Boiling carbs

[KA1J]

I'm still having issues with some carbs and am going to disassemble and reassemble my carb bank. It was suggested that boiling the carb bodies for 1/2 hour may free up any possible clogged material in the various internal conduits. I was thinking boiling in lemon juice or vinegar would also be more effective for removing any remaining residue, especially and mineral build-up.

I have just replaced all the throttle shaft seals and do not want to remove the butterflies to remove them prior to boiling. What I'm wondering is, are the Shaft seals going to be OK at boiling temps? I know neoprene & O-Rings are fine at that temp but anyone have experience with throttle shaft seals at that temp?

Thanks.

[BA80]

Soak them in PineSol.

[natemoen]

Or get a cheap crock pot from a thrift store and boil them in that instead of the stove.

[BA80]

No need for heat with PineSol.

[KA1J]

I've got a junk pot and plan to boil them on an old hot plate (so old it has cloth insulation...)

Almost as old as me... :/

[Shacknasty]

I've rebuilt a lot of truly nasty old carbs and I have never needed to boil any part. Thorough disassembly, soaking jets and such in carb cleaner overnight if necessary, and spray cleaner on the carb body followed by compressed air is SOP.

I'm sooo glad that I've never had to resort to boiling. The odor must be atrocious!

[KA1J]

I thought I did a fine job of rebuilding but since I'm still having carb issues, it won't hurt to boil. Who knows, maybe it'll go well with a light wine?

[jwhughes3]

Plan to replace seals if you boil them.

Pine Sol worked ok for ultrasonic cleaning as did vinegar, but yamaha carb dip was best.


John

[BA80]

but yamaha carb dip was best.

The stuff you mix up with water? Yeah, that works good too.

[KA1J]

I can't imagine the throttle shaft seals would melt at 212 degrees, they're about the same as an O-ring except they have a much different shape, more like a circular U beam instead of a circular hot dog. I might have an old one in the trash from when I rebuilt the carbs & can boil that to see if it does something weird under boiling temps.

& after this I have to replace the front shock oil seal...

Not enough time to do it all right away...

[jwhughes3]

I would not expect it to melt either, but heated rubber loses elasticity and wont seal as well.

I use the heater on the ultrasonic, but only 40 deg C (~100 deg F) to help loosen grime.

John

[Lbrown311]

They are hopefully cleaned by now, but my idea was to get an old crockpot and heat them with some oxyclean. That cleaned out a certain old smoking device with the grimiest of gunk you can imagine. I am surprised nobody has mentioned that yet. Oxyclean works like a champ at cleaning nasty gunk out of even the smallest of holes. If you can use it on clothes you should be able to use it on rubber.

[mack]

Oxyclean

Be careful,oxyclean has bleach in it. Try it on an old carb body first. Aluminum aloy is affected by a widw variety of products.