Post by cannuck on Aug 11, 2022 1:57:13 GMT 1
OK, if you happened to stumble upon my introductory post, you might have figured out I have been so much into diesels the last 20 years, I have barely touched a carb in any capacity.
Bought a C7 dump truck with a 366 that has not been run in many years, so off came the Holley 4150G (after literally thousands of carbs, my FIRST Holley!!!). Thing was incredibly dirty (typical in a dump truck) and dried up fuel inside. SO, needed to clean the carb.
My ancient can of NaOH based carb cleaner is very dirty, and when I tried to clean up a rototiller carb, it didn't do much of a job but still stinks as badly as it ever did. Thus, I headed to the nearby NAPA store to ask for "carb cleaner". The kid behind the counter tried to tell me some aerosol can of whatever would clean a carb with nothing but a few squirts. After LMFAO, I explained that some things had to soak for hours or even DAYS, not seconds, to get them clean. Nothing from them, so off to a smaller independent (Gregg Dist) that had a can of something from Lloyds in ON clearly labelled Carb and Choke cleaner. No SDS, but on the can it said "extremely flammable" so you know it is just going to be light petroleum distillates. Claimed to be particularly good at softening gaskets, and I knew I would need that. $251 Cdn plus tx.
I also have a surfactant around that is intended for EOR (Enhanced Oil Recovery) but started as a parts cleaner. Put 10 litres in one pail and 10 more at 3:1 dillution with water in another. Thought I could kill two birds with one stone and do a bit of comparative cleaning.
The distillate C&C cleaner DID loosen up some of the dirt and soften gaskets a bit, but maybe 1/4 as effective as NaOH legacy cleaners (no longer available here).
The surfactant (read: detergent) did almost the same for loosening dirt, but left paper gaskets hard and stuck. The 3:1 watered down worked almost that well, but after taking parts out, started to show some corrosion product on surface of castings, so no more of that.
Here I sit, two days of cleaning (would have been far faster and cheaper to just buy a new carb) with a nearly clean carb.
WHAT do you guys (and gals?) do to get carbs clean without mechanical scraping, scrubbing and brushing - the way we used to be able to dip and rinse?
Bought a C7 dump truck with a 366 that has not been run in many years, so off came the Holley 4150G (after literally thousands of carbs, my FIRST Holley!!!). Thing was incredibly dirty (typical in a dump truck) and dried up fuel inside. SO, needed to clean the carb.
My ancient can of NaOH based carb cleaner is very dirty, and when I tried to clean up a rototiller carb, it didn't do much of a job but still stinks as badly as it ever did. Thus, I headed to the nearby NAPA store to ask for "carb cleaner". The kid behind the counter tried to tell me some aerosol can of whatever would clean a carb with nothing but a few squirts. After LMFAO, I explained that some things had to soak for hours or even DAYS, not seconds, to get them clean. Nothing from them, so off to a smaller independent (Gregg Dist) that had a can of something from Lloyds in ON clearly labelled Carb and Choke cleaner. No SDS, but on the can it said "extremely flammable" so you know it is just going to be light petroleum distillates. Claimed to be particularly good at softening gaskets, and I knew I would need that. $251 Cdn plus tx.
I also have a surfactant around that is intended for EOR (Enhanced Oil Recovery) but started as a parts cleaner. Put 10 litres in one pail and 10 more at 3:1 dillution with water in another. Thought I could kill two birds with one stone and do a bit of comparative cleaning.
The distillate C&C cleaner DID loosen up some of the dirt and soften gaskets a bit, but maybe 1/4 as effective as NaOH legacy cleaners (no longer available here).
The surfactant (read: detergent) did almost the same for loosening dirt, but left paper gaskets hard and stuck. The 3:1 watered down worked almost that well, but after taking parts out, started to show some corrosion product on surface of castings, so no more of that.
Here I sit, two days of cleaning (would have been far faster and cheaper to just buy a new carb) with a nearly clean carb.
WHAT do you guys (and gals?) do to get carbs clean without mechanical scraping, scrubbing and brushing - the way we used to be able to dip and rinse?
