Weber Needle Valve Mystery

[356robo]

What a surprise!!!! When I disassembled one of my Webers, I found that one of the needle valves was missing the little ball. I have no idea how long its been gone. What is the function of the ball? The carb never overflowed externally but should I be concerned that fuel has spilled into the cylinder enough to leak though to the oil sump and compromised the oil?

Thanks in advance,

Rob

[edmayo]

The float arm pushes against the ball which pushes against a spring which pushes against the needle valve to shut off the fuel. It provides a rounded contact surface and a bit of a shock absorber effect. The fuel level was then too high in the float bowl. Unless your oil level is abnormally high I wouldn't worry about it. You will need to recheck your float level though, with the Weber float tool.