$2.83 Environmentally friendly carburetor cleaning

theraymondguy

theraymondguy

Well-known member
Never liked carb cleaner, now that we've got two ankle biters it's time to find something a little more 'green' or yellow / green anyway.

For $29.99 and nearly as much in shipping, you too could have owned this 1984 ATC200X carburetor...
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Ebay description said 'Slide stuck, usable condition'; we'll see about stuck / usable. Alot of folks are surprised by my new carb cleaner (new to me, others have used it in the past I'm sure) so I'll leave it's identity till the end.

A few sharp raps with the end of my screwdriver broke loose the bowl to reveal...

Death.

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$29.99 paper weight? Not a chance.

Disassembled (all the parts that would move that is, slide was good and stuck) into recycled margarine container (this post gets greener by the second).

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1 hour in the elixir

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90 minutes in the soup, gave a little lift on the slide with a popsicle (green!) stick and it popped right out.

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4 hours in the elixir

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There is almost a cream substance floating in the goo. Yuck.

Parts were then pulled, rinsed, ports blown out with compressed air given a light coat of WD40 and put back together. Never touched with any other cleaner / rag / tooth brush. I literally rinsed it off and it looked like this.

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Check out the float and other plastics, like new.

The jets were a bit of a challenge, but after some light reaming opened up nicely.

Bike started and ran on the second kick, didn't replace even 1 gasket. I have used this repeatedly with great success: NOTE: the painted finish on Keihin/Mikuni carburetors tends to suffer if left in for more than 4 hours.


The elixir? 2 475mL bottles of Pine Sol from the 'Dollar' store @ $1.25 each = $2.83 Used straight up out of the bottle, no cutting with water.

Flushed the remnants down the laundry sink and rinsed the margarine container with fresh water.
 
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I'm Impressed! I like the cost. Thanks for sharing, I'll try it out for sure.
 
Now this is a handy post!! Didn't know Pine Sol was a great cleaner like this. Thank you
 
Yeah, 4 cylinder guys will need 4 margarine containers; $5.66 for Pine Sol.

I'd strongly recommend NOT leaving the carbs in for more than 4 hours as suggested in the above post, it will lift the factory paint on the carbs. I should however repeat that it is recommended to do this in a well ventilated area as the odour can be very strong. This works to our advantage in the winter as it tends to knock down the 'bike' smell from the basement.
 
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Yep seen Pine Sol work before .

Here is a little tip as well. Put your parts in a bigger compartment, fill it up with Pinesol and close it up. Place a sander or something that vibrates on top of comparment.

It will clean up the item much faster.
 
infernobuster said:
Yep seen Pine Sol work before .

Here is a little tip as well. Put your parts in a bigger compartment, fill it up with Pinesol and close it up. Place a sander or something that vibrates on top of comparment.

It will clean up the item much faster.
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LARGER the container, the larger the amount of pine sol required.
 
No harm to rubber parts. The ATC carb I used for show and tell should really have been tossed for scrap (usually valued @ $100 or more on ebay for a really nice one), I replaced nothing on it and the bike runs like a champ (XR100R with 120cc BBK, WB pipe and some other trickery). I'm holding out to see how it stands up in the cold, might convert my parts washer to Pine Sol.
 
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WoBblyCaT said:
FYI the remnant should be disposed of at your local hazardous waste depot, not flushed down the drain. It contains hydrocarbons that the filtration plant isn't designed to handle.
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so what's worst? using carb cleaner that vanishes into thin air? or this stuff?

I'd have to drive to the depot no? so i'll be polluting more?
 
frekeyguy said:
so what's worst? using carb cleaner that vanishes into thin air? or this stuff?

I'd have to drive to the depot no? so i'll be polluting more?
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Its not about polluting the filter system isn't designed to clean it so you are putting it into a drinking water supply.
Now realistically its not going to cause much of an issue. But recently a man near here did this with gasoline and they had to flush the system it cost him a $20000 fine... so yea don't do it.
 
Two50noob said:
Its not about polluting the filter system isn't designed to clean it so you are putting it into a drinking water supply.
Now realistically its not going to cause much of an issue. But recently a man near here did this with gasoline and they had to flush the system it cost him a $20000 fine... so yea don't do it.
Click to expand...

Totally agree!

So technically CARB cleaner is better - unless you make a trip to the recycling centre to drop off this pine-sol stuff.
 
Pine sol works good on aluminum engine. First degrease with, varsol, paint thinner kerosene whatever for major crud. Brush on pine sol every few hours. It thickens up and stays on the surface. Let stand over nite. Next day dilute pine sol with water and wash off overnite pine sol. Once diluted off spray with wd40. Looks good.

Also discovered it's good for removing machinist blue.
 
I can't able to rip off the carburetor from the bike as it looks like the screw is stuck and any high pressure turn with a star srew driver tip will leave more scratchs at the groove tip of the screw making it to loose the grip most likely in the next attempt by a screw driver. It doesn't seem to work even if I apply oil at the screw. I am afraid I may damage the screw if I apply high pressure. I can't able to find a proper video on carburetor removal on Pulsar 180cc bike.

:confused::confused::confused:
Do I have to pull it in the front tyre direction or rear ? Is it true that engine sound will increase if the carburetor is dirty? Anyone, any ideas , please.
 
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