Cleaning carburettor floats

[peanut]

hope your floats don't look as bad as these . !

This is after 35 miles total and leaving the bike for a year unused in between times.

How best to remove all this crud from brass floats ? I'm tempted to soak them in CivicBang and lemon but maybe someone has a good solution they can recommend

 

[gggGary]

That looks really bad, are they making your gasoline out of road kill? More seriously did you use a gas tank sealer product or gasket cement anywhere in contact with gas?
No heat, don't push too hard if scrubbing. Might try acetone?

 

[501Spanky]

Good 'ol vinegar. Do a search for cleaning brass with vinegar. There is a vinegar, salt and flour paste recommended.

 

[rainycity]

Isnt it baking soda and white vinegar that cleans brass?

 

[peanut]

That looks really bad, are they making your gasoline out of road kill? More seriously did you use a gas tank sealer product or gasket cement anywhere in contact with gas?
No heat, don't push too hard if scrubbing. Might try acetone?

thanks for the acetone tip gary. I think the local garage are buying some rubbish gas. I've had problems several times with the solenoids in the injectors gunging up on my car in the past if its not driven for a few weeks .

I should probably switch to a different garage

501spanky Rainycity I'll check out the vinegar /soda and salt method thanks.
I think I read somewhere that you boil them in a solution but perhaps I'm getting that mixed up with testing them for leaks

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Peanut, I've dealt with 'gasoline green algae' in the past, but yours is beyond that. Looks like acid attack of the copper in the brass, like cupric sulphate. Alcohol in the fuel, being hydroscopic (attracts water), plus some sulfur in the fuel or air, can create your condition.

Prevailing wisdom on the net for removing that 'green copper corrosion' is a two step process.

Dissolve salt in white vinegar, as much as it can take. Submerge part, should take only a few minutes to remove the patina and corrosion.

Then submerge the part in a water and baking soda solution for just a minute. This neutralizes the acids from the vinegar, so the part won't corrode.

I haven't tried this method yet, but will soon...

 

[peanut]

ahh excellent thank you twomany.

hadn't had a chance to check on this method yet today.
I spent an hour or so last night and drew a complete blank. I could only find articles on testing floats .

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Mine aren't as bad as yours, but I'll need to do this as well.

So, if you don't mind,


I'll watch your progress...

 

[peanut]

everything is smothered in this residue all the jets ,emulsion and choke tubes argh...even the three tiny exit holes in the floor of the mouth of the venturi is oozing the green residue

I'm ordering up a set of steel guitar strings and some fine tube cleaning brushes along with a soft brass wire suede brush. I think my Dremel set will come in handy too.

its a shame I thought I would be able to clean and refit them to fit in a few short runs before the weather deteriorates but its got to be done thoroughly or it will be a complete waste of time refitting them.

Fortunately the throttle shaft seals and bushes are in excellent condition but I wouldn't have expected less on 25k miles . I do need to add a thin plastic shim to one shaft to eliminate 2mm float luckily I scrounged that from a defunct carb

 

[weekendrider]

It might be worth it to drain the carbs between rides.
If you mix the baking soda and vinegar together you will have a fizzy fuzzy mess.

 

[ThatXS650Guy]

The Chem Dip crap works pretty good on brass. I no longer use it for carb bodies unless it's is only for a short period of time. I also like to use straight PineSol. Seems to work pretty good on the green stuff.

 

[peanut]

The Chem Dip crap works pretty good on brass. I no longer use it for carb bodies unless it's is only for a short period of time. I also like to use straight PineSol. Seems to work pretty good on the green stuff.

thanks for the tip Jim..I've seen pine-sol mentioned a few times I'll have to see if its available over this side of the pond .
I suspect that we have something very similar called Civit-bang which is a limescale cleaner for toilets, taps and showers and I was going to try that .

Failing that there is a toilet bowl cleaner called Harpic which very impressively removed a 1/8" of limescale from our toilet bowl leaving only a few scratches that I had made previously trying to shift it with a wood chisel !
If that doesn't clean the carb bits nothing will

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

I just now tried the vinegar/salt trick, in an ultrasonic cleaner, on my XS1B's carb brass parts.
I let it run for 30 minutes. Not impressed. The brass did take on a more 'coppery' color.
On the right is a "before", on the left is an "after".



Then tried the same trick on some very old OEM carb brass that had turned completely black over the years.

It completely cleaned off the black oxidization within 5 minutes.
Sorry, forgot to take before/after pics.

 

[gggGary]

Be very careful with any lime remover products they can eat the brass.

I have used with pine-sol / store brand pine cleaners. Found best action in the cheapo ultrasonic cleaner with lets say a cup of cleaner in a gallon of water. More effective than straight pine cleaner.

Just a passing thought, was the battery in the bike, on a charger?

 

[peanut]

I guess it might be a little more effective over time perhaps ?
I used to use Ferric Acid to etch our circuit boards and it was very fast... mind you it is also very destructive !...
Wonder if it could be used diluted on brass ? I might try brushing some on some old jets

I'm going to put my floats into some Limescale remover solution and see what happens . i'll do one at a time so I can monitor progress.

 

[peanut]

Five minute soak in pure lemon juice and a soft rub with a worn nylon pan scouring pad . mmmm nice smell too

 

[peanut]

look at all the crud on the venturi floor !

Its the same green powdery residue on everything else in these carbs.
If you look carefully you can just make out the residue in the left hand side vent of the venturi mouth . Its exactly the same on both carbs although the residue is a lot less on the right hand side carb.
I assume that the small vent at the venturi mouth (arrowed) is an integral float chamber overflow vent which would suggest that I had a bad load of fuel and that my float needle jet was not shutting off properly due to all this crud geting on the valve seat.

I'll have to drain my gas tank and clean both taps as well ! This crud has got past two very good fuel filters so it must be very fine