'varnish'.  This varnish is residue that gums up the works in the carbs and really messes up injectors on fuel injection systems.

 So your description is very consistent with varnish.  Let them clean the carbs and the bike should run just fine.  I hope that you are using a new battery in it too, because an old one will likely have bad cells and won't hold a charge.

Good luck.
FALCON