Carb leaking...

I know very little about carburators. Everything runs fine, but when I let it sit for a little while after it's been running, there's a steady drip from the hole at the base on the passenger side. I attached a pic. It also leaks from the same area on the direct opposite side of the carb. What do I need to do to fix this. It appears to be a Rochester carb with a #2 stamped on it.

Also, I just replaced the fuel gauge sending unit and the previous owner had cut and capped the return line to the tank. Is this a big deal? Should I leave it capped or should I figure out how to complete the line?
Thanks...

 

just a couple thoughts:
the fuel shouldn't be leaking from the throttle shaft holes; fuel should already be atomized or mixed with air at this point.
so what's causing the drip ?
you could have too high a float level in the bowl; (the float level may be okay, read on) after the engine has shut down, the carb is absorbing engine heat; this heat is heating the fuel, causing pressure and the fuel to expand; this pressure could be pushing fuel thru the needle valve, or also filling the fuel bowl to overflowing, which could cause fuel to drip into the venturis and down into the carb base.
If you re-connected the fuel return, this would relieve the buildup of fuel pressure after shutting the engine down.

If all this is truly occuring, you might have a hard time re-starting the engine when its warm, an engine flooded condition.

 

Do you know where the return line comes from off the carb?

 

When it is warm it does take a little longer to start, but it always starts. Is there any other easy way to relieve the pressure building up without running the return line?

 

it could either be a port or nipple coming off the fuel pump; so check your pump.
or... the later ones used an inline fuel filter with the return nipple next to the fuel outlet nipple.
the return hose would be a 1/4" hose if I recall

 

I don't run a return on mine.
I've never had any problem because of that.

 

This may sound stupid, but would a bad seal in the fuel gauge sending unit cause some differenced in pressure that would allow fuel to siphon toward the carb?

 

liquid doesn't usually siphon uphill.....the carb should be higher than the tank.
most gas caps don't seal that tightly
to test I suppose you could crack the fuel line open at the carb
if it's under pressure it will spray out...so be careful with flame, lights, etc

 

do you experience pressure when removing the gas cap..

 

I don't think so, don't really remember.

 

I don't see how changing your fuel sending unit could have caused this

 

The reason I replaced the fuel sending unit was because there was major leaking from the area. I was just hoping that it might have something to do with the carb leak.

 

any fuel leak regardless of location is bad...
maybe others will have some ideas about this

 

Thanks for the information. I'm going to go finish puting it all back together. I'll also look for the return line nipple.