Strongest cleaning additive you've used/gasoline

[kyledallas]

Ok .. Which cleaning additives have you used after the fact that have worked well. For lawn equipment that was not properly stored, motorcycles, etc.

Just your subjective view from personal experience.

I have a neighbor who takes the carb off his lawnmower each spring and does nothing more than buy fresh major brand gas and submerges the entire carb in that fresh gas overnight. Very effective for him. What have you done? What is your "secret sauce"??

 

[raytseng]

the appropriate dose of redline si-1 in the container of gas you intend to use actually worked for me.
(appropriate==the 15oz bottle per 20gallons full treat rate).

 

[Quest]

gasoline sold on Continental NA has EPA/Govt specified sulphur content, as well as minimum cleaning additive mandates on them, regardless of E0, E10 or so.

If you are talking about OPE engines such as flathead lawnmowers, etc. all you ever need is fresh gas always, and it will do fine.

Stale/rancid gasoline will lead to carboning of combustion chamber, deposits on the back side of intake valves, etc.

There's no such need for highly doped gasoline (doped in cleaners of all sorts), IMO. Just use fresh gasoline always.

For extended storage, I add a bit of fuel stabiliser such as this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Briggs-Stratton-10...E89SMJWHZY2FT0B

or Stabil marine/red.

Drain the fuel if it looks doubtful to you.

Q.

 

[kyledallas]

Quest I am looking mostly for help after the fact..in other words.. after the lawn equimpent or motorcycle has seen Improper storage.. Not that I do this.. I have become a notorious used equipment shopper on Craigslist and wondered if some had found some additives to be effective at cleaning gummed up carbs.
Originally Posted By: Quest
gasoline sold on Continental NA has EPA/Govt specified sulphur content, as well as minimum cleaning additive mandates on them, regardless of E0, E10 or so.

If you are talking about OPE engines such as flathead lawnmowers, etc. all you ever need is fresh gas always, and it will do fine.

Stale/rancid gasoline will lead to carboning of combustion chamber, deposits on the back side of intake valves, etc.

There's no such need for highly doped gasoline (doped in cleaners of all sorts), IMO. Just use fresh gasoline always.

For extended storage, I add a bit of fuel stabiliser such as this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Briggs-Stratton-10...E89SMJWHZY2FT0B

or Stabil marine/red.

Drain the fuel if it looks doubtful to you.

Q.

 

[widman]

I am a believer in Techron. I don't play with cleaning up old equipment, but we have lousy gasoline here and it works wonders.

I buy the drums of the concentrate from Oronite and formulate it to what they recommended as extra strong.

 

[philipp10]

Originally Posted By: kyledallas
Ok .. Which cleaning additives have you used after the fact that have worked well. For lawn equipment that was not properly stored, motorcycles, etc.

Just your subjective view from personal experience.

I have a neighbor who takes the carb off his lawnmower each spring and does nothing more than buy fresh major brand gas and submerges the entire carb in that fresh gas overnight. Very effective for him. What have you done? What is your "secret sauce"??


Your neighbor cracks me up. Pulls the carb each year? Why no just try starting it first...lol

 

[Clevy]

If there are actual deposits accumulated a piston soak is required. You can use mmo/seafoam/etc.
I've got an inverse oiler on my charger and with my inspection light the piston crowns are actually spotless.
My c3 has a 6.0. Been using TC-W3 in the fuel the past 2 years. When I first got it the piston crowns were filthy with extreme deposits on the 4 cylinders I checked. This spring I checked again and the carbon is almost gone. There is some residue where the deposits were very thick but I can see metal again. If I had to guess I'd say the Pistons I checked were 90% clean.
It was 100% dirty. Piston was completely covered with carbon with no bare metal visible.
I've seen mmo and TC-w3 soften hard carbon enough that a shop rag wipes it clean.
When I swapped Pistons on my Harley there was 1/4 of carbon built up on the crowns. I accidentally spilled some mmo on one of them,and only on maybe 1/4 of the total area of the piston.
Fast forward a couple days I noticed the carbon looked different on the piston that I spilled on. As I grabbed the piston the spots where mmo had spilled the carbon wiped off clean with my finger.
I tried tc-w3 on the other piston. Left sit in my garage for a couple days and that piston wiped clean with no effort whatsoever.

 

[Quest]

Originally Posted By: kyledallas
Quest I am looking mostly for help after the fact..in other words.. after the lawn equimpent or motorcycle has seen Improper storage.. Not that I do this.. I have become a notorious used equipment shopper on Craigslist and wondered if some had found some additives to be effective at cleaning gummed up carbs.
Originally Posted By: Quest
gasoline sold on Continental NA has EPA/Govt specified sulphur content, as well as minimum cleaning additive mandates on them, regardless of E0, E10 or so.

If you are talking about OPE engines such as flathead lawnmowers, etc. all you ever need is fresh gas always, and it will do fine.

Stale/rancid gasoline will lead to carboning of combustion chamber, deposits on the back side of intake valves, etc.

There's no such need for highly doped gasoline (doped in cleaners of all sorts), IMO. Just use fresh gasoline always.

For extended storage, I add a bit of fuel stabiliser such as this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Briggs-Stratton-10...E89SMJWHZY2FT0B

or Stabil marine/red.

Drain the fuel if it looks doubtful to you.

Q.


Don't get me wrong, bud, for I'm not trying to be terse.

What I'm trying to say is that granted that you have good fresh gasoline in OPE engine (and the engine motorcycle, etc. runs well), then there's nothing more you need for them to operate properly.

Those (devices) that have experienced gas-related runinng issue are, in general, dicey situation.

You don't want too high of solvency in your doped gasoline mix in fear of damaging any O-rings or seals in your carb.

If the jets/orifice and such are clogged with large debris, nothing in your gasoline can help to dissolve them (except varnish or gum)

Your best bet (when shopping used) is still to pull the carb and inspect/clean/rebuild. That's the only sure-fire way to ensure that it is running properly. Adding additives or solvents into the gasoline mix can only solve a few problems with very limited scope (i.e. gumming).

Good luck.

Q.

BTW: I have zero luck when it comes to dealing with used OPE engines of all sorts: over 90% of the side-draft B&S flathead engines requires carb cleaning/rebuild; Honda mowers 2/3 of the time may require carb rebuild/replacement, etc. Most of the neglected units are beyond simple repair...

 

[Merkava_4]

The strongest cleaning additive I've used is a tankful of KCP.

 

[Olas]

The strongest additive I've tried was a full bottle of SI1 in half a tank.
The strongest stuff Ive tried was an equal parts mixture of acetone and toluene to reduce knock on track.

 

[Triton_330]

Berryman B-12 Chemtool. Hands down. Best cleaning additive for fuel I've ever used.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00062YZYO

http://www.amazon.com/Berryman-Chemtool-Carburetor-Treatment-Injector/dp/B000CCMNAG

I promise, it isn't the same thing as Seafoam. Just because it's in a similar bottle doesn't mean it's the same product.

~ Triton

 

[DriveHard]

Originally Posted By: Triton_330
Berryman B-12 Chemtool. Hands down. Best cleaning additive for fuel I've ever used.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00062YZYO

http://www.amazon.com/Berryman-Chemtool-Carburetor-Treatment-Injector/dp/B000CCMNAG

I promise, it isn't the same thing as Seafoam. Just because it's in a similar bottle doesn't mean it's the same product.

~ Triton


I will second that vote.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Can you buy Toluene $ Xylene cheaper at the hardware store - just use that. Beware warm xylene dissoves silicone rubber!

Maybe try some COX glow fuel for model 2 stroke diesel engines - it has NitroMethane - beware that stuff dissolves superglue.

 

[southernjeeper]

Originally Posted By: Triton_330
Berryman B-12 Chemtool. Hands down. Best cleaning additive for fuel I've ever used.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00062YZYO

http://www.amazon.com/Berryman-Chemtool-Carburetor-Treatment-Injector/dp/B000CCMNAG

I promise, it isn't the same thing as Seafoam. Just because it's in a similar bottle doesn't mean it's the same product.

~ Triton


Look it up. It is said that there are more solvents to help clean than seafoam.
Just happens that I bought two bottles of it today at Wally world for less than $4!!!!!

 

[Revving2Redline]

If you got ethanol issues gumout multi system is the new seafoam but it actually works because of pea. Also keeping it sealed and dry help too.

 

[Quest]

not every "neglected" situation on carb'ed engines can be easily resolved with an extra dash of solvent (in gas), period.

More often than not: corrosion and crud already made it's way into the carb (venturi, jets, fuel bowl, air passageways, etc.) and those requires teardown, proper visual assessment and possibly then a rebuild (with proper parts of course).

you can play with harsh solvent mixed in gas, at the potential expense of it eating/dissolving some hidden elastomeric o-rings and seals (esp. carbs, some keihin/hitachi carbs I serviced before cannot be dunked in carb cleaner because of hidden elastomeric seals).

Again, don't assume that a quick solvent dash will get it going (it may, but not always). A teardown and visual assessment(by experience) will tell you lots more, and a rebuild will ensure everything is working in right order.

Q.