Common on Bing-equipped Puch Maxi bikes after heavy tickler use or a worn float needle/seat. Flooding washes oil off the bore — treat it as a seize risk, not a joke. Other carbs (SHA / PHVA / Encarwi) can flood too; the clear-out logic is the same even when the parts differ.
Clear it safely
- Work outdoors. Kill the plug boot before turning the engine by hand.
- Pull the plug; if wet, wipe/heat dry or swap a dry plug.
- Hold throttle open, kill off, pedal through outdoors to clear the cylinder.
- Check the float bowl for debris; needle/seat must seal — constant drip = chronic flood.
- Only then revisit jet sizes via jetting and HP-class notes in the Puch guide. A bike overflowing from a bad needle is not “too rich on the main.”
Don’t
- Don’t keep tickling and kicking until the jug is washed down.
- Don’t “fix flood” by randomly leaning the main jet on a bike that is actually overflowing from a bad needle/seat.
- Don’t spark near spilled fuel — wipe, wait, then test.
After it’s cleared
- Still dead after a dry plug and verified spark? Back to won’t start.
- Runs but falls on tip-in → bogging.
- Puch HP class / Bing stamp matters before you order jets — Puch Maxi guide.