Carbs and Ethanol...Any gas really...

[Salmoneye]

Nothing in a carb can be 'ruined' by Ethanol in gas...

What DOES happen is phase separation of the ethanol, any water that it has absorbed, and the gas...

If you leave ANY gas in a carb in the off season, then you are asking for trouble...

Non-ethanol gas will turn to varnish, and 'ruin' a carb just as easily as ethanol blends...

Ethanol gas will separate, the gas will evaporate, and the leftover looks like gummy bears melted on a hotplate...

To 'fix' the carb, simply disassemble down to the bare casting, and toss the entire parts lot (including the castings, but no rubber or gaskets) into a sonic cleaner...Harbor Freight has one for less than $60...A pretty good 6 liter 'Vevor' brand can be had for $110...

When you reassemble, make sure that you check every tiny orifice in the emulsion tube, main jet, and pilot (idle) jet...Use a wire brush, and just bend one wire over and run it through EVERY hole...Blow everything (passages in castings/jets) out with canned air or a compressor...

Voila...Should run like new...

If you want to avoid all this, simply run the thing out of gas...If you have a shutoff, use it, and let the machine die...

After it dies, turn the choke on and pull it/crank it again...This will suck any remaining fuel out of the bottom of the float bowl...

Take out the plug and dribble in an ounce of 30 weight motor oil, and crank it once or twice and put the plug back in...

Good to go...

[Red Dave]

The carburetor on my snowblower was disassembled, cleaned in an ultrasonic cleaner and put back on. It ran, but not properly. The new Carburetor was $65. Shop labor is $68/hour.

I hear what you're saying, but there has to be some cost/benefit analysis done at some point. Do I pay the mechanic another hour, or two, to keep trying on the old one (with no guarantee of success), or tell him to go ahead and put on a new carburetor? Even if I decided to rebuild it myself, my time and the aggravation of redoing it again if it isn't successful have a cost too.

I chose to put on a new one. I'm happy with my decision. I'm annoyed that a three year old piece of equipment, the newest thing in my shed and the only thing that was designed to run on 10% ethanol, is disabled by the ethanol, yet my 80 year old Farmall, my 53 year old Cub Cadet and my 52 year old Cub Cadet, none of which were built with ethanol in mind, still run just fine on it.

[Alias]

Thanks for your post on this subject Paul. Usually I follow most of your suggestions but, since I started allowing all my machines run out of gas I haven't had any problems with corn fed gas. Of course, I still treat my gas with "Sea Foam". It works for me............gfp

[Salmoneye]

I hear what you are saying Red Dave, I really do...

I had one early fall that gave me fits...Even after replacing it, the damn engine would still hunt on me...

Finally did the cost analysis and just installed a Predator engine...Just cranked it this AM 5th pull at 8º above zero...

I still have the other engine, and am pretty sure that it is not the carb, but the governor...I'll get back on that in the Spring...

I know that some carbs never come back, but I personally have yet to experience one...

The idle circuit is the most problematic...

Wish I lived closer...I would have messed with the carb for nothing, and Chinese knock-off carbs on eBay are cheap...



re. Alias

I have no experience with any additive...I just run the dang things dry, and top off the tank for storage...

[Bkeepr]

I always run my warm-season-only engines dry before putting them up, and usually also do what Salmoneye says about the 30W, but I use WD 40 instead of 30W. I've never had a problem when I do the whole procedure.

Unfortunately last year when I put up the snowblower I was in a hurry, so I only ran it dry til the engine quit and stuck it in the shed. Now I find the fuel line had dry rotted and after I replaced that, it is showing all indications of a plugged jet. Gonna have to take the carb off and clean it out good. This is where being handy is good, because I don't charge myself labor.

[mowmud]

I run my dry after turning off the supply. Very few of my things get stored out of doors. It may not be warm, but they are out of the sunlight and the rain. The tank on my Swisher is detachable. Disconnect the supply line, pull the lynch pin and away you go.
Now, I don't store my gas or anything like it in the house, but there are places in the garage that seem to keep a more even temperature.

My two cents that I have to add is, when you run stuff that you don't run all the time, like a generator, you gotta let them get to full operating temps. You can't just start them up and run them for 5 minutes, close off the gas and run them dry for storage for who knows how long until it will be needed again. You gotta run them until they are good and warmed up, then go through the storage process again.

Its been a couple years since I needed my generator, the power companies have been trimming trees the along the lines the last two years, but I still start up the generator in the warmer months and let it run. Plug in the circular saw for a bit, make sure its still putting out. When you are doing the test runs, you gotta let them warm up. I'd recommend 30 minutes. Sometimes the generator may run for hours or even days on end.

[Bkeepr]

As I mentioned in another thread, my snowblower wouldn't start this week because I didn't put it away properly last year. My fault. I've tinkered, but have come to the conclusion I have to remove the carb, strip it, clean it completely, reassemble and reinstall, as Salmoneye described. Done it before on other things, I figure about 4 hours work, about half of that in the cold (high today was 33. If it were summertime, there'd be no question, I'd just do it.

Then I googled the part number, and find that a new replacement carb is available on Amazon for $12.97, which includes the shipping. It is hard not to buy the new one, swap it out now, and clean the old/original one when it suits me...like in July.

https://www.amazon.com/mdairc-Carbureto ... 1498&psc=1

[lamar fudd1]

Bkeeper, is your snowthrower powered with a Tecumseh engine? If so, the tube the sediment bowl threads into has a VERY tiny opening that clogs with that white 'efflorescense' I mentioned earlier. You'll have to look hard to see it but that engine won't run if it's clogged. I use a welder's tip cleaner to open it uo on mine. It's that small.

[Red Dave]

As I mentioned in another thread, my snowblower wouldn't start this week because I didn't put it away properly last year. My fault. I've tinkered, but have come to the conclusion I have to remove the carb, strip it, clean it completely, reassemble and reinstall, as Salmoneye described. Done it before on other things, I figure about 4 hours work, about half of that in the cold (high today was 33. If it were summertime, there'd be no question, I'd just do it.

Then I googled the part number, and find that a new replacement carb is available on Amazon for $12.97, which includes the shipping. It is hard not to buy the new one, swap it out now, and clean the old/original one when it suits me...like in July.

https://www.amazon.com/mdairc-Carbureto ... 1498&psc=1

I follow another forum that has a lot of discussion about small engine parts and repairs. I've never bought one of those cheap chinese carburetors, but from the reports of others, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. I hope you get lucky.

I needed an electric PTO clutch on my lawnmower this summer and the range of prices was from over $400 down to $120 on Amazon. I debated whether it was worth taking a chance on the cheap one, but I ended up buying it. Surprisingly, it fit right and worked perfectly. Sometimes you get lucky.

[Bkeepr]

...I follow another forum that has a lot of discussion about small engine parts and repairs. I've never bought one of those cheap chinese carburetors, but from the reports of others, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. I hope you get lucky...

I always read the reviews before making up my mind whether to buy. The "1" ratings are as important as the "5"s...many times the 1s and 2s are written by folks without a clue. In this case, the only 1 was somebody who clearly bought the wrong carb for his mower-- buyer error--and blamed it on the carb. So knowing that, 46 ratings with an average of 4.5 out of 5 on a $12 product is a reasonable risk for me. Worse thing that happens is it doesn't work and I have to clean my old carb sooner than I had planned.

[Bkeepr]

Just installed my $12 carb in the snowblower. Half-hours' worth of work, fit like a glove and started on the second pull. Surprisingly to me, the money included all 3 gaskets, plus a new primer bulb and line, and a fuel cut-off and gas filter. And the carb is absolutely identical to the original. A great $12 buy, I'd recommend those guys. I was going to keep the old carb and clean it up, but it ain't worth my time.

[Salmoneye]

Before ultrasonic I used Chinli carbs from 4hp to 21hp, and in my experience they are bolt on, and go...

I've only had one not correct the issue at hand...

That is the one off my current snow blower where I decided to swap out the engine...

I'll get back to that engine when it is warmer, as I am pretty sure my BIL may have messed with the governor arm...

That Predator 212cc I swapped onto the blower never bogged or clogged yesterday in 5 inches of wet heavy snow....The impeller upgrade I cobbled on threw that snot almost 30 feet... Well worth the effort...

Here's a quick vid of the impeller mod:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udcuevpUpU0

[Red Dave]

The late JoeK, (AKA Lefty) who used to post on this forum quite a bit talked about those and had a link to a company that made them some years back. I've often thought about fabbing up a set (usually while blowing snow), but never got around to doing it. Lefty thought they were a big improvement too.

[Salmoneye]

I cut chunks from an old 18-wheeler mud flap, and used 1" self tapping screws...

All I did was take the chute off, blocked the impeller so it would not move, and ran the drill straight down with an adapter for the hex head of the screw/bolts...

First time I fired it up, it shook and rattled and tossed black rubber in the air till the flaps wore in...

[mowmud]

That Predator 212cc I swapped onto the blower never bogged or clogged yesterday in 5 inches of wet heavy snow....The impeller upgrade I cobbled on threw that snot almost 30 feet... Well worth the effort...

Here's a quick vid of the impeller mod:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udcuevpUpU0

I watched the vid. Seems like a good idea. If we get a 50* day, I'm gonna do it. If not, it will be something to do before I put it into summer storage.

I've been waiting three years to try out the improvements I made to my snowshoes. We don't get the same snow we used to. Seems like all we get is that heavy wet stuff, or as I call it, heart attack snow. Without the thrower I probably would have a heart attack.