I’ve been watching YouTube vids that say Pine-Sol is nearly as good as Berryman’s parts (carb especially, I have a solvent tank) cleaner.
Now, as you all know, I’m a Cheap Bastard, and will walk a mile to save a dime, so I want to do this job as cheap as possible (with as little work as possible, too. Because if there is one thing I’m worse/better at as being cheap, it is LAZY! )
I would shell out the $30 for a can of Berryman’s, but I’ve got to dip Weber DCOE 40’s and I really don’t think they will fit in the can (regular gallon paint sized can) and don’t want to pour it into some other vessel and let it evap or spill ($10 a quart!). Much rather get a container more “Weber-sized” and fill it with something cheaper that won’t just disappear into the atmosphere over-night.
I haven’t priced Pine-Sol lately, but I’m pretty sure its cheaper than Berryman’s or Gunk (which is the best available to us lay-men, as I understand). Gunk, by the way, came in at just under a hundred bucks for a paint-sized can!
Have the Motorheads of The Dope done this? What do you say? What do you use? Should I just use my solvent tank?
I found a felt polishing disc out in the shop today. Plan to use that on the bodies of the carbs as well. Hell, car might almost look cromulate after this project.
(As to the YouTube vids I’ve watched- Horribly tedious, little info and almost nothing in the realm of reality. There are guys putting what looks to me like brand-new carbs in a can of dip, and after 24 hours, they come out looking pretty much the same. If those are what they consider a “dirty carb”, they would faint into a quivering mass of the vapors it they say mine. That’s all I’m sayin’! )
I’m not familiar with that particular carburetor, but I’ve always had good luck with the cheap $4 can of aerosol carb cleaner from the parts store… I usually just grab the store brand. I don’t dip my carbs, I usually take them apart on my bench and spray down the big pieces. I might put some of the small pieces in a glass baby food jar and spray some cleaner in there, then take it out and gently brush or wipe it with rag.
There is no way Pine-sol cleans as well as a $4 can of carb cleaner. That stuff has all kinds of nasty stuff in it, and I usually find other uses for it besides cleaning carburetors. Like if you need to remove sticky goo off of something that had a label, carburetor cleaner works better than anything else I’ve ever tried including products marketed specifically for that purpose. Just don’t spray it on anything plastic.
Anyway, that has always worked for me.
Heck, sometimes I just don’t even take the carb off of the engine. Just spray it down careful not to spray anything it could damage (like plastic). Even spray short bursts into the carb with the engine running.
If you wanna soak it, ya cheap bastahd*, leave it in gasoline overnight. Don’t like that?.. diesel or kerosene would work. Then spray out with Berryman when you’re done (it always comes back to the Berryman, man).
Actually I believe the consensus of motorheads is that they don’t make good carburetor cleaners anymore–the manufacturers were required to revise the formulas several years ago for environmental reasons.
So true! I remember back in the day I had this shit Yamaha sold for combustion chamber cleaning that when used would open a time vortex into a different dimension. That was some serious shit!
We always just used gasoline. Pour enough gas in an empty oil drain pan, knock most of the loose crud off the outside of the carb, disassemble the carb as far as you can/dare, and let it soak overnight then brush the parts vigorously tomorrow. Ideally using an old toothbrush so you didn’t pay anything for that tool either.
Reassemble the carb, pour the gasoline back into your shop jerry can through a shop towel, and throw away the crud caught in the towel. Let the towel air out for a day and it’ll be good as new. No waste there.
The whole process shouldn’t cost you more than a pint or so of gasoline. Definitely cheaper than no-name Pine-Sol.
Besides, when you run that same gas through the same car later it’ll totally renew your redneck shadetree creds. Who says you can’t use the same gas twice?
Oh, and if you’re using a spray can with the red extension tube inserted into the nozzle, the de-greaser has a tendency to splash back into your face. So be sure and wear eye protection. You don’t want that shit getting in your eyes.
Spray can of Berryman’s, Gumout, or equivalent – house brands are okay. With the long nozzle extension, spray through all the little passageways (i.e., through every hole you see). If possible, repeat with compressed air.
I seriously doubt that soaking it in anything will do a better job.
One thing I recall hearing about a couple of years ago; whatever used to be in Pine Sol that made it good (Pine juice?) at what it did was removed and replaced with something much cheaper and crappier.
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