I'm about to embark on rebuilding the carbs on a friend's motorcycle. I have a small ultrasonic cleaner that will fit a whole carb in it. The plan is to put the whole thing in, and then do it again once its disassembled. But I have no idea what the best fluid to use is. What would you recommend?
Mr_Asa
PowerDork
4/12/22 8:39 p.m.
Gasoline works great. I usually put the gas in a gallon paint can, then fill the outside with water.
Honestly I just use water, heated as hot as you can get it. Disassemble down to small enough parts to fit and hit them as hard as you can.
I find that you need to use compressed air to blow out the all the holes and then drop them in again. Then repeat until the water stays clean after a five minute cleaning cycle.
I have never gotten a carburetor as clean as I can with the sonicator. I will not do it any other way now.
I have tried a medical cell pulverizor sonicator once in the past and that was amazing. One cleaning was all it took and it stippled everything out of that carb.
I did a lot of checking into this years ago. I've forgotten a lot of it but prevailing wisdom was not to use a solvent (though, I bet it would work well). You want something safe for aluminum which presents a challenge.
I believe I decided that thinned-down Simple Green was a good choice that was safe for aluminum and was able to be easily disposed of. Please verify both of those things as I may be remembering wrong.
I was really looking for something I could safely pour down a drain when I was done. That may not be a concern for everyone.
I use Extreme Simple Green for aircraft and water in my ultrasonic and have had good results so far. I agree that the hotter the better for cleaning.
Mr_Asa
PowerDork
4/13/22 7:34 p.m.
Simple Green can damage aluminum, but it will take a while. https://simplegreen.com/faqs/15/
Stay the hell away from Purple Power, that stuff takes no time at all to damage Al
There was a product called "Alconox" that sent me some samples of their aluminum-safe cleaner. If I was doing it regularly or commercially I would likely lean toward that. I'm not sure if it's available outside of industrial outlets/quantities.
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First post on this board and a shady link included. Feels like one of those little boat things.
In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :
*cough* canoe *cough*
Since many carbs are made from zinc die cast , do you use the same cleaning solutions when you ultrasonic clean them as you would with aluminum?
californiamilleghia said:
Since many carbs are made from zinc die cast , do you use the same cleaning solutions when you ultrasonic clean them as you would with aluminum?
I do. I have a very powerful ultrasonic cleaner and I use greatly diluted Simple Green on bad carburetors. The results are stunning.