Jaydela180
XS650 Addict
Just wondering if jb weld will fix and hold a small leak in bs34 brass carb float? And, is there a good safe way to speed up the evaporation of fuel trapped inside from said hole? Thanks
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fix hole in brass carb float
- Thread starter Jaydela180
- Start date
Brian902
XS650 Junkie
You will need to solder it.
Use a solder gun, not a torch. Torch is too much heat and if gas is present in float could cause a little explosion.
Use as little solder as possible so as to not upset the floats ability to float.
Hopefully the hole is a small one.
A little heat from a hair dryer might help to speed up the drying time. Absolutely dry is a must.
Use a solder gun, not a torch. Torch is too much heat and if gas is present in float could cause a little explosion.
Use as little solder as possible so as to not upset the floats ability to float.
Hopefully the hole is a small one.
A little heat from a hair dryer might help to speed up the drying time. Absolutely dry is a must.
Jaydela180
XS650 Addict
Hole is small right on seam, but big enough to hear gas inside. I'll try the hair dryer to speed things up. Any specific solder when dealing with brass? Thanks
I am Carbon
shade tree mechanic
Using flux brass can be soldered w/ common lead solder.
Jaydela180
XS650 Addict
Good to know. Would really like to salvage float rather than replace with mikes plastic. Thanks
Brian902
XS650 Junkie
For your purposes, use solder paste and a smaller diameter solder that would melt faster.
Brass usually solders up pretty easily.
Quick wipe with rag will help clean of the excess.
Brass usually solders up pretty easily.
Quick wipe with rag will help clean of the excess.
Good luck. It's tougher than it looks. less is more as far as heat. a solder pencil rather than a gun, if you get the float too warm when you solder, once you seal the hole, the air inside will cool (shrink) and collapse the float. Use just a little bit too much heat and the lid will pop off the float. Use too much solder and the correct setting height will change.
Carefully inspect all around the edge of the float near the seam, there will often be a series of stress lines/cracks, no way you can fix those. Do the submerge in hot water for a few seconds test after soldering, bubbles = fail. Yes I have tried all this stuff, so far with no successes that I can recall.
Carefully inspect all around the edge of the float near the seam, there will often be a series of stress lines/cracks, no way you can fix those. Do the submerge in hot water for a few seconds test after soldering, bubbles = fail. Yes I have tried all this stuff, so far with no successes that I can recall.
Not sure about your float, but the floats I've repaired had a service vent, bitty hole soldered over. Would unsolder/soldersucker that vent hole, place float out in sunlight, vent side down, patiently wait couple days. Hot/cold heat cycles would vent-out fuel from inside. When dry, solder repair area, lastly reseal vent hole. If you don't have one, suppose you could drill .032" service vent in convient area. Having service vent open keeps solder from blowing-out/sucking-in during repair.
80xs650
XS650 Enthusiast
I repaired a couple of Honda CB450 floats recently. After unsoldering the vent hole, I gently shook the float with the vent hole down until some of the gas came out. I then laid the float vent hole down on a paper towel. I think the paper towel helped wick the gas out, as I had gas stains on the towel. I would repeat this every few hours. Like TwoManyXS1Bs method, it took a couple of days until I couldn't hear any gas when I shook the float. I then repaired the floats like he did. Be quick and frugal with the solder!
coughing skunk
XS650 Addict
Just had to do this on for a CL100 carb. I used a soldering hot air re-work station gun (read: heat gun with adjustable small nozzles) to heat up the float and vaporize the gas, forcing it out of the pin holes in the float. The gun on my soldering station has an adjustable temp and air speed, so I adjusted it above the vaporizing temp and below the spontaneous combustion temp and heated that sucker until there was no more gas left.
A quick job with the fine tip soldering iron afterwards, as everyone else has mentioned.
A quick job with the fine tip soldering iron afterwards, as everyone else has mentioned.
Jaydela180
XS650 Addict
Ended up drilling out spot of pin hole leak to remove gas. Was quick with solder and used little as possible. Tested for leaks and no bubbles. Will run it for awhile and see how it holds.
