Strange carb leak after rebuild

last winter I rebuilt the carb for the '88...pretty uneventful. last weekend I hauled the boat up north to put in for the summer. fired it up on the hose to check everything out and it was leaking gas from both bowls around the plugs where the external float adjustment screws would be. i was confused and perturbed and contemplating stealing the carb from the '93 so I could go wakeboarding. i decided to think about it a while and go get the pontoon. thought about it all night and decided i was going to swap carbs the next day. before heading out the pick up the '93, i fired the '88 again on the hose to see if some miracle happened over night...and wouldn't you know it...no leaks...put it in the water...no leaks...go figure. anyone ever seen anything like this?? is there some sealer around the plug that had dried out from the carb sitting empty all winter?? did the plug itself need to swell from gas fumes??

Your lucky-but keep an eye on the plugs-there are rubber O rings around the bottom of those plugs,and the ethanol fuel slowly eats away at them- mine was a mist shower blowing out of the plugs-new bowls solved the problem.

Lakeview wrote: Your lucky-but keep an eye on the plugs-there are rubber O rings around the bottom of those plugs,and the ethanol fuel slowly eats away at them- mine was a mist shower blowing out of the plugs-new bowls solved the problem.

where did you get the new bowls from?? this boat is now kept ~4hrs drive from my house...so I may want to be prepared in case they start leaking again.

they have the primary, but not the secondary...and there price seems quite high compared to jeggs or summit...

seems to be...

dim primary bowl

summit primary bowl

jegs bowls