Getting to the point of NO CLEAN CARB!

[dart451]

You know, it used to be...you could clean a carb pretty easily and you'd be able to get an engine running again. Nowadays I clean carbs and maybe get 20% of them to work again! I have tried all type of cleaning...the carburetor dip buckets, Ultrasonic washes, carb cleaner...all seem to be useless anymore! I even use welding cleaning wires to make sure orifices are clean, blow them all out with compressed air. It seems I waste time cleaning the carbs anymore when I could throw on a new one. Anyone else out there having similar problems? Just had another one today...small briggs auto-choke carb, relatively clean inside but hadn't run in about a year. Could tell all the orifices were clean, NOPE! Would not run! Spray a little fuel in the carb, it would burn it off just fine...jeesh!

[hanz63]

Yeah, you really have to think through the process. Me, if I see any pitting or corrosion- it has to be minor and an expensive carb to be worth it. Kohler Command carbs are just stupidly priced. I did the unthinkable and put on an aftermarket carb to get the lady an extra year or two (hopefully) out of this thing. No way the rider was worth a 400$ plus carb. Even your little Briggs, you have to use OEM -which they are kind of proud of or risk a bad repair. Pulled the air box off an opposed twin and went, aha- an aftermarket carb. Surprisingly OEM still available. I pulled the top off the aftermarket that was less than a year old and the float valve was worn out. Tried a Briggs valve and body gasket to no avail. It's brutal out there....

[RoyM]

If it is my own carb the time is mine and I will attempt to clean it to a point. As I get older my patience is wearing thin. If for somebody else it's a new carb within reason, I don't intentionally work for nothing.

[dart451]

I must admit, I use after market carbs all the time and I might add, I think I've only had one that messed up prematurely. And here I try to clean every one of the old ones without cutting corners and I do not understand the fact that most of them just won't clean the flip up! They used to! I guess the Ethanol is really eating the damn things nowadays!

[RoyM]

I went through three aftermarket chainsaw carburetors before I found one that worked, I wasted a whole afternoon and the customer was pithed whe I charged him for all four. I ate the labour. NEVER AGAIN! If I am going to stand behind my work I'm doing it right or not at all.

[dart451]

I went through three aftermarket chainsaw carburetors before I found one that worked, I wasted a whole afternoon and the customer was pithed whe I charged him for all four. I ate the labour. NEVER AGAIN! If I am going to stand behind my work I'm doing it right or not at all.

Ah Ha! I'm in luck! I don't work on chainsaws or 2 cycle engines...lol

[KE4AVB]

Well I must either really good at it or very lucky as I am still repairing close 100% of the carburetors. Having to replace several Stihl carburetors due primer base check valves going bad and Stihl wants as much for them as a new carburetor so I just stick on a new Stihl Zama carburetor.

Just got in a 021 chainsaw, a FS38 curve shaft trimmer, and a FS56 brushcutter. Chainsaw has a Walbro so it already done. The FS38 is wanting to backfire so I suspecting I got a bad coil on it but I'll check the carburetor anyways, and FS56 I don't know as it started raining. I had to get the babies in before they drowned.

The Stihl Zama carbs are getting to be a pain since Stihl took over Zama. Now they want me to order all the parts through the local dealers [if the carburetor is on a Stihl unit] which can't even get the kits even when I provide them with the Stihl part numbers.

[hanz63]

My aftermarket carb experience isn't very good. I've had them that customers and other shops put on that didn't run right from the get go. Then, another stack of them that maybe started out OK, but ended up a corroded mess the next season. I've had 3 Commands in the last couple of weeks. One was rebuildable of the 3, with the nicely priced Kohler kit- but overall the carb was good. The others were both a corroded mess, one that didn't have the accelerator pump and one that did. If there was a reputable brand of aftermarket carbs that have a good track record, I'd like to know about it.

[KE4AVB]

Nor has mine. I repaired one back in the Spring where another insisted on putting on one. It was surging so bad the customer brought the mower into my shop. I had to resize the idle mixture jet to get the engine running right.

[hanz63]

And then my first question back to them, "Do you still have the old carb?" More than once I've taken the old carb and made things happy once again and tossing the look-a-like in the trash.