... especially with ethanol blend fuel. I pulled one of mine apart that I figured was ready to bolt back on and run, only to find a good bit of "stuff" had built up in the fuel bowls. The accelerator pumps were even worse, with the pump springs having corroded along with the build-up of "stuff".

Fair warning!

See it a lot w/pump gas and I usually replace EVERYTHING in those including springs and p/v plugs sometimes........

does carb or bowl material make a difference in how the carb is affected?

Yea I had to rebuild a 6 month old carb that sat with ethanol in it for the same amount of time.

Not sure, but these are aluminum bowls FWIW.

Brad..You see a lot of that around here in small engines like lawnmowers. People are too cheap to spend a few cents more for better gas. FWIW,I just had my 1150 Dominator gone thru. Its only had race fuel in it and it looked pretty good.

I see the same residual on factory and alum. carb parts.............

I've seen plenty of scary carbs that had nothing but race gas in them.
Some of those fuels have some funky additives, and they can leave nasty build ups on the carb internals if left in too long.

Best bet is to pull the bowls and blow everything out when you put the car away.

Us pump gas street/strip guys learned this long ago....That "stuff" is nasty...

My lawnmower gets run dry at the end of the mowing season, plus fuel stabilizer in whatever is left in the tank. My 2-stroke weed trimmer gets straight 93 premix without ethanol.

The subject carb had been drained, but some fuel must have unknowingly remained in the bowls and accelerator pumps.

I can't wait to see what my Mallory fuel pump looks like after having sat with 93 E10 in the fuel system for so long.

Ahhhhh the dreaded white powder that actually creates a pitting effect on the inner carb parts. I drain em, disassemble em, WD 40 em and then store em for the off season

I have an old beater truck that I forgot and left the 10% crap in which corroded the pickup tube and float parts into nothing

Another friendly reminder.

I was having carb issues this year and going on my 3rd season since my switch-over to alcohol. I go through my carb usually twice a season giving it a good cleaning and the usual maintenance but neglected removing and checking my floats. When it was suggested to me this year I ordered new ones and when I switched them out I checked them on my shops gram scale. You wouldn't believe how much the old ones weighed compared the the new ones from absorption. All appears to be well now.

I haven't had this issue but my Son has to take the top off his fuel regulator anytime the car has sat over 4 weeks and give it a good spray cleaning or it will stick 'wide open"

Yep.

Even after scrubbing them down last night and hitting the corroded surface w/ a Scotch Brite pots & pans sponge, I'm not sure the surface is smooth enough for the rubber valve that acts as the accelerator pump one-way valve to seal properly now.

I have QF bowls in stock if you need em Brad...........

Yes. Aluminum in particular is a fairly unstable material. You can anodize the heck out of it but eventually Entropy takes over. Add harsh chemicals such as say Oxygen and the process speeds up. Same thing for plated steel parts, exposure to oxidants takes its toll. The only way to know whats actually in that 'pump gas' is to pay to have it tested yourself. But don't publish the results or Big Oil will come after you. Alcohols can be aggressive, that's why they make more power.

So nobody runs something like Stabil 360 for ethanol? Does that not work for this junky fuel?

I run Seafoam in my motorhome for my the onan generator and lawn equipment too.

I know some motorcycle folks who were going to try that, but never heard if it was working as advertised. I know carbureted bikes were getting killed by ethanol in pump gas when left to sit around too long.

I ask because I run that in small power equipment and don't have any issues. At least so far.

This is a very worthwhile reminder. I had good luck with Sta-bil + running it with the fuel pump shut off until it stalled + a little marine fogging oil at the end. Sat for 4 years, ran the fuel pump and it fired right up. I've had the bowls off a few times since, am thankful to not have found any creeping crud in there.

I learned the hard way also. On one of my cars, I put it away during the winter, and discovered in spring time my needle and seats became so hardened they wouldn't hold the float level anymore. Also my mechanical fuel pump stopped working, and was filled with a powder form of gas. What I do now, I get 5 gallons of 110 vp race gas, run it through and put it away with that, no more problems.

Bump...

Got "bit" again. Found the secondary accel pump needle below the nozzle screw on one of the aluminum body carbs we dynoed in October has corroded in place.

I've sqirted brake cleaner in the passage from both directions, did the same with WD-40, blasted air from the metering block passage... still stuck. Guess I'll let it sit with more WD-40 in the passage hoping it'll free up.

My OPINION at this point is that an aluminum carb that is used with fuel that contains any alcohol should be completely disassembled if it's going to be sitting around for more than a few weeks.

Why I don't mind race gas or at least mixing in my street-er............never see that even when it used to sit for a month or more............

Got a suggestion for something better to loosen that check needle?

Switched to E85 last year for the octane and price. After the winter weather ended the fun for the year, I drained the cell and ran a couple gallons of pump gas through the pump and lines and caught the return line fuel in a jug. Ran the gas out of the carb, then removed it and completely disassembled it and removed all traces of any fluid. I had the E85 in there all last summer with no corrosion in the naked aluminum fuel cell, and nothing in the carb. or Al fuel lines. Don't know if I'm stupid lucky or what,but I didn't see any of the horror stories some E85 users speak of.

PB Blaster is pretty aggressive. Or some kind of mild acid, like the stuff you clean nasty aluminum with to weld it. Blow gun from the metering block side of the carb body. Just be careful where it's aimed or cover the top with a towel.

So you didn’t even try to dump an 8 dollar bottle of stabilizer in to at least see if it would save you any grief?

Engine went from dyno back to stand. Carb was drained of 50/50 pump 93 E10 / leaded race fuel and put on shelf. Residual fuel in accel pump circuit corroded. Not sure where the bottle of stabilizer was supposed to used in this situation.

PB Blaster... yeah, ran out of it before this problem turned up. Give that a try next.

Brad - unheated garage? I wonder if that makes it worse. I usually just drain the carbs but I do not take them apart and I haven't had any issues. But I keep my shop at 65 degrees so maybe that helps?

Do you have access to an ultrasonic cleaner? They work great and can get solvent to reach to both sides of the needle to loosen it.

Let me see if I got this straight.

Ride them hard and put them away dry

I put a dab of oil in the passage and use a steel pointed poker and pry in the slotted area and rock it back n forth with and then use compressed air on the inlet side on the main body face if needed........Rubber hammer to knock it loose if that doesn't work..........

Dyno fuel cell...

^^^This is what I use so far so good ^^^

Not my dyno. Guess I r an an idjit.

Got an 87 ford box van I bought new, 48,000 original miles, I use for my work. 460 ci. Might sit 4-6 months or longer at a time, starts right up and runs fine (holly carb) but all this talk has got me worried a little. If it ain't broke I ain't touching it. Always used whatever was at the pump, leaded reg at first, now 10% corn.

Responses in no particular order...

Andy -> My garage leads directly into my basement / psuedo shop; carbs are stored there where it's climate controlled

Dominic -> If the PB Blaster soak doesn't free it up, mebbe I'll ship it to Hesperia for you to on it

RTS -> Nope, no ultrasonic cleaner access of which I'm aware

WHITEDART -> Ummm... yeah, pretty much; the more crap I'm seeing in my carbs, the I less want to leave it to chance they'll be good the next time I want to run 'em

Brad, I've had good luck with Kroil in these type of situations. Jim

Mine fired right up yesterday....Still has a little Sunoco supreme in it.

what Ted said.

I only run Sunoco 110 even in my lawn equipment and I add 1 bottle of Stabil per gallon when I store it for more than a week. I also put brand new plugs in, change the oil (only stuff that costs > $15 per quart) and only prep it for storage only on odd days of the month.

Brad, if you use a small pic and get it down into the slots where the fuel runs around the needle, and very gently pry/wiggle it, it will pop free.

I didn't realize that neither the QFT/Proform or the aluminum Holley Ultra main bodies have those cut-outs down the sides of the accel pump screw holes until the other day. However, I'll see if I've got something skinny enough to slide down next to the check needle to loosen it.

Yep, every time.............

If you grind a new point on the pick, nice and sharp, you might be able to have it "dig in" to the top of the needle while you try and wiggle it around.
I find the needles getting stuck against the seats isn't that uncommon at all.
It usually just takes the tiniest amount of movement to break them free.

Not tried 360, but a friend turned me on to using the stabil marine which supposed deals better with ethanol problems. No issues since I started using it years ago. Both my challenger and my GSXR have sat for months on end with no noticeable ill effects. Just recently rebuild the holley on the challenger and there was zero crud.

I will back up and say I had an issue with the motorcycle from dumping a bottle of seafoam or something in the tank after storage. Barely ran to the point of not being safe to drive (stalling, no power) pulled the plugs and they were fouled some weird red color. Changed plugs and it ran like a champ again. Note to self - don't mix and match fuel additives in the same tankful.

1. Soaked it from both sides w/ PB Blaster
2. Got out my skinny little pick collection and tried my best to dislodge it
3. Air pressure from my compressor thru a rubber-tipped nozzle
4. Even tried to force a pick into the top of the check needle w/ no luck

Final option... and the one I did not want to resort to... drill it out. But that's what I ended up doing cuz nothing else worked.

Then I had to take a series of drill bit shanks and resize the bottom of the hole to make sure the needle would drop all the way to the bottom and not get stuck again.

The odd thing is the remains of the check needle don't look corroded, yet this thing was completely stuck in the passage.

Get the steel check valves from BLP and you should be golden........

Wow that's crazy. I've had them stick before but not like that! I usually pull the bowl off and with a rubber tipped nozzle blow backwards up the passage and the pop right out.


The problem is just what you'd think it would be. If you don't hold you hand over the nozzle hole the check valve will end up bouncing off everything in the shop and you need to get your spare out!

Man, I hope my carb isn't sick even with good race fuel sitting around.
The world's resources were much easier back when.

I only see one part # for check valves on BLP's web site. I definitely want steel, instead of brass or aluminum like my carbs all seem to have now. It's not hard to find articles online about the corrosive effect of ethanol on brass & aluminum, but steel seems to resist it much better.

FWIW, I've ordered "a bunch" of stainless-steel check needles and stainless-steel discharge nozzle ("squirter") screws to replace all the NON stainless-steel ones I have. The brass and aluminum check needles should go into the trash IMO if you're running fuel with any alcohol in it.