carb vinegar boil ?

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I'm gonna boil my carbs in vinegar but I'm wondering if I need to take any or all of the rubber pieces off first? And also is it alright to boil the floats as well? And is vinegar the best thing to use or is lemon juice better? Thanx.
 
What to use depends on what is trying to be removed. Pine-sol or other water based de-greasers works well for oil, varnish and sludge. Vinegar, lemon juice, or other mild acids are good for removing corrosion. I'd completely strip the carbs down and use de-greaser first, rinse real well, then use an acid. Follow up with probing all the passages with a fine wire and blowing out with compressed air. Then acid soak again.
 
I tell you what works extremely well on cleaning a very dirty corroded carb is a house hold cleaner called the works toilet bowl cleaner.I recently rebuild my tbi on my truck and used this stuff.5 minutes and it was totaly clean then rinsed off.Make sure your carb is totaly stripped down and only cost $3 and family dollar.
 
Scorpio1963 said:
I tell you what works extremely well on cleaning a very dirty corroded carb is a house hold cleaner called the works toilet bowl cleaner.I recently rebuild my tbi on my truck and used this stuff.5 minutes and it was totaly clean then rinsed off.Make sure your carb is totaly stripped down and only cost $3 and family dollar.
Click to expand...

So 5 minutes in 100% the works, or diluted at all?
 
Yes I did dillute it I just sprayed it on watched it bubble for 5 minutes..I highly doubt your carb was as bad off as the throttle body I rebuilt so use good judgement on the time.
 
Hi, I need to do this on my 1981 XS400SE (UK - like a Special) SOHC (4G5).

Seems like we didn't quite pin down the best way yet... unless anyone posts better advice, I'm going to try undiluted white (distilled) vinegar, and heat but probably not to boiling, as don't want to totally fill the house with vinegar stink!

Symptoms on mine are bad starting but OK idling so it looks like the enrichener circuit has got some muck in it... oddly though pulling out the 'choke' does help starting, maybe the enrichener is only partially blocked, or something?

Question: should I remove all of the jets (or at least as many as possible) before boiling the bodies and float bowls? Do the jets get boiled along with the mazite bits?

Is it workable to disassemble the tops and bowls and then boil the bodies and float bowls with all the jets still in place, or is that unlikely to provide enough cleaning?

Will do the boil this weekend, take photos, and post back results.
 
Absolutely. You can boil the jets and other metal parts, in the mix, but not while they are attached. The different metals expand/contract with heat, and the jet passages may chocked off the egress of crude. The boiling action is a vigorous action that wont be there if you don't boil. I boiled for 20 minutes per side, I used a small sauce pot, and I used my turkey oil boiler, (hmmmmm Deep fried turkey...) so that I didn't boil the stuff in the house. after it cooled off a little bit, I rinsed it off with a garden hose. There is a thought out there that the mild acid will dull the finish of the carbs, so you would want to rinse it off with fresh water. I didn't pull out the butterfly valve, thats not going to block anything compared to the small passages that your trying to clear out.
 
Hi Tobie,

OK thanks for the input, that does make it clearer. :) I know a lot of things could have been inferred from other previous posts, but I wanted to be as informed as possible before attempting the work and be as clear as possible on the issues. Will take it outdoors on gas burner and boil properly!

Should I soak the jets with penetrating oil before attempting to unscrew? If so, how long for?

Another poster on similar thread mentioned using aluminium pot to boil to avoid electrolytic effects ... makes sense... on the other hand the otherwise very suitable (and expendable = cheap!) pot I've got is, strangely for a cheapie, stainless steel / inox. Does anyone know from experience if using a s/steel pot would actually cause a real problem or not?
 
my wife was threwing out some of my old non-stick pots, that what I used. I haven't seen anyone worry about that before. I suppose if you were to leave them in there for a week???bad idea.

The right screwdriver, and patience. Don't use a little one, with big slots, and vise versa. If it don't fit, see if you can get the Japanese type of screwdriver, (JIS) if I remember right.
 
Is it alright to let the butterfly assembly boil? What about letting it just sit in vinegar overnight. Also what about the jets i removed them for a better clean but i want to let them sit in vinegar as well.

EDIT: Well nevermind i missed one of the previous posts but still the butterfly appears to have a plastic piece. Will this not melt during boiling?
 
Last edited:
Well i tried the works with some hot water. Not sure the ratio but i will tell everyone it wouldnt be a good idea to use works with heat. I found that it quickly eats aluminum and turns it a dark grey and it turns brass dark as well. I later using cold water and works again not know the ratio with good results. It doesn't eat the aluminum very fast and my carb didnt durn dark. Now i have two carbs of different colors.
 
I just soaked mine in vinegar, overnight. Poured it out and soaked it in 24 hours again in new vinegar, then I soaked it in water for 24 hours, dried it with an air compressor and then coated it with oil to make sure it wouldn't rust
 
Yup, that's what I used. Would have been cheaper using vinegar thou. It comes in one gallon increaments. Lemon juice was in liters.

Remember the reason for boiling is get the vigerous action, with the slight acidic action,to work the sludge out.
 

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