You cant dream this stuff up ….


Look, ... I have been using Stabil and half the rate of SeaFoam in all my 5 gallon gas cans, with 87 octane gas, for all my equipment, for all my life, since I can remember.

I have never had an issue on any of my carburetors on all my equipment. I periodically start and run my equipment, even in off season or if not being used.

Now I have worked on many machines that come my way with &^%$&^$ up carburetors, where I just throw on an aftermarket for 13.00, and send them back on there way, with instructions to treat there gas from now on.

 

Stabil and Startron here, SeaFoam as well. Chain saws, snowmobiles, lawn mowers, snow blowers... Never had a carb issue. Ever.

The one thing I always do is run the machine with the fuel turned off so that the carb empties out. No fuel = no way to gum up the carb from breakdown.

If you have Ethanol-free fuel in your area, use that. Otherwise, be sure the gas is always fresh (buy it from a high-volume station, and don't keep it more than a couple of months - find another way to consume it, like in your car).

 

"solvent" doesn't sound safe for a carb.

just use ethanol free gas and/or good fresh gas with a stabilizer and keep it fresh in your small engines and you'll have no problems.

 

Sounds like snake oi to me . If the kit came with the ' correct ' bowl nut [ different kits for different carbs ] I would be more impressed . I agree with the poster that said an aftermarket carb is about $ 13, way cheaper than the spray can boogie, and undoubtedly more effective. My advice for cleaning carbs, disassemble, soak body and parts in vinegar for a few hours, than put parts in an ultrasonic cleaner filled with plain water, with a small pinch of baking soda . Run cleaner for 10 minutes, use compressed air to purge water, dry with heat gun, a quick shot of penetrating oil keeps small passages open . Blasting solvent up emulsion tube does not clean the air passages . In the past, I've used powerful degreasers in the ultrasonic. That's OK if carb goes back on, and run . ' Cleaned ' but not run carbs corrode as the cleaner attacks metal, causing further corrosion. I use Startron Fuel stabilizer, and don't have problems .

 

Forgot to ask, are new carbs tested with fuel on an engine, or is this another W **** Lie ?

 

Pressurize a carb? WTH? Snake oil my friend. As others have mentioned, simply treat your gas with stabil or sea foam.

 

yep another car dealer like snake oil push, just like they try to push for extra tech hour cash on a service, OHH your fuel system, throttle body and valves need a cleaning/decarboning. snake oil from one who was a factory dsm.

keep your gas fresh (if where one can get e free gas use it) even with efree add some stabilizer brand of choice.only keep around what will be used in 30 days, 60 tops in a tightly sealed container. follow whats printed in the machines owners manual

stop worrying

 

I'm skeptical of this, including wondering how it attaches to different carbs.

I run stabilized fuel all the time, and run my carbs dry at the end of the season. But that does still leave some fuel in the bottom of the bowl. If you want to be more thorough, loosen the bowl nut at the end of the season (after closing the fuel shutoff, and running the carb dry until it stalls), and drain out what's in the bottom of the bowl. Re-snug that nut, and put it away for the season. The fuel you're using at the end of the season should be stabilized.

 

Though I agree with fuel stabilizer, good gas from a Top Tier station, fresh gas, cheap carbs, I like this idea! If there is a problem, it may be easier and faster especially in a snow storm! This is a great idea. It is no different then using similar on a car to clean the throttle body and injectors which is done by every shop and has been proven to work.

With a car you have a lot of suction pulling the cleaner through, with a small engine you have a much smaller amount, thus the benefit of the pressurized aerosol. There have been many times I just shot the aerosol carb cleaner up the main jet, or in the side jet to eat away or dislodge crud.

 

Though I agree with fuel stabilizer, good gas from a Top Tier station, fresh gas, cheap carbs, I like this idea! If there is a problem, it may be easier and faster especially in a snow storm! This is a great idea. It is no different then using similar on a car to clean the throttle body and injectors which is done by every shop and has been proven to work.

curious about the chemicals in this and if it would damage carb in long term

 

Most of the chemicals in those cleaners are Acetone or Alcohol. They will give it a different name, but it is based off those chemicals.
The alcohol in E10 gas is a solvent.
Naptha is also the active ingredient in fuel stabilizers.

 

https://www.snowblowerforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=164133&stc=1&d=1582264123

 

Wow, I agree with Orange again. He is getting much smarter these days !!

 

my personal view about storage is what's good for my 23 foot 454 powered lake boat with roughly 60 gallons left every year in the tank it's also good for my machines and hot rods

 

With one pretty significant exception... The fuel in your boat, if provided from a waterside pump, is almost certainly ethanol-free which makes it significantly more stable and for a much longer period of time compared to the garbage we get at the roadside stations...

 

the only real way to clean a carburetor while doing a decent job and making sure that you are actually cleaning out the carburetor is to pull off the carburetor bowl and manually clean it out. especially with these modern clone engines, rust, water and other types of debris tends to build up in the carburetor and sometimes you will even find metal shavings from the factory not cleaning the components properly before final assembly, and guess what? none of these miracle solvents or carb cleaners are going to make your engine be able to burn that crap. do it right or dont do it at all

 

Sounds like that stuff just forces any remaining gas through the passageways and into the engine or out the intake. Might as well plumb a tire valve stem to the float bowl and hit it with compressed air and do the same thing.


Sta-bil and whatever gas I feel like (usually ethanol stuff) is what's in all my small engine toys. No issues since I've been doing that so I'll keep doing it. Only time I get to play with a carb is if I'm changing jets or a neighbor doesn't listen to me and use Sta-bil so I have to clean their carb...

 

if you are able to get e-free gas locally like you say don't worry about a possible residue being left in the float bowl if you run it dry. there shouldn't be much if any if you run e-free.

 

I do think the idea of "purging" the carb with some compressed air sounds interesting. A rubber tip on the nozzle, then pressed into the bottom center of the carb (with the bowl bolt removed), a few little shots of air could help get residual fuel out of there.

Do I think it's necessary? No, almost certainly not. I've had success with just stabilized ethanol fuel, and running carbs dry at the end of the season. But there are multiple levels of approaches to this, some more-involved than others.

 

Hmm this is interesting. I just dont see the need IMO. If you are taking the carb bowl off I dont really see the point of this when you can spray some carb cleaner up through the tube and clean the jet and bowl and put back on.

I rarely see the problem in the upper passages of the carb it's usually in the jet and tube.

In the video no way that main jet gets clogged like that with someone running the machine dry. More like it sat for 5 years full of gas.

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87,
You are right about that.
Most people don't know or never new that.
You would have to put 2 55 gallon drums in your truck and drive how far away to find a place that sells E Free to fill your drums, then transport them back to your boat.
That would be a major hassle.
Even if you went out an bought a special fuel tank for equipment that mounts in your truck, you are only allowed to transport so much flammable liquid at a time, then you have to have a special permit, license endorsement, placards, fire extinguishers and other safety equipment on your vehicle like special explosion proof sealed lights.
It is a major hassle and the added costs and extra work for all that.
That is just to transport the fuel to your boat.

 

Yea, not sure what the regs are. Family does logging and I think capacity limit for diesel is about 100 gallons without all the bs. Might be worth it if you can get a tank for the back of a pickup if there's not a bunch of east coast bull.. (hopefully the lovely bloomberg fails and doesn't saddle the whole of USA with his silly ideas). A hand powered pump might work fine and if not a 12v pump would do the trick. It would take a bit to recoup the investment but if you save $2/gallon then 100 gallons is $200 saved and it wouldn't take many trips to come even.

 

A lot of those deposits in that are showed on the video are caused by "Sulfation", that is Sulfur that is present in fossil fuels like gasoline and diesel, which now has a lowered content of sulfur. It turns into a "Salt" like substance.
The sulfur reacts with metals in the fuel system when left to sit there and certain ingredients of the gasoline separate and evaporate out if it, the sulfur is left to cling to whatever surface it comes in contact with.
With Ethanol fuels, there is a little bit less sulfur present because the ethanol is taking some of its place because it is diluted with the gasoline, so by diluting the sulfur present gasoline per gallon, there is just a little bit less gas per gallon, therefore a little bit less sulfur.
A good example, take a glass of salt water and let the water evaporate, you have the salt left over. That is what is happening to the carburetors in the video, it is a sulfur salt.
Ethanol free gasoline does the same thing believe it or not. I remember how bad carburetors got before we had Ethanol gas, and they were just as bad if not worse from people leaving old gas in them.
That is why it is so important to drain them of fuel when putting them in storage. There is only a little bit in them and it will evaporate much quicker than it will in a full fuel tank. Carburetors are vented to outside air and it will cause the fuel to "Oxidize", another word for going "Stale" a lot quicker because of the small amount of fuel in them. It stays fresher a lot longer in an enclosed fuel tank with less air space for the amount of fuel in them, so keep the tank full, or empty it out all the way.
I am not a fan of Ethanol gasoline, I would rather we not have it, but we do, and have to make the best of it and deal with it accordingly.

 

When I repowered our 1971 Ariens, I started using Seafoam and Startron. I have never used Stabil because I felt the Seafoam does two jobs where it cleans out the system and serves as a stabilizer, omitting having to ever use Stabil. Thinking I am getting more bang for the buck. Stabil claims to keep fuel fresh for... up to 24 months, well so does Seafoam. But Seafoam also cleans.

I was using the Startron also up to about 2-3 seasons ago. I think it was after the bottle was empty. I didn't replace it because I figured the fuel is really never in the machine all that long so it might not really be needed. I might be 100% all wet with this way of thinking, but I have not had any problems... :hope:

Now with the 2015 Ariens Pro that I purchased this past August, their might have been some old fuel left in it, but when I bought it, it ran fine. The fuel was a bit on the darker side. I added Seafoam right away to the fuel that was in her. I ran her a few times. When I did drain all of the fuel out, I let the tank dry out and I cleaned the tank out with a rag. I did a good cleaning job to it. I added a bit more than a normal amount of Seafoam with fresh fuel and she runs okay. I start her every 2-3 weeks or so and I let her run for up to 10 minutes. Hopefully if there was any old fuel in her, I took care of it and the Seafoam is working in the carburetor... I haven't had a chance to use her yet this season. Which I am not unhappy about. :wavetowel2: The 2015 Pro is a monster compared to the 1971.

 

It takes only a few minutes to run a carb bowl completely dry after turning off the fuel on a machine like that. So, a single run of 10 minutes would be plenty to completely empty anything IN the fuel lines / carb that might have been old.

Curious about your screen name and location... If it's a family name, maybe PM me?

 

never hurts to add some fuel stabilizer/ additive of choice to that last tank, as unless the bowl is dropped it's never bone dry .

 

That is true 87, there is going to be a little bit left in it that wasn't picked up through the main jet.
The main jets are not at the very bottom because they don't want them to pick up water or other sediment at the very bottom of the bowl.
I shut my fuel off and let it run "Dry", but it is not completely dry, there is always a little bit left in there unless you remove the bowl and dump out what is left over.
At least I get most of the fuel out, that way when I turn the fuel back on, it fills the bowl with enough fresher fuel to compensate for and dilute any left-over fuel to make it start and burn the gas again so it will stay running.

 

shovel
so true,
if one looks at Kielbasa holding that bowl you can see the indent that holds the fuel over to the push button drain, the amount left is about what's left when that button is not pushed to drain it.

good thread guys esp.when the season is coming to a close and this info informative to new owners of older and newer machines

 

That is one of the good bowls..some you have to tip the machine and remove the drain screw.
On the push buttons there is no excuse to not fully dump the carb a couple times a year..at least to get rid of trace water of nothing else



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The drain on the side of these styles leaves alot of fuel behind which requires tipping the machine... Just as well loosen the bowl nut instead.

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Wow. Lot of opinions on fuel and draining. OK, my 2 cents.

I'll talk a out my generator. Fuel stays in it year round. Dont drain it and it's probably 2 years old. Starts and runs fine. I do use the fuel shut off but more concerned over fuel loss should gas line break or float sticking.

Use non Ethanol gas when available, Ethanol otherwise. Use Stabil Marine AND Sea Foam.

Snowblower gas usually sets over the summer in the machine. Starts and runs fine but I usually use th ed electric start for the first startup in early winter.

Same with garden tractor and Lawn Boy.

One thing different is I only use premium in the small engines such as trimmers and blowers. Ethanol will separate and should the engine get a dose of alcohol it can (will) melt the head and piston. Running gas with high octane will limit cylinder head temperatures. (Always swirl the gas can before fueling the equipment to remix the gas).

 

Are you saying that the generator is fine on premium non alcohol without the use of addition of fuel additives?
If so that pretty much goes inline with a well known tester on you tube who tested carb parts in jars with different levels of alcohol..with and without additives ..non ethanol gas showed no damage after one year



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