pinesol for cleaning carbs ?

johnpagn

johnpagn

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I have a cb750 I'm working on and am in the middle of rebuilding the carbs . The bike hasnt been run since 95.

Anyway , I joined a forum dedicated to dohc cb's http://www.cb750c.com/modules.php?name=Forums

These guys are all about these bikes and swear by cleaning there carbs with pinesol.

So I'm giving it a shot. I broke down the carb bank and have 3 soaking in a bucket full and the fourth in an ultrasonic filled with it too.
I really hope it works as well as they say it does.
Any of u ever hear of this before ?
 
Well just checked on um and I gotta admit thats one shiny carb.
The one in the ultrasonic that is. So far I'm liking this alot. Three more to go and I'll be putting them back together soon.

My house stinks like a million car trees lol.
 
Did you take before and after pics? I have a small ultrasonic and think I'll try the pinesol myself.


johnpagn said:
Well just checked on um and I gotta admit thats one shiny carb.
The one in the ultrasonic that is. So far I'm liking this alot. Three more to go and I'll be putting them back together soon.

My house stinks like a million car trees lol.
Click to expand...
 
nope sorry no pics but I do recommend giving it a try. Hell for 3 bux u cant loose.
Except my wife keeps bitchen about the smell of cooking pinesol , my ultrasonic's heated.
It covers up the smell of the dead bodys in my basement meth lab
 
From what I'v read u dont need the ultrasonic it just makes things faster.
U can just put everything in a bucket for a few days then rinse everything off.
I havent tried this but I say give it a shot if u dont have the ultrasonic.
 
Ive heard of boiling them in lemon juice too, but it stinks like a mofo when you do it.
 
I've heard of this method but never tried it. I've heard of many "new" and different way of cleaning carbs but so far, none have panned out. I still soak and scrub in the old fashioned carb cleaner. I blow through all the passageways with compressed air. There is no "free lunch" as far as carb cleaning goes that I've found.

There are 2 steps to old bike carbs - cleaning and tuning. From my experience both locally and on the internet, I've found that most people can't even get through the 1st step. Many skip #1 and just try to tune them. Since they have no clue to what they're doing, they fail 99% of the time. I know it's sad, but it's true, lol.

My latest attempt is soda blasting. I have to admit, it works pretty good. I still need to do the basic old school scrubbing but this soda stuff really cleans things up after that. The carbs really do look like almost new factory stuff.
 
Yep, like I said, there's no "free lunch" for carb cleaning that I've found yet. I haven't given up mind you, I just don't expect the "miracle cure" any time soon, lol. It's a dirty job but somebody's got to do it - namely you if you want your bike to run and run right.

I didn't spend several months a couple years back in collaboration with the Griz writing the card guide just for "shits and giggles". This was and is concrete carb info that needs to be out there and available to everyone. Now whether or not folks choose to read it 1st before asking stupid simple questions is another matter, lol. If a major cleaning breakthrough ever comes along, believe me, we will note it in an update of some sort to our guide.
 
5twins dont get me wrong , I'm not trying to say this is some kind of wizard shit here.
I still took everything apart ( had to, po put the bank together wrong so the choke wouldnt work) removed all rubber etc.
Still gonna have to check all holes etc.
I'm doing a complete rebuild of these carbs.
I'll let u guys know how it all works out when I'm done.

AND where do I find this carb cleaning guide u speak of ?
 
yea i did it too when i had a cb750. ,bout they only thing goes wrong with them when they set up for 10 years is the carbs need cleaning works great. take them apart and let soak for a week is what i did .
 
I don't know about Pinesol but my friend Wooley has used several household cleaners in his sonic with good results. Now if I could only make my brain remember which ones they are.

I've using Fast Orange, Green Machine, 409 and several others in my parts cleaner with the same results as that high dollar stuff from Safety Clean. I actually prefer the orange because I think it smells better but when I go to the dollar store I buy out whatever degreaser they have in gallon bottles.

Then I reuse the stuff by pouring it through coffee filters so I dobn't have to buy as often.
 
Right, 5twins; we didn't spend a few months writing and editing that thing for shits 'n' giggles, we did it so we can keep answering the same damn questions for guys who can't spend a few minutes doing a search. For my part, I've stopped chiming in on that kind of thing unless a guy has actually done his homework but is stuck on the diagnostics and needs a bit of guidance while he gains experience.

BTW, guys, Blue is a professional chemist, and what he has to say in that link that Travis kindly posted should be taken very seriously. Or not--hell they're your carbies!
 
grizld1 and 5twins,
I'm not disputing anything you or Blue have to say about the use of unknown chemical agents but we're talking about Pinesol, a reasonably safe consumer product made from pine oil ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_oil ) and served in very low concentrations. Carb cleaners (http://www.ehow.com/list_6029898_ingredients-carburetor-cleaners.html ) are made from even nastier oils and served in much higher concentrations.

And safe disposal of carb cleaner is a big problem the average home builder is completely unequipped to handle. Seriously, no one other than a few chemical disposal companies will accept used carb cleaner and that comes with a big disposal bill. Pinesol can be safely poured into any municipal waste water system.

Fact is: most of us are completely unqualified to handle most of the ingredients in a can of carb cleaner but even my 80 year old mother can and does safely handle Pinesol. And she don't know nothin' 'bout chemistry unless it's about baking cakes.

I hope no one is talking about hydrochloric acid or other such things but Pinesol... Unless people are soaking assembled carbs I really see no problem. And last time I checked assembled carbs were not to be soaked in carb cleaner either.

PS. Thanks for the carb guide, I'll be referring to it often.
 
Last edited:
I saw this on the SOHC4 forum or on the DOHC Honda 4 forum. It seems to work well. I assume you have to separate and disassemble anything rubber or plastic. I understand with Yamaha's carb cleaner you don't have to. I'd try that stuff then.
 
I generally run 1 part pinesol, 1 part lemon juice, 2-3 parts water in my heated ultrasonic tank. works like a dream. best part I think is that it's safe for rubber components. Like bill said, I don't think twice about dumping it out on the gravel driveway.
 

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