Home Brewed Carburetor Cleaner ?

Living here in the land of the whispering bushes, California...can be damned frustrating at times for a mid-western mechanic. I bought a gallon of carb-dip last week to soak an old carburetor in. It was "Berryman" brand from Autozone. Not only was it 30 bucks, it didn't even include a metal dip-basket anymore. Plastic now.

I used to buy this stuff back in the mid-west and it did a pretty good job. In California, ALL automotive chemicals of any sort have been neutered so bad for sale in CA that they're nearly worthless.

I stopped at a NAPA store a month ago looking for a gallon of parts solvent. The clerk looked at me and said "so where do plan on finding that?" News to me! I guess now if you own a solvent tank, ya know...the red one against the wall with the recirculating solvent and a parts brush...in Ca. you have to have a permit and have it monitored and serviced once a month. WTF?

So, I bought a gallon of diesel (in a CA approved, read: worthless fuel can ) to clean engine parts.

I read that a tank of water with powdered Tide dissolved in it (no substitutions, must be powdered, and Tide brand) worked great with a hot plate under it.

Sort of a DIY home version of the industrial cleaning method using caustic soda. Bring to a boil, add carburetor parts for an hour.

Has anyone heard of this and does anyone have a carburetor dip idea that would work?

Re: Home Brewed Carburetor Cleaner ?

Brand name Pine Sol works great for cleaning carbs, and is not too harsh for the carb bodies. I soak them overnight, wash with hot/soapy water, blast with compressed air. Then the bad ones Ill use aerosol carb cleaner, or brake/parts cleaner through the passages/orifices, wash again with the hot/soapy water, then again with the compressed air. Squeaky clean and no harsh chemicals.

As an added bonus, your wife or better half will think you are cleaning and will like the smell over your traditional carb dips.

Re: Home Brewed Carburetor Cleaner ?

By the way, never heard of that home brew, but would try it, who knows

Re: Home Brewed Carburetor Cleaner ?

What about acetone? That works pretty good. Be careful of any plastic parts. Can you get Acetone in CA?

Re: Home Brewed Carburetor Cleaner ?

goop-off is great on carb bowls for heavy solids not sure about using on soft metals. i heard tide works well on grease/oil but my favorite is CLR which claims to be safe on everything but may be know in the state of ca to cause chest hair etc etc

Re: Home Brewed Carburetor Cleaner ?

If the BRP dlrs out there still sell Engine Tuner by the gallon get that. It's one of the best cleaners you'll get and it won't hurt plastic. Rinse off with water and blow dry. Damn, glad I live where I do. LOL

Re: Home Brewed Carburetor Cleaner ?

Acetone and isopropyl alcohol work great for metal parts and everything else in that order respectively! As a nuclear weapons tech in the Air Force we used both by the gallon! Good stuff and better priced based on volume..

Re: Home Brewed Carburetor Cleaner ?

At the shop we use Simple Green and an ultrasonic cleaner at 130 degrees. Works great! No one should ever attempt to clean a carb without compressed air, it is so necessary to get the little passages clean and maybe a torch tip cleaner for the tough ones.

That is if want real clean.

Re: Home Brewed Carburetor Cleaner ?

For those of you non-Californian's...A CA approved gas can has a nozzle on it that for God-only-knows-why....cannot be manipulated to pour with any fewer than three hands. Some genius figured out that a drop or two of spilled petrol per-person, per-incident, per lifetime...would somehow impact the mating cycle of some indigenous bug. So we're forced, nearly at gun-point to use these ridiculous gas cans.

What they didn't calculate-in...was the now profuse amount of gas spilled all over the mower and lawn while trying to use these abortions. Honestly, in CA you can receive a pretty hefty fine if caught trying to fill or use a Jerry-can.

Re: Home Brewed Carburetor Cleaner ?

Everyone else is catching on too...I can't find any older style nozzles around here..they're all that spill proof crap that seems to spill more trying to get it to pour....but here it's still legal to use old ones

Re: Home Brewed Carburetor Cleaner ?

HighTrim said:

As an added bonus, your wife or better half will think you are cleaning and will like the smell over your traditional carb dips.

Click to expand...

The wife you spoke of, now an ex...figured out that a little Hoppe's #9 gun cleaning solvent behind the ear was just the ticket to get me to pay more attention to her.

And wouldn't ya know it......outfitters now make a Hoppe's air freshner. Whodda thunk it?

Re: Home Brewed Carburetor Cleaner ?

That engine tuner that boobie speaks of is the best carb cleaner ever. It will attack the (green) or (varnish) fuel gummed up carb you have. You can buy all the carb cleaner you want, But engine tuner will (WORK).