Mercury carb synch tool moisture

[renobruce]

I noticed while synching my carbs that there is what appears to be moisture that rides above the mercury in the tubes. Do I need to change out the mercury? Are the readings going to be accurate? Do I go by where the mercury rises to or what? The moisture levels are not the same in all 4 tubes.

[Mr. Jiggles]

It won't harm the mercury but can make reading the mercury levels more challenging. Try warming the mercury and then pull the top off to let the moisture dry off. I'd do this in a ventilated area just in case any of the mercury has converted to organic form (elemental mercury OK, organic BAD). Usually I try to prewarm the mercury before synching to avoid the condensation in the first place.

[renobruce]

OK. Well, that makes sense. The carbs sticks are kept in the garage and it was about 35 out when I synched. I could see alot of Mist in the clear lines. I thought it was smoke, and it concerned me a bit! When I pulled the lines out to dry, water that had accumulated in the bottom of the tubes drained on top of the mercury in the reservoir. Everything is drying in my sunroom. But it looks like new murcury?

[KEITH KRAUSE]

The condensation may take some time to evaporate. It won't hurt anything but can make the levels hard to read depending on the condensation gaps. It mixes with the mercury usually after a re-start during synching.
Sometimes you can minimize the gaps and still set them accurately by trying this.
Re-start and quickly pull then replace each vacuum line on the brass/steel adapter tube. Do it quick enough to avoid a stall. It may take a few tries. I can usually minimize the gaps and see what the levels would be without the gaps by doing this. I've seen condensation stay in the mercury reservoir for several days (just sitting in the garage corner with the reservoir vent open/warm weather.)