No dip for you!

[tkent02]

All teams suck a few years, get better, spend a few years on top, get worse.

All but one anyway.

Barry was right.

[chuck hahn]

i personnally have always been a Broncos fan since the 80s Elway era.

[tkent02]

i personnally have always been a Broncos fan since the 80s Elway era.

That's funny, I always hated Mr. Ed and his Denver Donkeys.

[bakalorz]

OK, so I'm in the process of dismantling and cleaning my carbs. Slight problem: there's no dip to be had. Ok, so you can't buy Berrymans or similar carb dip here in this Great Southern Land, but you can get Yamaha's Yamalube Carburetor Dip - except you can't. No Yamaha dealer within reasonable distance stocks ANY kind of Yamalube. Too expensive they says. They'll order it for me, provided I buy the minimum 12 bottles...

So, anybody here know a good alternative to brand name dip? My first thought was acetone. Any ideas?

Years ago I used to fly model airplanes.
A trick used for cleaning the engines was to put them in ethylene glycol antifreeze in a crock-pot, and simmer them overnight.

I did this for several engines that had all kind of crap, varnish, and gunk burnt onto them, and they came out looking brand new.

I think (but am not sure) that antifreeze is safe for all metals, all plastics and all o-ring materials.

When I finally do my carbs, I will try this method.


A couple warnings.

Cats, dogs, and other animals will try to drink the antifreeze if they can get to it; don't let them, it's poisonous

Also, the crock pot can NEVER be used for food again.

It's probably best to do this outside, cause it does smell like hot antifreeze.

[duaneage]

Use Lacquer Thinner, any paint store should have it.

[chuck hahn]

Isnt that what makes us a great society.. we can all have our own viewpoints and all be right AND wrong at the same time.

[sschering]

Years ago I used to fly model airplanes.
A trick used for cleaning the engines was to put them in ethylene glycol antifreeze in a crock-pot, and simmer them overnight.

I did this for several engines that had all kind of crap, varnish, and gunk burnt onto them, and they came out looking brand new.

I think (but am not sure) that antifreeze is safe for all metals, all plastics and all o-ring materials.

When I finally do my carbs, I will try this method.


A couple warnings.

Cats, dogs, and other animals will try to drink the antifreeze if they can get to it; don't let them, it's poisonous

Also, the crock pot can NEVER be used for food again.

It's probably best to do this outside, cause it does smell like hot antifreeze.

I've tried the antifreeze method on gasser engines with little success..
It's really only effective for removing the castor glow fuel varnish.

[supersonictoys]

I never dip carbs. never needed to dip them to make them run perfect. I just remove all removable parts(bowls, jets ,slides) and spray every passage way out thoroughly with spray b-12 chemtool untill everything looks spotless inside and out and then blow them out with compressed air. you can also put all brass parts(jets, seats, mixture screws, nozzles) in a baby food jar full of b-12 and soak them over night , shaking the jar every once in a while. Never soak any rubber parts(fuel needles, o rings, slide diaphragms, bowl gaskets) in carb cleaner or they will be ruined but it is ok to spray them of with it. before I reassemble I pull one bristle from a wire bush and spin each jet on it to make sure the entire inside of the jet is clear then blow everything out with compressed air and reassemble. I think dipping is more for those who want to try and make the outside of the carbs to look spotless. b-12 will do the same thing and much more quickly but it will cost a couple bucks more as 2 cans may be needed if you want to clean both the inside and outside. even on carbs with bowls full of rotten gas I never really find much buildup inside the bodies of carbs at least inside passage ways . well, nothing that spray carb cleaner wont remove in 1 squirt. I have also heard horror stories about chem dip eating the sealing material up on the throttle shafts of some cv carbs where the throttle shaft passes through the bodies of carbs causing bad vacuum leaks.

[Nessism]

Use Lacquer Thinner, any paint store should have it.

No disrespect intended but this is a bad idea. The butterfly shaft of CV carbs has rubber seals on each end and lacquer thinner will aggressively attack rubber. I don’t recommend extended soaking in carb dip for the same reason, try to limit the soak dwell time to the minimum needed to get the grunge out and stay away from things like acetone and lacquer thinner.

[Tarbash 27]

Just a thought, Has anyone tried dippng there carbs in kerosene? I have an oil drain pan with about 2 gallons of kerosene in it. I usually take greasy and oily parts and drop them in there for a few minutes, scrub them with a brush and rinse. Today I took the oil pan off my Kat which had tons of sludge and oil on the inside and stuck on grease and tar on the outside. I put it in the kerosena and scrubbed it for a few minutes, It was like brand new when I took it out, absolutely spotless on the inside.

I usuall dip my carbs in berrymans overnight, which Im doing right now. But maybe Ill do a final rinse in the kerosene and see what it does. The suzuki manual recommends soaking the drive chain in kerosene to get all the oil and greae off, that works.

[Richsuz]

Is it me or do I get the sense that some of you tear into the carbs fairly often? I don't see any recomended lapse between carb cleannings published, but I would expect, with today's gasoline quality, not to have to do it more than once on a bike, or , say, every, say 30K miles? I just don't see the reason for it, yet it seems some of you do it at least once a season? Can someone explain, why its done, yearly or every coupleof years?

[Octain]

OK, so I'm in the process of dismantling and cleaning my carbs. Slight problem: there's no dip to be had. Ok, so you can't buy Berrymans or similar carb dip here in this Great Southern Land, but you can get Yamaha's Yamalube Carburetor Dip - except you can't. No Yamaha dealer within reasonable distance stocks ANY kind of Yamalube. Too expensive they says. They'll order it for me, provided I buy the minimum 12 bottles...

So, anybody here know a good alternative to brand name dip? My first thought was acetone. Any ideas?

Use charcoal lighter fluid.
Um, Im not kidding..

[supersonictoys]

I dont think its that people tear into their carbs all the time. I think alot of these guys are just buying old stored away bikes and fixing them up and finding the carbs need going through.

[Steve]

Is it me or do I get the sense that some of you tear into the carbs fairly often? I don't see any recomended lapse between carb cleannings published, but I would expect, with today's gasoline quality, not to have to do it more than once on a bike, or , say, every, say 30K miles? I just don't see the reason for it, yet it seems some of you do it at least once a season? Can someone explain, why its done, yearly or every coupleof years?

Had to do the first set of carbs three times before I discovered that the "15 to 30 minutes" recommended dip time is not enough, but the carbs have not been off the bike in the five years since then.

I have done multiple other sets of carbs, but only once per bike.

I have never had the carbs off my Wing. I did see them this spring when I changed the timing belts and thermostat, though.
LOTS of fresh gas flows through them, too. 418.6 gallons in the last four months.

You do it right, you should not have to do it again. Of course, this depends on how often you run fresh gas through the carbs by riding, and whether you store it properly if you have to winterize it.

.

[chuck hahn]

All this talk about how to clean old carbs has sprked a question in my mind.. I have a set of VM 26 off my 78 GS750. The bike was running when i took them off. I had a set rebuilt and decided to put the "FRESH" carbs on it. Anyways i just took the carbs off and shoved them up on the shelf. Question is this..should i take off the bowls and maybe blow them out with some compressed air or something to keep them from getting sticky inside? Maybe spay with carb cleaner and compressed air??? They have been off the bike now for maybe two months now.