Dipped Carbs, What is this stuff?

[glstine]

I dipped my carbs in Berryman's for 24+ hours each. Pulled them out and rinsed them off. After they dried a white powdery substance showed up on them, looks like efflorescence, however, I wouldn't think aluminum would be porous enough for that. Does anybody know what this is and how I can get rid of it.

[renobruce]

It's from the carbs having been exposed to humidity and corrosion. You can take a small soft wire brush and buff them a bit. That will help some.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

I'm not exactly sure what it is but it's corrosion. I haven't had it happen when cleaning carbs but I've seen it appear on hardware (nuts and bolts).
It's definitely related to moisture. Only places I've ever seen it appear on my hardware is where I can't easily reach while cleaning. My bike is in a dry climate and always covered and inside a garage. I'll still get a little bit of it here and there. I just take a little lubricant or slightly abrasive cleaner and wipe it out. Then I use a little wax to help keep it away. I've seen it on aluminum engine cases on other bikes too.

[first timer]

It happens, i just wash it off in warm water and dish soap, then after they dry I just spay the carbs down with some wd-40 to help protect them.

[Nessism]

All the carbs I've done look like that. As First Timer stated, just scrub down the carb body and you should be fine.

As a side note, I'm not a fan of the 24 hour soak in carb dip. The throttle shaft has small rubber seals on each side of the butterflys and soaking in the dip for that long can't be good for those seals. Don't have any proof that there are going to be problems, just that my opinion is to soak only as long as necessary to clean out the grunge - 4-8 hours is typically plenty.

Good luck and keep up the good work on doing the carbs properly!

Edit: looked at your photos again and is that a pilot jet I see down in that recess? If so, get that thing out. The orifice is super small and the only way to properly make sure it's open is to pull the jet.

[Clumzi]

In the carb cleaning .pdf here, it mentions that after the dip, before reassembly, clear out all the passageways with WD-40. For me, this more or less ended up meaning coating the whole damn thing since carbs are a maze of passageways. In the future, I'd say to do the WD-40 right after you let the carbs drip dry for a minute and rinse/wipe them off. -nick

[hampshirehog]

That white stuff is aluminium oxide - the equivalent of rust. (Could also be zinc oxide as the carbs are made from pot metal - a cheap alloy of both). As it's aluminium / zinc the whole 'rust' process takes a lot longer than rust on steel. As mentioned above, a brush off with a softish wire brush and wipe with an oily rag is all that's required (unless you're into polishing....)

[Old Colt]

Keep in mind, that wire brush, it should not be steel. Use a brass or nylon brush. Stainless is OK but brass is better.

[glstine]

Thanks for the replies, corrosion really makes sense, it has been really humid here for the last Week, enough so that the garage floor has stayed damp. And yes that is the pilot jet, couldn't get it out before the dip, Was going to try afterWards. (BTW - my "W" key is broken, I don't really have some strange fixation With capital W's)

I Was also concerned about this stuff forming in the small passages, I sprayed them out With carb cleaner after the dip. Should I do that again and then spray With WD-40?

[Old Colt]

BTW - my "W" key is broken, I don't really have some strange fixation With capital W's)

To get a small w, hold the Alt key and type 119.