In the daylight I can see seepage coming from the gasket (red arrow). It was quite wet and the level in the sight glass had gone down considerably overnight (pressure from the gas tank I'll bet). Does anyone have a recommendation for a brand of rebuild kit?

Edit: I drained the oil and I'll let it drip overnight, strong gasoline fumes, I hope nobody flips a cigarette in the drain pan. I ordered a rebuild kit, I will fashion a plug for the fuel line and make sure it starts with starting fluid before tearing into the carb. I wonder about that canister that feeds into the carb, I've heard stories of that causing a similar problem.

 

Hard to tell from the pic.....
Canister, it should only have fumes. If it has liquid, there are other issues.

Last, the electric pump in the tank on these only puts out like 3 psi. So it won't take much to close it off....heck I would prob just take a pair of vise grips and pinch if off after the second fuel filter-around the brake booster. That way if you get it running with carb or "another" gas source....you could then "un-pinch" the line and watch the bowl level and look down the throat for "over filling".

PLEASE NOTE: I re-read my post from last night. I was wrong, the pump will only prime when the key is on from being off.

 

Put in the new oil, pinched off the fuel hose with vice grips and it sputtered and smoked for a few seconds until all that old fuel burned off then ran like a top until it ran out of gas so I'd say it's looking like a leaking float valve. I can't think of any more tests to do. I got my carb rebuild kit today and I hope to pop the top off tomorrow and dig in.

Did anyone see that news article a couple of days ago about the 1990 accord with a million miles?

 

I'd still want to be sure before "going in". Un pinch the hose, cycle the key from off to on a few times (kicks the pump to fill the bowl). Start it up and look down the throat and watch the fuel level in the bowl...have the vice grrips handy so you can kind of control it...IF it is the float needle and seat.

 

Good advice, I really don't want to tear into the carb unless it's necessary. I'm trying to think of things other than the float valve that might cause that much fuel getting into the crankcase.

 

Yes, please confirm before going "in".

I checked mine 3~4 times before going there, and still didn't want to.

You can get it started now, start it up and check. Keep an eye on the sight glass-just know when it is totally full you can't see a "line". Also I could see the "drips" of gas in the throat, properly adjusted you "see no liquid" in the throat.

EDIT: My poor attempt (light blue circle) of showing the area of where the "fuel vapors" (vapor, not liquid) should come from at idle.

 

Excellent, I know what to look for. I hope it's a definitive problem, I hate intermittent stuff. I don't know what to do if it runs normally. Thanks for your guidance, the vice grip thing works great.

 

EDIT:
I thought for a while the fuel pump wasn't working but it's ok

I unpinched the fuel line and started it and I could see fuel droplets spraying into the throat at high rpm and it smoked. The level in the sight glass was pretty high but I could see the level holding steady. After it came off choke it was still smoking and wouldn't idle. While running I pinched off the fuel again and the level would drop and it still wouldn't idle and smoked until the level dropped and it ran out of gas.

 

Where are the "drops" coming from?

Again, looking down the throat of a good working carb,,,you'd think it ran on air-meaning you see no gas at all.

First I saw of "smoke"? what kind and where?

Going out on a limb here, you can "hot wire" the pump-see pic- with key on- not running, look into the carb - are the drips there?

 

The droplets were coming from the round brass cross bar inside the blue circle you drew. After it warmed up and came off choke at lower RPM I couldn't see any drops, nothing. The smoke was from the tailpipe, running rich I assumed, not oil smoke. I had to keep my foot on the accelerator to keep it from dieing after it warmed up. The car has a block heater so I plugged in for a while to get it off choke and more normal operating conditions.

Yes, I think I could hotwire the pump, after reading the manual earlier I realized the relay needs ignition pluses to stay energized so I understand what you're talking about.

Something that might be important, even as the fuel level in the bowl dropped off with the hose pinched it still ran rough and smoked and wouldn't idle. I was thinking it might smooth out as the level dropped. Also there are some uncapped vacuum hoses from the breather that might be screwing things up. I thought the next time I would cap everything off and see if it made a difference. I only have about an hour a day to mess with this so I not a thorough as I should be.