TheSamba.com :: View topic - How do you clean a carburetor? Boil it? Wire brush it?

Wed Jul 30, 2014 5:36 pm

jhicken wrote: Water is cheaper.

-jeffrey

Meh, maybe I am paranoid but I want 0 risk of any water getting in my engine.

Wed Jul 30, 2014 5:59 pm

jhicken wrote:
Quote: two pages of mindless blathering about something as rudimentary as how to clean a carburetor

well, this may be rudimentary to you but without any directions to follow I really appreciate the replies and found them very useful - this is how we with less experience on some things learn from those with more.
you did, however, take the time to read and add to the "mindless blathering" which is kinda funny given your comment. :lol:

Wed Jul 30, 2014 8:58 pm

I guess the idea is the water neutralizes any remaining solvent to keep it from eating the metal. I have always used brakleen to remove any remaining solvent, but I guess I have been doing it wrong for 28 years (rebuilt my first carb by myself when I was eleven).

Funny thing is, with today's crap ethanol gas, you have more water going through your carburetor than you could imagine.

Thu Jul 31, 2014 5:43 am

On a humid day you literally have gallons of water passing through your engine when it's running. Nothing to worry about.

Thu Jul 31, 2014 8:31 am

To take that further, I recall back in the late 70's my buddy had a 68 Dodge with a 383 that was running rough and we had the idea from his dad of getting the motor totally warmed, revving it up and pouring water down the carb just until it stumbled, stopped the water, rev up and repeat 5 or 6 times, never letting the motor totally die. Never hurt the motor and smoothed the rough running - his dad said they did this in the 50's a couple times a year on the farm grain trucks to keep them running smooth. Not sure how this worked exactly but the water never hurt the motors.

Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:40 am

I rebuilt mine recently. I soaked the two halves in diet coke. I only bought a two liter, but I should have got two bottles. I used two left over cookies containers and let parts soak for 3 hours. I rinsed everything in hot water in kitchen sink and poured the used coke down the drain. Easy clean up and then blew out the passages with canned air. I detailed the carb body with about 100 q-tips and it looked really clean and new. Only mishap was forgetting the float pin....doh!!!

Thu Oct 27, 2016 11:52 am

I rebuilt mine recently and soaked it in Seafoam carb cleaner and blew the passages out with spray can Gumout carb cleaner with the little red straw. Worked great.

Thu Oct 27, 2016 1:14 pm

I just rebuilt mine last week.

I followed these, and used carburetor cleaning dip from O'Reilly (gallon)
www.vw-resource.com/carb_41.html

ball removal http://1967beetle.com/carburetor-rebuild/