Red tip float needle valve?

[littleape]

I was taking apart carbs on my '90 150 and one of the needle valves was frozen so much I had to use a screw driver to pry it free. It looks different from the other two in this motor, it has a red tip. Are these OK to use, not sure why it was stuck so much, this motor ran last last winter, I had it stripped down since then. Everything looks clean, no rust or anything in the port or on the valve, just the red tip.

 

[oldboat1]

Shouldn't be stuck that tight -- don't think I ever ran into that.

The red tip is a newer needle (neoprene tip). The rubber end can hang a little, so they use a wire clip over the float arm to hoist it out of the valve (other end of the clip hooks around machined groove in the needle). After getting out the valve, it sounds like you need to soak the carb in solvent (I use lacquer thinner).

 

[littleape]

Yeah It's weird, at first I thought the red was rust but yeah it's a coating.

I ended up ordering rebuild kits since it wasn't much more than getting the few gaskets I needed after shipping.