My local auto shop was offering a bonus free offer and gave me a can of carby cleaner when I bought the contact cleaner spray to tidy up my fuse box and other connections.

I had no intention of using it in the short term, dismantling the carb is a long way from where I'm at. Then I recalled from some old Mini nuts that some benefit can be had by spraying in the cleaner into a mounted carb.

Seeing as I've got the freebie can, I was wondering if anyone could suggest where I might be able to spray it. Kind of in a 'probably won't do much but can't hurt' approach (hopefully)

I've had a read of Chris's awesome carb thread, but my carb looks slightly different. Argh!

I assume the red circled screw opens up to the fuel bowl and float - it looks a bit like it's leaking through the top screw?

Just wanting to get some running through as many spots as possible, and keen to remove any small pieces possible without having to take off the whole unit.
Then I'll give it a tune, playing with the mixture and idle.

Many thanks :worship:

Using a carb cleaner spray on a fitted carb will do little good, but may dislodge some crap into the engine, although this is unlikely to do any harm as it will be tiny.

Carb cleaner is great when rebuilding a carb, gets into all the little channels and drillings and dissolves the gum of dried fuel.

BUT! If you don't have experience of dismantling a carb, best not to. They are intricate devices, and generally don't wear except for the throttle spindles on some. Dismantling it is very likely to do harm. If it is running OK, leave well alone.

Carb cleaner is just a solvent, so useful for other stuff.

Thanks for the reply. Certainly the dismantling job looks way too daunting at this stage.

The only reason I'd thought of doing it was due to some stuttering on acceleration. Put the pedal down enough and it just stutters a bit then goes smoothly again. Not sure it's the carb at all but figured it may be related.

As Bill suggested I would stay away from cleaning the carb while mounted. Carb cleaners are really harsh on plastic and rubber, and you risk making a mess of the engine bay with all the dirt/oils dripping down.

Also, what carb do you have?

Ah I hadn't thought of the potential damage to rubber and plastic. To be honest I have no idea what carb this is. I thought it was stock but it looks different to the breakdown of the 26 carb and the idle screw is facing the wrong way

try to see if you can find a name or model stamped on it, the Webers have it on the side of the carb facing the valve cover.

Hi BC, first thing is don't under any circumstances use that cleaner without a breathing mask and eye protection - the main problem is when spraying into the jet holes and galleries is spashback - be prepared to clean your hands very soon afterward if you get it on your skin - keep the work area well ventilated and no naked flames or ciggies You can use it while the carb is fitted, but the main aim is to clean inside. Use the spray tube and an old toothbrush to loosen any crud. You can spray down the throat of the carb as this will clean the venturi and butterfly, but this is dependant on your carb. Best to identify the carb and get a schematic to show all parts. stripping the carb is simple, but lay everything out in a logical sequence so you may reverse this to put it all back together. You should be able to get a service kit. There are good books around too - good luck.

Ian.

Forgot to mention before, clean your idle jet! On the 26IMB it's super simple, and there was some gunk in the tiny hole, but once cleaned it's much much better. And it takes 2 minutes to do!

Thanks guys, step 1 is identify the carb, get a service manual and find the idle jet and try to isolate any cleaning to that
(Step 2 is wear lots of protective garb!)

Out of the blue, I received an e-mail last Tuesday asking if, as live only 1/2hr drive from Oulton Park, whether I would like to 'spanner' him at the 'Gold Cup Meet' over the August bank holiday---(the gent has a 1965 Formula2 Lola with a Cosworth SCA engine in it)--it didn't take too long to say yes (having first checked with 'er indoors---with age come wisdom). When it came to start the engine from stone cold, I was surprised to find that he sprayed----carb cleaner down the carbs (remember Ian's advice about no naked flames or ciggies?). It worked beautifully, and most probably did less damage to the engine than 'easistart' So there you are, another use for carb cleaner

the hobbler said:

When it came to start the engine from stone cold, I was surprised to find that he sprayed----carb cleaner down the carbs (remember Ian's advice about no naked flames or ciggies?). It worked beautifully, and most probably did less damage to the engine than 'easistart' So there you are, another use for carb cleaner

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Aha! Well, goodness knows what it does in that situation, but sounds like a handy little thing to have in the back of the mind. Not that we get many proper 'cold' starts here in Aus

One of my cars has 6 dual choke Weber carbs installed. I seem to get good results from using a carb cleaning additive added to the petrol.


Personally, I would not tackle a disassembly of a carb. So this works for me. Plenty of options out there. Maybe worth a try?

Thanks for letting me know, they get mixed reviews but it seems to range from does nothing to does something!

It seems like worth considering if I can find a good entry point for a little spray, and also check out the idle jet.

Hey man look.. I've been using Abro carb cleaner for years,,, often not on daily nor weekly bases of course, and there were no problems with me.. I spray it in the carb while the engine is idling and try to rev it because it tends to stop when I spray the cleaner... (that's normal)
anyways.. try it on old sparkplugs.. as I noticed it ruins the sparkplugs.. that's the only drawback I got from it.. other than this.. it cleans the carb.. or the throttle body.. I've been using is on my 128 carb.. and now with my car's SPI system.. and clean the TB with it...
it's magic really.. and I've been using it for years now.. nothing went wrong with me.

Hussam said:

I spray it in the carb while the engine is idling and try to rev it because it tends to stop when I spray the cleaner... (that's normal)

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Thanks for the tip - problem is I can't work out where I would spray it! I opened the top up but if the engine is running then fuel pours out. Very ugly and uncoordinated work from me!