dorifto240 Posted July 18, 2010 Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 Alright, my carbs were awful. The bike wouldn't idle right, wouldn't stay on, wouldn't take any throttle. It was terrible. And slightly embarrassing. A big hit to my masculinity.I stumbled onto a forum discussion over at ZX Forums (dot com) that mentioned heating your carbs in lemon juice would help dislodge any junk and/or rust that had built up.Some more research led me to vinegar. And if one combines the two ingredients with heat, it becomes a ridiculous super cleaner.So today I tried it, a liter of lemon juice ($3.00) and a liter of vinegar ($0.89) two liters of water, and a half teaspoon of salt. I stripped my carbs down to bare metal and boiled them for about 20 minutes.After reassembling everything, the bike started right up, held its idle, didn't need the choke on, and generally behaved like it should.So for five bucks and 20 minutes, I avoided having to rebuild my carbs (for now of course, eventually they'll need to be rejetted and all the fun stuff).A note of caution though: It will cause steel to rust, and stainless steel doesn't react well with lemon juice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorifto240 Posted July 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 I should say I boiled all the metal parts: bowls, bodies, throttles, jets, etc. Everything not rubber or plastic went in the mix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrillo Posted July 18, 2010 Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 interesting.. thanks for the tip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kawi kid Posted July 18, 2010 Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 im sure that will help some of the carb'd guys on here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyler524 Posted July 18, 2010 Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 I might try this for my lawn mower carbon. The bowl is in rough shape and this might keep me from having to buy new parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBartolucci4 Posted July 18, 2010 Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 Also Sea Foam and Sea Foam Deep Creep (its a spray). Did wonders for me back when I had my boat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcarlson Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 I used straight vinegar inside my gas tank and stripped about 25 years worth of rust off in two days. Cleaned it down to bare steel. The problem with that though is you have to rinse the tank with water to nuetralize the acid in the vinegar. Well after you drain the water you have to dry it. As soon as you do that it rusts. It's light rust but still. Then I used Red Coat to seal it and everything is peachy now.So, how'd we go from carbs to gas tanks? I have no idea, but my point is vinegar is an amazing thing!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReconRat Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 Maybe rinse with a cheap drugstore alcohol instead of water, it will evaporate quicker.(alcohol is water soluble and there is a lot of water in the cheap alcohol.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casper Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 A can of carb cleaner is only like $1.99 at Autozone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kawi kid Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 So, how'd we go from carbs to gas tanks? I have no idea, but my point is vinegar is an amazing thing!!will clean your windows too!! no streaks!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReconRat Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 A can of carb cleaner is only like $1.99 at Autozone.Yes, but it won't try to dissolve your metal parts...What fun is that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorifto240 Posted July 30, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2010 A can of carb cleaner is only like $1.99 at Autozone.True, but carb cleaner doesn't dissolve the rust that can clog up the jets and passages that run through a carb.Plus vinegar and lemon juice aren't going to cause cancer and health issues due to repeated exposure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kahooli Posted July 30, 2010 Report Share Posted July 30, 2010 Maybe rinse with a cheap drugstore alcohol instead of water, it will evaporate quicker.(alcohol is water soluble and there is a lot of water in the cheap alcohol.)Bud light is nearly 97% water ^.^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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