Cleaning Carburetors

So I spent some time with my ultrasonic machine this weekend. I took an old gummed up and very nasty dirty Bendix16P12, removed the bowl and put it in the machine for an hour total. The first bath was thirty minutes with a pull out to inspect progress and then a second bath of thirty minutes. The body and bore on the carburetor was severely nasty and so was the bowl before the cleaning. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the machine cleaned it up. My wife and I watched it while it was in the second bath and all of a sudden the float popped up to the surface. The sonic waves had loosened the float pin that had been stuck and moved the pin out releasing the float from the carb body bosses.
We watched the sonic action move the float around the surface of the bath like a little boat. It had a misty cloud above it while it traveled and little bubbles forming a spray. Now we know how her wonder mist works in the house.

With the ultrasonic there is no need to disassemble the whole carburetor, just the bowl. It won't hurt the rubber parts at all (try that with carb cleaner and it's disaster). The jets - unless ultra dirty - can stay in as well. But I would suggest to anyone bringing me a carb to clean that they take out the jets and put them in a separate baggie. Take off the float; float pin and needle valve and put those in a separate baggie too. Why? because these small parts can be cleaned easier and better - my float needle looks brand spanking new all shiny clean and the rubber tip just as clean. There is a small amount of baked on soot right near the throttle plate that more time would get off but for thirty five years of built up crud to be gone in an hour with no harsh chemicals was amazing. COOL! Now I can smoke when cleaning carburetors without fear of catching on fire.

Sure you can boil the carburetor as I have done before but it won't get into the tiny orifices like this ultrasonic machine does plus there is no worry about ruining rubber bits either. Soaking in carb cleaner will take varnish off pretty well but still not get at all the little hidden places internal and external AND you still have to scrub some places to get it clean but don't plan on leaving any rubber parts in the carburetor for a carb cleaner soaking. That stuff eats rubber pieces up like nobodies business.

We had some fun cleaning other items like my wife's clipper blades that even after her soaking them for days in clipper cleaner they still were not clean, but they are now. Oh and an old candle holder somebody gave us at some point. It was grayish brown and looked like it was dirty brass. Turned out after being in the machine for ten minutes the candle holder was pure stinking silver and not brass after all. My wife and I were both like "De-amn. Would you look at that."

We had some fun playing with the machine. Now we have to build the website. Yikes!