Carb cleaning, lazy but fast and furious.-)

This Is Strictly For The "How To" Sticky's

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Frenchy
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#16

Post by Frenchy »

Ron wrote:A good way I have found , It's not a quick way but fairly easy . I read this somewere but can not remember where , maybe someone else knows . I purchased a pail of Ford engine shampoo , removed the carbs off of bike . Removed intakes to reduce the overall size . Poured the shampoo into a plastic pail big enough to emerse the set of carbs , houseing and all . The reason for pail exchange is the shampoo comes in a steel pail with one small spout for pouring , can't get the carbs in . I let it sit a day or two flipping the carbs inbetween to insure no air was traped . Removed them and rinsed in several pails of water and garden hose . I then removed the bowls and tops placeing part in plastic bags for safe keeping , then spent some time blowing it clean with air . Be careful of the floats . Some bowl gaskets might be needed and the bowl drain screw gaskets . I did this with a set of carbs off a 76 that sat for around 8 years , put them back on and run the the bike . The more I ran it the better it ran , it wouldn't even start before . The only drawback is the shampoo costs around $80 but I poured the shampoo back in the original pail leaving any crud in the bottom of the plastic pail . The shampoo can be used again .
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Interesting.....

For carbs that have been setting a year or two, I'll use Yamaha carb cleaner. Following the directions on the bottle.

IMHO: Anything that's been setting for more than a two years, needs a REALLY good cleaning/rebuild!

Myself, I would only suggest something like this as a the first step in a rebuild... I have heard of soaking a rack of carbs in a slow cooker full of straight anti freeze... This takes all the nasty gunk & crud in the carbs, & turns it into something resembling snot........ It sounds yucky, but cleans 'em up like new inside... I haven't tried this method, but plan on it just to check it out.. Thing is, Susan won't let me use her slow cooker...... :-?
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hmratbam
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#17

Post by hmratbam »

Antfreeze,SNOT DUH???
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#18

Post by GLforever »

:-? I gotta side with Octane on the shampoo method...
For one thing, if it takes a couple of days to go through the problem, I would simply opt to do an entire rebuild.
Maybe I'm just falling back on my mechanic experience, but my reasoning goes that if you do the quicky fix on anything, you can't be 100% sure of the outcome. But if you go through the rebuild process, you know exaclty what you have in the end. Real fix wins with me..

As for slow cooking with Anti-freeze, I am going to have to give that a shot this winter, but I'll wait 'untill the digi-cam works again.. Even though the wing doesn't need a rebuild per-se, I am going to do one anywho, just to clean up any gunk. Call it a pre-emptive strike. Same with wifeys KZ's.
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Alcohol

#19

Post by skydog »

Hey Frenchy,I think it is the alcohol in the anti freeze that does the work.I have used plain old rubbing alcohol for years to get the thick build up of varnish loose,it turns to a snot looking glob,but really works.People think i'm nuts when I tell them that,but it really does work,try it you'll like it.Warren p.s no need to slow cook.
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#20

Post by Frenchy »

I'll give it a try! Going to be doing some carbs in the not too distant future....... ;)
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#21

Post by GLforever »

Just gave the alkee-hawl method a go on my wifes newly aquired parts bike ('79 KZ650) and I gotta say that it works better than most over-the-counter carb cleaning solutions I've used.. The only bad part is forgetting you gouged yer fingers pulling the carbs.... LOL
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#22

Post by Frenchy »

So you simply soaked the carbs in the alcohol?? How long??
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#23

Post by GLforever »

So you simply soaked the carbs in the alcohol?? How long??
Well, I soaked themfrom saturday afternoon untill monday evening. I unfortunately have had my grandmother pass away and wasn't able to get back to 'em...
However, after the extended soak, the varnish came off quite nicely I might add..
My camera is still bad, the capture membrane pooped out... So no pics.. However, the varnishing was mild to icky.. I wouldn't have rated it a terribly needed clean. But, hey what the hell, right? I'd like to see what it'll do against real caked on gunk.... Maybe I'll venture through my tote of spare parts. I think I have a set of old cb900f carbs kicking around. Gunky and nasty..
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#24

Post by skydog »

Yep let'em set a while,last set I did had'nt been run for 18 years!Hard and nasty crap,let'em soak for a few days loose'nd right up.You still have to pick at it and spray,but man does it loosen the crap!
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#25

Post by LOU »

Personally.....I plan to do what Lars did. Throw away all four Honda carbs and install a blower with a single Weber.
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#26

Post by confish86 »

GLforever wrote:
So you simply soaked the carbs in the alcohol?? How long??
Well, I soaked themfrom saturday afternoon untill monday evening. I unfortunately have had my grandmother pass away and wasn't able to get back to 'em...
However, after the extended soak, the varnish came off quite nicely I might add..
My camera is still bad, the capture membrane pooped out... So no pics.. However, the varnishing was mild to icky.. I wouldn't have rated it a terribly needed clean. But, hey what the hell, right? I'd like to see what it'll do against real caked on gunk.... Maybe I'll venture through my tote of spare parts. I think I have a set of old cb900f carbs kicking around. Gunky and nasty..
I can`t believe i missed this post , & should change my name to turtle LOL
But will the alcohol work on a carb set like this ?? I`m going to rebuild them but i`d like to get them less ugly Image
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#27

Post by safarjoe »

how do you empty float bowls?
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#28

Post by AZCycle73 »

safarjoe wrote:how do you empty float bowls?
I asked the same question. :-D There are small brass screws at the bottom of each bowl. Be careful, as they're soft!
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#29

Post by cliffno350 »

the Yamaha carb cleaner that mixed with gas (no longer available go figure?) was the best quick fix carb clean ever IMHO. drain float bowls, pull fuel line, hook up funnel and fill float bowls with the stuff, pull choke and turn bike over with plug wires pulled and let bike sit for a few hours and drain float bowls and reconnect every thing start bike and your done. I have had really good luck with that method and have pulled carbs down after this fix and was amazed at how clean carbs were inside. big brother probly made them stop making the stuff....
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#30

Post by heraldhamster »

I bought some last year at my local Honda shop. I don't think they officially pulled it off the shelves, just let it dropout of distribution. why is anyone's guess, but you're likely close to the mark.
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