Carb dip

[Kell Oskarsson]

All,

I´ll be doing a cleanup of my QJet in a few days. I´ve been unable to source any carb cleaner locally other than the spray on type (in aerosols). By the look of the carb it looks like a few parts would benefit from a good soaking. Any ideas on what I might use as a substitute?

Thanks!

Kell.

[John Washburn CLC 1067 Sadly deceased.]

Berryman still makes their carb cleaner is gallon to 5 gallon cans. Problem is that is highly toxic so one must used in well ventilated space. Otherwise works great.

Go on line should be able to find at one of the car parts stores, unless outlawed in your state?

The Johnny

[Kell Oskarsson]

Sorry Johnny,

I should have mentioned that I live in Iceland and can´t order chemicals from the States. Hence I´m more wondering about "generic" substitutes, kerosene or the like.

Best,

Kell.

[John Washburn CLC 1067 Sadly deceased.]

Kell,

Since I don't like to use Berryman's or such I use the carburetor cleaner in the spray cans. This gets most of it off. Then I use Simple Green and a tooth brush to clean it once again (inside and out), if it need more aggressive cleaning I use a brass brush (Simple Green works good for removing gum). Then I wash in hot water then use the air compressor to dry. Then I clean once again with the carb cleaner, wash in hot water, blow dry and usually the carb comes out nice and clean.

Hope this helps.

[TJ Hopland]

I have been happy with various brands of 'purple' cleaner.  All the big names and stores have one here, not sure what you got down there. Its a water based cleaner, I think one of the main ingredients is lye. 

[walt chomosh #23510]

As a kid,I used laquer thinner for carb cleaning.....it's a option when Berryman's Carb Dip isn't available....walt chomosh...tulsa,ok

[Kell Oskarsson]

All,

many thanks for your help. I think I´ll go with spray-can type carb cleaner to begin with. Depends on how bad the carb will look once its off.

Regards,

Kell.

[TJ Hopland]

Have a look to see if there are any purple water based cleaners in your area, I have been amazed at how well they clean.   Thats about 90% what I use on car stuff now.  I even use the stuff on equipment at work and there we have an old school super toxic parts washer. 

This is one of the common brands here.   They appear to be a international company, perhaps they are available in your area?   



They still make the paint can 'dip' so if you can find the brand in your area perhaps they could order it?



Their website:
http://www.gunk.com/index.asp

[TJ Hopland]

Here is one I did a few years ago with the purple stuff.    I spent maybe 5 mins on the whole cleaning process.  You can see on areas like the choke plate around the screws at the ends where the varnish did not quite come off because I maybe gave it one quick pass with the scrub brush.  Another 5 mins of effort and it could have looked closer to new.



I do still use carb spray and compressed air to verify that the jets and other little spaces are clear.  

I imagine that technically you should not let the purple stuff hit the ground or go down the drain, especially once its full of goo but its got to be less hazardous than the traditional chemicals that you now need to call a hazmat team in to dispose of when you are done in most places now days.   Some of the citrus cleaners seem to do a decent job too.

[Kell Oskarsson]

TJ, I´ll probably need to obtain some purple cleaner or the like after all. Once the carb came off, it looked very dirty, esp the throttle body. Quite sooty, as if it had caught fire at some point. So I think I´ll need to give that a soak.

As suspected, there are some internal leaks, so will need to seal plugs with epoxy. All gaskets were hard as glass and just crumbled. The air horn was also slightly warped but I´m hoping I will be able to obtain a decent seal with a new gasket.

Thanks very much for all the good info - I´ll no doubt be back with more queries!!!

Best regards.

Kell.