gasoline in my exhaust... fuel in my exhaust

Man, I just bought a 2000 sv650 with 12k miles on it. I noticed after my last ride that the bike wasn't running well, and I had to set my idle higher to keep the bike running. I'm pretty sure there is gasoline making its way into my exhaust. Fuel is dripping out from the joint in the exhaust line. I haven't really noticed any discoloration of the emissions, though it has smelled rich at times. The oil pan and parts above the joint in the exhaust are dry. There is also what I think is a scant amount of gasoline around the header near where it connects to the engine (normally this should be completely dry, as exhaust should be the only thing passing through the header, right?). Anyway, I'm pretty sure gas in the exhaust is the problem. I also smelled my oil, and it seemed to have a fuel smell, though it was hard to tell because the stench of gas was so pungent in my garage.

Now all I have left to do is figure out what could be causing this, and how bad it's gonna hurt my bank account. I know I will probably have to take it to a mechanic, but I don't know much about bikes, and I wanted to fish for possible causes.

It may be needing nothing more than a new set of spark plugs. It sounds like the engine is running on one cylinder and the unburnt fuel from the dead cylinder is getting into the exhaust/sump.

A full service is possibly your best course of action here.

[Sid Squid]

Sticking choke/s?

First place I'd look as it's a common foible of curvy SVs.

lighter ..... soon find the leak/get rid of unwanted fuel

Originally Posted by sv650nutter149

lighter ..... soon find the leak/get rid of unwanted fuel

I appreciate the tip, but that sounds like a BAD idea

[yorkie_chris]

Poof

I'd go for give it a full service and then see what it does, even seriously out of balance carbs can make one cylinder go very rich and the other very hot.