Carbs, clean and I mean clean

A

alswagg

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I did the rituall carb clean on the SXR yesterday. Boy was I surprised. The inside of the carbs look brand new. I mean the jets are shinny, as well as the aluminum body, ect. Not a single spec of crud, and absolutly no signs of any ethanol effects. WOW!
Last year I took Nosboys advise somewhat. I made a mixture for fuel storage. Oh I also drained the fuel tank. I must have gotten just about all as I refilled with 11.8 gallons this fall with fresh fuel.
The mixture was run through the fuel pump and into the carbs, I ran until considerable amounts of smoke came from the exaust.
The mixture was
1 gal of 93 octane fuel
16oz startron fuel treatment good for 96 gallons lol
2qts of Dextron ATF oil.
ATF has many cleaning properties as well as excellant fogging ability, Startron has excellant fuel treatment properties.
I do not know which cleaned/treated better, but I do know I have never seen these clean of carbs before. I will still open up and inspect all of the other carbs just as a prerequisite of season maintanance.
Oh, upon start up a lot of smoke, but smelled good and cleared fast. Al
 
alswagg said:
2qts of Dextron ATF oil.
ATF has many cleaning properties as well as excellant fogging ability,
Click to expand...

ATF is notoriously good at eating rubber and plastic parts... ATF likes carbon molecules, and will pull them out of whatever it finds. Plastic in your fuel tank is the first obvious carbon source, as well as gaskets in the carb. (been a while since I had chem, but IIRC there is a free hydrogen end that just is waiting to grab onto another carbon)


Lots of articles out, here are a couple examples...

http://www.aaroncake.net/RX-7/atftrick.htm

And for people wanting to make tires softer for racing use, they dump ATF (and other chemicals) on them...

http://www.ehow.com/how_12142481_make-tire-softening-compound.html
 
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bluemonster1 said:
I wander what nosboy will say about this now.....waiting!!!
Click to expand...


Ohh boy. I was one of the people that tried the atf fogging last fall. Worked great though! Drained bowls, filled with fuel and pulled intill started. Ran great.
 
smokingcrater said:
ATF is notoriously good at eating rubber and plastic parts... ATF likes carbon molecules, and will pull them out of whatever it finds. Plastic in your fuel tank is the first obvious carbon source, as well as gaskets in the carb. (been a while since I had chem, but IIRC there is a free hydrogen end that just is waiting to grab onto another carbon)


Lots of articles out, here are a couple examples...

http://www.aaroncake.net/RX-7/atftrick.htm

And for people wanting to make tires softer for racing use, they dump ATF (and other chemicals) on them...

http://www.ehow.com/how_12142481_make-tire-softening-compound.html
Click to expand...
I can not agree with this, First and foremost, auto transmissions have many plastic componets as well as rubber seals Duh!
and secondly the bottle which holds the atf is made from the same material as our gas tanks Duh.
So I don't buy it. I know my carbs were clean, fuel lines soft and flexable, motor runs great!
Today, we are diggiing into the Viper, if the powervalves are clean as well I will be amazed. I will post this evening.
come on Lanina, Al
 
My carbs were spotless on both my sleds after draining the gas out of the tank and running the rest of the fuel out of the carbs while holding the oiler wide open.
 
alswagg said:
I can not agree with this, First and foremost, auto transmissions have many plastic componets as well as rubber seals Duh!
and secondly the bottle which holds the atf is made from the same material as our gas tanks Duh.
So I don't buy it. I know my carbs were clean, fuel lines soft and flexable, motor runs great!
Today, we are diggiing into the Viper, if the powervalves are clean as well I will be amazed. I will post this evening.
come on Lanina, Al
Click to expand...

Plastic isn't plastic... There are thousands of varieties of plastic and rubber, all with different chemical properties. Some can stand up to things that attack carbon, others won't. Stuff like the bottle it came in, as well as parts inside an AT, are all chemically engineered for that use. Your fuel system, MAYBE not...

Damage may not be readily apparent either... You mentioned your fuel lines are soft and flexible... Well, by pulling carbon out of the structure, that is exactly what ATF will do. (see spraying it on tires to soften them up) If you slice one of your lines open, the inside might be EXTREMELY soft, borderline mushy and degrading... The carbs might be really clean now, but wait after 20 gallons of fuel has washed all that rubber mush out of the fuel lines, and into the jets... (easy test, slice about 1 inch of line off, then slice it so you can open it and lay it flat. If there is even a HINT of stickiness, you have a big problem)

ATF has a verified history of attacking plastic and rubber, that part isn't up for dispute. By putting it into contact with parts that were never meant to have ATF near them, you are taking a big risk. Much easier to use stuff that was meant for the job. I'm not saying you will have absolute certain damage, but it is a fairly high risk to take. Maybe it is the best thing since seafoam, but I know its never going into my fuel system...
 
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ATF is IT ! ! Never used it for storage before , primed the sled with a few drops of premix in the plug holes ..... fired right up never stalled, let her warm up 2 mins, rode around the yard!

Thanks to All ! !
 
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