I did a search for this and didn't find anything, of course I may not have performed the correct search. My question is what is the best substance available to soak a dirty carb in to clean it? I remember many years ago you could buy a metal bucket of soak and it came with a metal basket and it would melt anything that wasn't metal. It would make a carb shine like a new penny.


Now everything I buy comes in a metal bucket with a plastic basket and if you soak a carb for 24 to 36 hours you can scrub it fairly clean with a brass wire brush and compressed air as long as you also spray it with an aerosol carb cleaner.


The junk we have to run in our vehicles now day is terrible as far as I am concerned but if you let it sit for a while in a carb you can see how bad it really is. Trying to clean it out is a nightmare with the stuff from the local auto parts store that I have tried so far. Any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated and please include where it can be purchased with your recommendation. Thank you for your input.

 

I've used a 50/50 mix of xylene & acetone with good overnight results. It didn't make the carb 'shine', but nothing was left on/in it.

 

The old Hydro-seal is long gone, and the Hydro-seal II is a joke in comparison.

I just use an empty gallon metal paint can filled with lacquer thinner.
(you can get these at Home Depot)
Don't put plastic or rubber in there overnight.

Lacquer thinner is usually a blend of acetone, toluene and methanol.
Different brands have different blends for different temperatures.
But it sure does soften and dissolve any kind of varnish left in the carb.

Seems all the 'dip' solutions have lost their potency.
NAPA, Berryman's B9 and the rest are no where near what they used to be.

 

Thank you for the suggestions gentlemen. The stuff we buy now days is crap. I remember years ago I had a 5 gallon bucket of Berryman's and a metal basket. I broke down a carb and put the parts is the basket to soak. Long story short, a small metal part disappeared on me and come to find out it was in the bottom of the bucket. Magnet wouldn't work and I had to have it, I thought I was going to burn my arm off before I could fish it out.


I repair small engines as a side hobby/job for a little mad money. This ethanol, sitting over the winter, really gums these carbs up bad and even starts to eat away the inside if left very long. I need something to really clean them good as well as clean my personal vehicle carb from time to time. I really appreciate your input and I am going to give each one of them a try to see what works best on these carbs. Thanks again guys.


Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

It was really the MEK and methylene chloride that gave the old stuff it's bite.
Nasty stuff.


Nowadays your best bet is an ultrasonic tank.
I hear Harbor Freight has some inexpensive ones.

 

Amen.

I haven't tried it yet, but I have some motorcycle riding buddies that swear by Pine Sol.

I tried 1-part gas, 1-part diesel, -1/2 part MEK and 1/2 part tranny fluid. It's still not as good as the old stuff -- not an overnight clean which is what I was hoping for.

Consider soda blasting for the parts can be blasted.

 

It's the methylene chloride and MEK that are really missing.

Does anybody want an open pail of that around??

Remember when Gumout used to crackle when you sprayed it?

 

Yes I remember those days, I guess we are telling our age now ArdWrknTrk LOL. I also remember the "white" gasoline days too. Compared to what we pay for now that stuff was rocket fuel. I have pumped many a gallon of 10 cent gasoline back in my younger years. If you know and don't mind telling me what does MEK stand for? I understand the methylene chloride but the MEK......? Would you please tell me more about the ultra sonic tank? I hate to say it but I have no knowledge at all about ultra sonic tanks. Thanks again gentlemen I appreciate your ideas and input.

 

Methyl Ethyl Ketone

A friend of mine in the '80s worked at Martin Marietta as a Missile Mechanic and brought some home once... IIRC it smelled, um, potent... and toxic...

 

Yes
It's in the same family as Acetone, but slower evaporating and much smellier.

When I was in High School I used to pump gas on the graveyard shift.
I smelled like that all day.
You could get leaded or lead free, Super was 97 octane.
Gas was about $.60 as I recall.

 

Sorry for the repeat post.

My phone has been on 3G all day and the forum had me logged out every time I visited.
Adchoices popovers are ridiculous!

 

I remember my mom telling the attendants: "Give me $5 worth of Ethyl."

 

I don't think anyone ever asked me for Ethyl.

I do know the DuPont factory down in Jersey was known as The House of Butterflies for the hallucinations caused by tetraethyl lead poisoning.

 

LOL I know the OLD cleaner use to really clean a carb back in the day, now I know what made it smell so. In my younger days I watched a friend of mine disassemble a 4 barrel and soak it. He put it in the old soak and about 30 or 45 minutes later he pulled it out rinsed it off with a water hose, blew it out/off with compressed air and it looked like a new carb just out of the box.


My parents owned a mom and pop grocery store when I was growing up and they had gas pumps out front. My job when I got out of school was to stock shelves, sweep the floor, take the returnable soda pop bottles out to a separate storage area and sort them and pump gas for anyone that wanted gas. No such thing as self service, pump gas, check the oil, and clean the wind shield....at the least. If it wasn't for my dad I could have been a gas huffer, I loved the smell of the old gasoline when I pumped it LOL. One good session with his belt made the gas smell like buzzard puke LOL. The old pumps we had topped out at 99 cents a gallon. It was physically impossible to charge more than 99 cents a gallon with those old pumps. It confused the heck out of the old people because we had to change the pumps to read half price per gallon then double the total sale in order to continue to use these old pumps. Dad wouldn't buy newer pumps because they cost to much.

 

I remember there were two pumps, one for regular and one for ethyl. When we went camping we used a coleman lantern for light. Instead of buying the cans of coleman fuel for the lantern dad would get a gallon of ethyl for the lantern. He did this for years and it always worked great.