Carb cleaner/soaker

300jk

Well-known Member
Does Napa, or any other parts store that may be local to me sell a good product to soak and clean a carburetor? I have in the past only used aerosol cans and compressed air. The carb I’m working on needs more help than that.
 
You can still buy gallon cans of carb cleaner with a basket but it is not as good as the stuff from say 20 years ago. I'm sort of glad you posted this since you reminded me I need to go out to the shop and bring in my can of Berry man's chem dip carb cleaner since a guy is suppose to bring me a carb to rebuild for him tomorrow
 
So Old with what’s available now what would you recommend ? By the way I also really like your cave pics that Grandpa Love posted !
 
The last Berry Man's I got work okay but was slower then the old stuff I just went out and got. The stuff I have right now is some I have had for a couple of decades but looks like I am going to need to find a new bucket for it before it gets any rustyer. The old stuff will freeze so that is why I had to bring it in. The new stuff seem to be oil based so doesn't work as well.

As for the cave pictures Grandpa Love should be post some more since I sent him 4 more about 30 minutes ago
 

Napa sells Berryman's for 30 bux and their Napa Mac brand for 25.5 bux. Both in gallon can with parts basket. I think the spray carb cleaner works better and faster so I just buy a bunch of cans of carb spray from Walmart for 2 bux per 12 oz. can and spray them into my own dipping can while spraying parts at the same time. Have to keep it covered as it will evaporate. Walmart has Berryman's for 24 bux and Advance sells the Gunk brand gallon can with basket for 28 bux. Can't say how Napa Mac and Gunk compare to Berryman which isn't what it used to be. I have a 25 year old can of Berryman which ate up the carb body from my 2606 years ago after I left the carb in it for a few days. Ended up buying a rebuilt from here at YT.
 
The last five gallons of NAPA carb cleaner was not much more than glorified water in my opinion. What they USED to have years ago would remove paint, last bucket I got didn't even touch it.
 
300jk,

Distilled white vinegar for the metal parts only. You can add Epson salt too,

Guido.
 
I made a 'poor man's hot tank'. Bought a large crock pot at the thrift store, filled it with 'Purple Power' type cleaner and let a carb from a B Allis Chalmers cook for a few hours. Washed with water and used compressed air to blow out passages. Got it real clean. For bigger carbs and other items, I use and old blue canner/cooker and a hot plate. You can even dilute the purple cleaner some with water, but I don't think it is as strong as it used to be, even at full strength. The heat does the trick though.

Garry
 

I had good luck with a heated ultrasonic cleaner from HF. Just used water and a couple drops of soap. Cleaned the 6 carbs on the 1980 Honda CBX I restored.
 
Heat it up some if you really want it to work well, there is a reason they were called hot tanks.
 
(quoted from post at 19:58:38 01/10/21)
I had good luck with a heated ultrasonic cleaner from HF. Just used water and a couple drops of soap. Cleaned the 6 carbs on the 1980 Honda CBX I restored.

Mine is down in the basement with the reloading equipment used for cleaning brass. Guess I could try it.
 
If you want to limit the amount of cleaner you need, you can put your parts into a sealed bag or jar filled with the cleaner of your choice, and fill the rest of the ultrasonic with plain water.

I used old peanut butter jars or the heavy grade plastic zip bags.
 
A lot depends on what is wrong with the carb.

If it's been sitting with water in the bowl, muriatic acid works well, just don't
leave an aluminum casting in too long.

Purple power is good, especially in a heated ultrasonic cleaner.

Spray cleaner will only get grease and light deposits.

I have found no chemical that will remove dried ethanol deposits, that has to be scraped, especially inside jets.
 
Try lacquer thinner or acetone. I buy 5 gallon cans of acetone to clean my paint guns. Works great on carbs. 1 1/2 gallon pool chemical bucket with a stainless steel basket. Screw the sealed lid on and the cleaner stays in there permanently. When it gets too dirty for carbs, I dump it in an empty 5 gallon can and use it for parts cleaning.
 
I have the new B-mans and it work's slow like Moses. I got lucky and found a gallon of the old stuff in my shop. There is no comparison. One hour of soaking time will clean any carb I every work on with this stuff. I'm thinking you can't get it anymore. gm
 
(quoted from post at 11:52:43 01/11/21) I have the new B-mans and it work's slow like Moses. I got lucky and found a gallon of the old stuff in my shop. There is no comparison. One hour of soaking time will clean any carb I every work on with this stuff. I'm thinking you can't get it anymore. gm

They probably just sell the California version of the cleaner now.
 
I have a gallon of the water seal cleaner I got from NAPA years ago. I only use it on carbs and use it rarely. Stinks to high heaven and if you get a drop on your skin it takes a week of washing to get the smell off. Works great but I can only use it outdoors. It has some water in it that rises to the top to keep the smell down. I keep it in glass jugs after having it eat pits in several metal cans. I glass bead the rusty ones after a PP soak.
 

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