Cleaning Carb parts with an ultrasonic cleaner

[tmkaos]

Hi guys,

My '93 has gone and dropped a cylinder on me, with a carb pissing out fuel from the overflow. So it's time to pull the carbs apart using the very helpful files section - thank you to all contributers, awesome work..

My question is, we have an ultrasonic parts cleaner at work and I'm wondering are there any parts from the carbs I SHOULDN'T run through it? Maybe the floats, but I shoudn't need to be that extreme with them, I'm thinking more along the lines of the major components, carb bodies and jets etc. I can't imagine there being any issues but I'm sure wiser heads might know..

Cheers in advance,

James

[Rich Pleines]

The following link provides an excellent overview of this process. It was written by Mike Nixon who is considered to be a master mechanic in the Honda CBX community. IMHO this is a good starting point for this discussion. Rich


http://www.motorcycleproject.com/motorcycle/text/ultrasonic_carburetor_cleaning_v7.swf

[Dan Filetti]

That's a really good ditty on ultrasonic cleaning.

Thanks

Dan

[Pat Conlon]

Agreed, thank's Rich. Would you mind if copied this over to our files section?

[tmkaos]

The following link provides an excellent overview of this process. It was written by Mike Nixon who is considered to be a master mechanic in the Honda CBX community. IMHO this is a good starting point for this discussion. Rich


http://www.motorcycleproject.com/motorcycle/text/ultrasonic_carburetor_cleaning_v7.swf

That's awesome Rich, thanks. looks like I'm good to go once I dismantle the carbs - our unit is smack in the middle of his reccomendations for carb cleaning.
Just one thing - the slides in that link kept getting to slide 21 then resetting to 3 in a continous cycle.. have I missed any later slides or is that it?
I did reload it a couple of times...

Cheers,

James

[Rich Pleines]

Agreed, thank's Rich. Would you mind if copied this over to our files section?

I will ask the author and let you know.  James, slide 21 is the end. When it jumps from 21 to 3 you can arrow back to slide 1 & 2.  Thanks, Rich

[Dan Filetti]

It does not explicitly say whether the diaphragms can be put in an ultrasonic cleaner, seems as this may be problematic -anyone [Randy?] know whether this is the case?

Dan

[Steve_in_Florida]

Would you mind if I copied this over to our files section?

The author might mind. We can ask, though.

Quote from the author: "Finally, the reason the articles are in Flash. It's simple. I'm tired of people stealing my material and reposting it on their sites as their own."

He has several other interesting articles on his site, also:

http://www.motorcycleproject.com/motorcycle/text/new_articles_menu.html

[fj11.5]

look like great articles, bloody shame i cant read them on this t pad,,so much for smart phones 

[Steve_in_Florida]

...shame i cant read them on this t pad...

The site owner mentions using an alternate browser (Puffin) on the "I-???" devices :

http://www.motorcycleproject.com/motorcycle/text/flashtips.html

[Rich Pleines]

Agreed, thank's Rich. Would you mind if copied this over to our files section?

I will ask the author and let you know.  James, slide 21 is the end. When it jumps from 21 to 3 you can arrow back to slide 1 & 2.  Thanks, Rich

This was the response I received from Mike. I think this is what Pat was planning anyway.

"Thank you for the kind comments, and for promoting the article.  Tell you, the best practice on Internet sites is to link to a desired content on another site, not to simply copy it, and that is what I desire.  The very reason I put the article in a Flash format was to slow down the copying of my material.  There is a lot of that happening, not to be bragging, just a fact.  If it were the other way around, me wanting to point to some content, I would put a link and a summary or some comments next to the link.  Please pass this on and encourage the webmaster to do this, link with comments or description.  Thanks!"

He also included the following on Ultrasonic cleaning.

"There are only a couple of caveats re ultrasonic cleaning.  First, you need enough power.  That is discussed in the article.  Two, you can use any solution you want, but PineSol is worthless and flammable, so it isn't very wise (one of the forum "experts" promotes this), and Simple Green is if possible even worse due to its very high PH.  I read recently someone is using Simple Green full-strength!  Ahg!  I hope I never have to work on those carbs!  The white fuzz is unstoppable even at a 25/75 SG/water mix, I can't even imagine what straight would do!  I have tried Simple Green, the only way if you have to use it is to add vinegar to lower the PH.  But why bother?  Distilled water with a couple drops of liquid dish soap per 5 gallon of water is all you need.  Seriously.  Third, tank times must be watched closely, for two reasons.  30 and 40 year old carbs [CBX] have almost no cad and zinc plating left on their steel steady brackets.  And early (pre-78) carbs are made of an alloy that reacts badly to any kind of tank cleaning, so care must be taken they dont oxidize or errode while being tanked." 

[racerrad8]

It does not explicitly say whether the diaphragms can be put in an ultrasonic cleaner, seems as this may be problematic -anyone [Randy?] know whether this is the case?

Dan

I do not clean the slides in my ultrasonic cleaner, I do not want to chance damaging the coating or rubber. No on the floats as well.

I have not yet read the article, but I can tell you that I have seen several carbs come through my hands that are grey and corroding due to the use of the improper cleaning agents.

I buy a cleaning agent from an ultrasonic manufacture for non-ferrous metals. I can tell you it eats the zinc coating from the steel, (like mentioned in Rich's last post) but it does a great job or cleaning & brightening the aluminum. It is over $60.00 a gallon, but it is the correct product to care for the carbs I am working on.

I know when 99% of the customers get their carbs back from me, the first thing they notice is how clean they are, and that clean is not only on the outside but the inside as well.

Randy - RPM

[carbguy]

look like great articles, bloody shame i cant read them on this t pad,,so much for smart phones 

Actually, take a look at the menu page, as it explains how you can get the Flash files to run.  If yours is an Android, it should work.  If an iPhone or iPad, then download the free Puffin browser, which remote-runs Flash.

Mike Nixon

[carbguy]

It does not explicitly say whether the diaphragms can be put in an ultrasonic cleaner, seems as this may be problematic -anyone [Randy?] know whether this is the case?

Dan

I clean rubber diaphragms in my ultrasonic tank, but I am careful to watch the time closely, usually no longer than 15 minutes.

[carbguy]

I hope you dont mind that my first three posts are about business, in a way. I know better, but saw questions needing answers.  Although the article goes into the metal vs plastic question in depth, all plastic is safe.  The rubber diaphragms are generally safe because ultrasonic waves bounce off them instead of clashing with them (which is why there are no ultrasonic washing machines), greatly diminishing the waves' effect.  So ultrasonic is very gentle on the diaphragms.  All the same, I watch the time closely on the slides.  As for plating, even traditional chemical dip will slough off very oxidized plating, so yes, an ultrasonic will remove plating if you are not careful, and if the plating is in very bad shape.  Even plating in good shape, I run at reduced times or power levels just to make sure.  I have done many 40 year old and older virtually irreplacable carbs with beautiful as-manufactured plating, with no ill results.  I'll link to some pix when I get a moment.  Not trying to sell you guys, just helping inform and prevent misinformation.  :-).