Carb - clean or replace?

   / Carb - clean or replace? #1  

nepa

Silver Member
Joined
May 31, 2013
Messages
125
Location
Forest City, PA
Tractor
Mitsubishi 180D, Jinma 284 sold, Kubota BX2660, IH Cub, Case 580CK, Minneapolis Moline 4 Star (sold), TYM 574, Furukawa FX-040
Last winter, the 8hp Techumseh engine on my snow blower was galloping as it was running without load which I am told is caused by running too lean and the carb needs cleaning. Looking at my choices in dealing with this, I could spend or waste a lot of time removing, disassembling and cleaning the old carb only to wind up just replacing it OR (which I opted for) buy a brand new carb on ebay for $8.25, no shipping or tax, and be done quick and clean in under an hour. The carb is on its way and I probably won't get around to putting it in for a couple more weeks but I would still like to hear from people who took one route or the other with their advice, troubles, or success. Thankfully, here in PA we can buy non-alcohol gas that I am going to stick to from now on and maybe add an ounce per gallon of carb cleaner/maintainer to avoid any future problems.
 
   / Carb - clean or replace? #2  
I agree with you.

I use to have the same question with 2 cycle engines (saws, trimmers, etc..) before I could get non-ethanol gas.
Would mess around with carb kits, and gaskets, seals, etc... What a pain. Usually the kit would have a bunch of extra rings and gaskets too, and I was never quit sure if I'd got it back together perfect, etc...

Then, like you, I realized I could just buy a brand new carb for way less than what I value my time that it would take to mess around with the old, and not much more than what the kit cost. Call me guilty for being part of the throw away society. :rolleyes: (But at least I didn't throw away the tool).
 
   / Carb - clean or replace? #3  
Usually in my case the carb is not so cheap or readily available to replace, so I opt to clean
 
   / Carb - clean or replace? #4  
I've saved myself several carb teardowns by putting some additive in the gasoline.

Cannot think of the additive's name right now, something like water flow or similar.

Ralph
 
   / Carb - clean or replace? #6  
I had a carb on a pressure washer that I just took apart and put it back together. I don't think it took over a half hour. I fixed it but I don't know what was wrong, probably a little dirt somewhere.
 
   / Carb - clean or replace?
  • Thread Starter
#7  
I had a carb on a pressure washer that I just took apart and put it back together. I don't think it took over a half hour. I fixed it but I don't know what was wrong, probably a little dirt somewhere.

I'd like to know if anyone has had a definite improvement by using an in-gas fuel system treatment such as Seafoam. I've used it in my quad 1oz per gallon with no improvement and cut 15 cords of firewood using 2oz per gallon per instructions in non-alcohol premium fuel and the saw always ran erratically tempermental to great. Frankly, I am thinking it was a waste of money.
 
   / Carb - clean or replace? #8  
I've had Seafoam clear up several small engine carburetor problems: Gravely wouldn't idle right; Stihl chain saw wouldn't run right; 3 or 4 lawnmower engines either wouldn't idle right or had problems at speed. Cleared them all up with a dollup of Seafoam into the tank. I now regularly put a dollup into the tanks of my lawn mowers.

Never used on a big engine.

Ralph
 
   / Carb - clean or replace? #9  
Well, the OEM carb if it is available would likely be in 70-100$ mark. Should you put the new one Chineseum one on, don't toss the old one. Most likely all that you would need to do is get the old fuel out of it, remove the main jet (bowl nut) and clean the orfices- especially the tiny one on the side and center on that jet. Clean out the bowl , reassemble and see what happens. No need to pull carb and remember where the links went. Sometimes they need more service. Newer versions have o rings in the center stem that fatigue and don't seal..
 

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