What kind of carb cleaner?

[danond]

Guys I'm about to rebuild the carbs on my '82 115 and my Clymer manual says don't use carb cleaner and don't soak the carbs in cleaner, either. They suggest using an "aerosol cleaner". Whatever that is.

This doesn't make sense. What do you guys use? I'd really like to soak these.

 

[Walker]

Re: What kind of carb cleaner?

I soak every carb I do. Berryman Chemtool. Comes in a gallon can with a wire strainer basket inside. Never harmed any carb I've done, including the plastic ones. Remover all gaskets and o-ring seals. It will ruin those.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: What kind of carb cleaner?

They are referring to any of a dozen or more brands of spray carb cleaner available at any auto store or discount center that sells auto parts.

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: What kind of carb cleaner?

I've used Wal-Mart Super Tech aerosol. That stuff'll take the chrome off a bumper hitch. It'll also kill wasps too. 98? a can last I bought.

 

[SawBum]

Re: What kind of carb cleaner?

I was told the same thing by a boat tech. because my carbs are plastic....5.00 can of nautic-something?? pretty high and seems to be oil based...i probably got ripped

 

[danond]

Re: What kind of carb cleaner?

Hah! I can imagine how that wasp situation came about. Garage, cleaning a carb, saw a wasp, grabbed the first squirty can of nasty whatnot you could find. That's what I'd do.

I'll soak 'em. That's how I do my car carbs, and from what I'm seeing, these are carbs. Stands to reason I can use carb...cleaner. Confusing part of the manual.

 

[danond]

Updated: What kind of carb cleaner leads to carb rebuild

Updated: What kind of carb cleaner leads to carb rebuild

I ordered a couple carb kits, a new set of those purdy blue plug wires and a fuel pump rebuild kit from iboats.com last week and picked up a new set of plugs, figuring it couldn't hurt, as the gaskets on the top carb's fuel bowl were cracking.

Yesterday I tore everything off, and every single rubber hose I removed had a split. Every one. Not just some, and I'm not exaggerating. All of 'em. Well no, I take that back, the one that goes to the air housing wasn't cracked, but it broke when I pulled on it.

The carb seats were missing their gaskets, the float arms were both bent in a lazy-s shape (not bad, but bad enough), the gaskets all crumbled when removed, the fuel pump dribbled fuel out when the bulb was squeezed (found out it was missing a gasket). Fuel ran out of the air housing when I removed it.

Put it all back together and it started right up, didn't shake like a gopher shot with a pellet gun, and I could adjust the idle 'till it shut off. In fact I couldn't keep it running when I first fired it up without the fast idle lever up. Figured out why quickly.

Now I'm off to the lake to adjust it further, maybe do a link & sync since I have the tools, and it doesn't seem too hard to check and adjust timing. We'll see.

If I could only get inside the heads of previous owners....

One question - how much shake *should* I get from it when it's idling? I know it'll probably do some of that on the muffs, but when it's in the water, should it idle smoothly, or will I get some shake from it? I haven't owned a big 2 cycle before.

 

[offshore100]

Re: What kind of carb cleaner?

Guys I'm about to rebuild the carbs on my '82 115 and my Clymer manual says don't use carb cleaner and don't soak the carbs in cleaner, either. They suggest using an "aerosol cleaner". Whatever that is.

This doesn't make sense. What do you guys use? I'd really like to soak these.

The aluminum carbs have a sealant coating that harsh automotive carb baths destroy, making the carb body porous and screwing up its air/fuel ratio.
Any mild carb cleaner like Gumout will be fine. Isopropyl alcohol works well too, as does OMC Engine Tuner, which is a very powerful detergent.


As for "how much shake?" A bit, it's not as smooth as a four stroke at idle.

 

[danond]

Re: What kind of carb cleaner?

I didn't soak them, there wasn't any visible gunk inside the carbs. I used regular old carb cleaner in a spray can. I think the previous owner rebuilt them within the last 5 years, just didn't do a very good job. Thanks for the info!