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I thought carburettors were self cleaning. The only carbs I have ever had to 'clean' were in old lawn mowers which lack decent fuel filters and are also prone to tiny particles from corroding float chambers entering the jets. I inherited a tiny ancient roll of very thin soft coppery looking wire (no idea what it was for) which is useful for cleaning the jets. The twin SUs on my 1980 TR7 have never been 'cleaned' since new, although I seem to remember screwing up their needle jet adjustment slightly leaner to meet an MoT emissions requirement a couple of decades ago.
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I thought carburettors were self cleaning.
Not here they arent.
Might be the heat, or maybe the humidity, or maybe the petrol (Persistant rumours of systematic adulteration, though I doubt there is anything wrong with it, and believe it to be another Taiwanese myth), but a vehicle (particularly a motorcycle) left idle for long is likely to develop a grey mineral-looking sludge in the carb. I've cleaned these out several times.
As I said in another thread, this AISIN carb has a sintered metal thing in it (maybe for fuel atomisation, can't remember) which looks like it would plug up if allowed out of a semiconductor factory cleanroom, and which apparently does give trouble, though they used it in the Toyota Landcruiser.
If that is plugged I may not be able to clean it.
That said, I don't have any current reason to suspect the carb other than the fact that the ignition seems OK and it still doesn't start when fuel is supplied directly from a jerrycan
I stripped and cleaned this carb a few years ago and hoped I wouldn't have to do it again, but needs must when the devil drives.
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I thought carburettors were self cleaning.
Not here they arent.
Might be the heat, or maybe the humidity, ......... a vehicle (particularly a motorcycle) left idle for long is likely to develop a grey mineral-looking sludge in the carb. I've cleaned these out several times.
Taiwan's a pretty humid place, and I think day/night temperature swings causing condensation on the inside of quarter full old metal fuel tanks would be a perennial problem. Most fuel systems can cope with a bit of moisture, but there will inevitably be some surface untreated metal corrosion causing sludge to form.
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I thought carburettors were self cleaning.
Not here they arent.
Might be the heat, or maybe the humidity, ......... a vehicle (particularly a motorcycle) left idle for long is likely to develop a grey mineral-looking sludge in the carb. I've cleaned these out several times.
Taiwan's a pretty humid place, and I think day/night temperature swings causing condensation on the inside of quarter full old metal fuel tanks would be a perennial problem. Most fuel systems can cope with a bit of moisture, but there will inevitably be some surface untreated metal corrosion causing sludge to form.
Could be. The grey stuff looked like aluminium oxide, and may have included it. Wasn't much affected by carb cleaner, which is more
useful for tarry organic deposits. These are also shifted by brake fluid, which has the advantages of being free (when recycled), fume free, and water miscible.
Theres also the point that SU's are elegantly and robustly simple. IIRC my Marina's had only one jet, and I could kid myself I actually understood it. (I daresay later iterations had been improved into at least partial incomprehensibility)
Nothing partial about Aisin incomprehensibility. Its got several mechanical linkages that interact in ways I don't understand, lots of jets, and loads of vacuum ports with mysterious gizzmo's hanging of them, all of which I blanked off a few years ago to get it running.
Couldn't reinstate them if I wanted to, because the labels have come off.
Re water accumulation, drained my fuel tank a few years ago (it has a plug) and there was some water in the bottom/ Dont really want to do that again though because the drained fuel gets contaminated.
Perhaps I could add some ethanol, as a de-watering bridging solvent
Edited by edlithgow on 13/03/2023 at 00:08
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I would have thought that soaking in petrol overnight would shift the sunflower oil.
Dunno.
TBH I rather doubt it. Once its polymerised sunflower oil is remarkably tenacious. I understand it forms epoxides, which may be part of the reason.
I used brake fluid on the outside, followed by boiling water, and detergent, ditto, for a few cycles, cleaning with a toothbrush.
Luckily this stuff hadn't fully set and that seems to have shifted enough of it that the carb can probably be stripped without contaminating the inside.
Once I have it apart I might try petrol on sub-assemblies, if I can find a suitable sealable container.
Petrol is tricky stuff. They make napalm with it
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About 15 years ago, when it was fashionable to stick vegetable oil in diesel engines, most people used 10% white spirit or unleaded to thin it. There was occasional talk of meths, too.
More interestingly, my wife and I had a conversation this week about whether it was chickens or pigeons that came home to roost given that chickens aren't known for roaming.
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That'd be liquid, unpolymerised vegetable oil (or the engine is wrecked, which I believe also happened quite a lot). Whole different animal once its polymerised. Goes a bit like silicone rubber, only sticky and un-peelable.
I got a lot of flack from Americans for suggesting it as an anti-rust treatment on BITOG (particularly for steel brake pipes, in combination with aluminium)
"Dude, you might just as well p*** on it here, and you caint spell aloominum" and eventually gave up.
If they prefer to spray epoxy (!) well, they can afford it, and, after all, there are plenty of Americans.
Current un-anticipated collateral damage aspect is its filled in all the cross-heads on screws. Already b*****ed one of them up and its proving a real PITA to partly clear them with a pick and a hand lens.
And its definitely chickens.
But WHY?
Why did the chicken cross the road?
Because it wanted to come home to roost,
But why not the pigeon?
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I would have thought that soaking in petrol overnight would shift the sunflower oil.
Never known it to work, sunflower oil goes like goo in petrol and sticks to whatever you use to move it which wrecks the item you use
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I find the dishwasher very useful for cleaning car parts - as long as the missus doesn't find out.
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Once its polymerised sunflower oil is remarkably tenacious
Back in 1988 I bought a set of Triumph front uprights for the first Caterham project. They were new old stock from a local Triumph specialist. He had bought a huge quantity when they stopped making the Spiftire and to protect them had soaked them in a container of sunflower oil. He rightly said that in a Triumph where they were hidden away there would be no need to clean the oil off but in a Caterham where they are on display they needed thoroughly cleaning and painting with Hammerite (or similar).
Only product that worked was cellulose thinners, the cheapest variety. Took a full 5 litres to do the job, they were perfect once cleaned. I was high for weeks.
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Once its polymerised sunflower oil is remarkably tenacious
Back in 1988 I bought a set of Triumph front uprights for the first Caterham project. They were new old stock from a local Triumph specialist. He had bought a huge quantity when they stopped making the Spiftire and to protect them had soaked them in a container of sunflower oil. He rightly said that in a Triumph where they were hidden away there would be no need to clean the oil off but in a Caterham where they are on display they needed thoroughly cleaning and painting with Hammerite (or similar).
Only product that worked was cellulose thinners, the cheapest variety. Took a full 5 litres to do the job, they were perfect once cleaned. I was high for weeks.
Interesting, Thanks.
If one abrades steel (preferably rusted steel) coated in sunflower oil with a grinding disk made from a flattened beer can, you end up with a grey metallic primer look that looks OK. (to me, but then my standards aren't high).
Whether this would work with sunflower oil that'd already "gone off" I dunno, not having tried it. Might be a horrible mess.
Cellulose thinners, eh? A whole new Tchiwanese Linguistic and Cultural Challenge, should I choose to accept it.
Meanwhile, I might try xylene, which I know where to get.
Edited by edlithgow on 10/03/2023 at 22:41
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<< I might try xylene, which I know where to get. >>
= white spirit, or colloquially turps, which hasn't come from turpentine for many a year.
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<< I might try xylene, which I know where to get. >>
= white spirit, or colloquially turps, which hasn't come from turpentine for many a year.
Colloquially "Cleaning Naptha" here, I THINK
Edit after shopping: Solvents harder to find than previously (my go to chemist has closed) but eventually got 95% ethanol (for de-watering) methanol (ditto, before I found the ethanol, probably won't use it) and toluene.
Already had "Cleaning Naptha", but I note they also do aromatic free cleaning naptha, which sounds like a contradiction in terms.
Not really enjoying this. Perhaps perversely, I did last time, when I had some space, and the carb was dirtier, perhaps not having been cleaned for 20 years. This time around, its all shiny inside, so probably a waste of time.
Just after removing the fuel shutoff valve assembly, and it separating into a hinge pin, a needle valve, and a tiny little black thing, I dropped the lot. Found the hinge pin and needle valve in under an hour, but the little black thing, which was the same size and colour as the ants scurrying around, eluded me for hours.
Eventually I had a look at the hinge pin, and the little black thing, which was a tiny spring, had somehow slipped over it,. What are the odds?
Laugh? Well, yes, but a very hollow laugh.
Edited by edlithgow on 12/03/2023 at 13:45
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<< I might try xylene, which I know where to get. >>
= white spirit, or colloquially turps, which hasn't come from turpentine for many a year.
Xylene is di-methyl benzene, significantly different to white spirit in physical chemical properties and toxicity to humans.
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I find the dishwasher very useful for cleaning car parts - as long as the missus doesn't find out.
I'm betting if you tried it with car parts coated in polymerised sunflower oil (and, to be clear, I do not recommend this) , she would find out.
Anyway, I dont have a dishwasher, or anywhere to put one.
Edited by edlithgow on 10/03/2023 at 22:39
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Anyway, I dont have a dishwasher, or anywhere to put one.
Mine spends a lot of time in the kitchen as she does the cooking as well ;>)
Dishwasher detergent tablets are a powerful detergent combined with the high temperature a dishwasher uses. Could you filch one and try it with very hot water and something like an old toothbrush? It's common practice to put a couple in the cooling system after replacing a blown head gasket to flush out.
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Anyway, I dont have a dishwasher, or anywhere to put one.
Mine spends a lot of time in the kitchen as she does the cooking as well ;>)
Dishwasher detergent tablets are a powerful detergent combined with the high temperature a dishwasher uses. Could you filch one and try it with very hot water and something like an old toothbrush? It's common practice to put a couple in the cooling system after replacing a blown head gasket to flush out.
Not a bad idea, thanks.
In the past I've boiled motorcycle carbs with (non-automatic) washing powder, which has been effective, though these didn't have sunflower oil on them. It did etch the casting a bit though.
Didn't do it this time because I didnt have an expendable pan big enough
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Anyway, I dont have a dishwasher, or anywhere to put one.
Mine spends a lot of time in the kitchen as she does the cooking as well ;>)
Dishwasher detergent tablets are a powerful detergent combined with the high temperature a dishwasher uses. Could you filch one and try it with very hot water and something like an old toothbrush? It's common practice to put a couple in the cooling system after replacing a blown head gasket to flush out.
Not a bad idea, thanks.
In the past I've boiled motorcycle carbs with (non-automatic) washing powder, which has been effective, though these didn't have sunflower oil on them. It did etch the casting a bit though.
Didn't do it this time because I didnt have an expendable pan big enough
Dishwashers now run near cold to save electricity but do the same job, so no reason why they wont work, heating stage of dishwashers is drying time now
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Dishwashers now run near cold to save electricity but do the same job, so no reason why they wont work, heating stage of dishwashers is drying time now
I didn't know that, every day's a school day!
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Dishwashers now run near cold to save electricity
Curious, I RTFM'd for my 3-year-old dishwasher. It states it washes at between 45C and 70C depending on programme. I wouldn't want to put my hands into water at the lower temperature for more than a moment and never at the higher.
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