1983 Nighthawk 550 won't start

[PeterStJ]

   I bought a Honda Nighthawk cb550s several days ago.  I checked over the whole bike, found no general problems.  I started it, test rode it, and have started and ridden it several times since.  I had no problems at all during this time.  Yesterday I went to start my bike and couldn't get it started.  I tried several times during the day and had no luck.  Each time i tried i noticed afterwards fuel dripping from the carb runoff tube(I think thats what that was)  and another tube coming off what i believe is the airbox (not exactly sure what this tube is but lots of fuel was dripping out).  Thinking I flooded the engine I pulled the spark plugs and let the bike sit overnight.  Today the battery was too low but i put the plugs back in and tried to bump start it with no luck.  Any advice on whaty to do or why fuel is dripping out of these hoses would be extremely helpful to a new nighthawk owner.

Thanks,
Peter

[niteman]

Start with the easiest things first. Did you make sure that the kill switch was set to ON before attempting to start?

As for the fuel dripping, make sure that the float bowl drain screws are tightened. They are one the bottom of the carbs inset into the sides of the float bowls. These unscrew to allow the floats to be drained via the fitting and tube at the very bottom of the float bowls.

The hose coming out of the bottom of the airbox is a drain hose. The bottom chamber of the airbox will collect blowoff from the crankcase because the crankcase breather hose is routed back into the top of the airbox for emissions collection purposes. This should be checked and drained periodically, but should not collect large ammounts of liquid. Some water can also get down in there sometimes when you wash the bike or ride in the rain.

[niteman]

Oh, and 

[skramer360]

It could be a stuck float. A small chunk from the gas tank could be keeping a needle from seating. Hope you get it fixed soon and