Ultra-sonic cleaning of carbs

Plan on re-building my carbs this winter. Kinda scared of what I percieve as a daunting task, but know I can find plenty of answers here.
I should have access to an ultra-sonic cleaner. It is large enough to fit the whole carb rack into. It also has a heater function.

Should I use it?
If yes:
Should I use just water?
Or is there a detergent/ cleanser that would be more effective?

Thoughts?

TIA

 

DON'T SUBMERGE a still-assembled rack.

Whatever you submerge it in will become trapped in the throttle shaft seals.

 

So just the carb bodies with all non-metal components removed could go in?

Use a detergent?

 

Yes you should use it, and yes you should use the heater function. Ultrasonics are much more effective when hot.

I've had good results with tap water and dish detergent. As Fitz mentioned, if you're dropping in a whole rack, you've got to be careful with the throttle shaft seals. If all you're using is water and dish detergent, then I wouldn't worry about it. Just make sure you bake the rack at elevated temp (120-140F) for a while afterwards to make sure all the nooks and crannies are dry.

Other more aggressive solvents can be used, but you can't do that without taking the entire carb apart to remove everything that isn't metal. And even then, you should read the label on the cleaning agent. Some of them (like simple green) don't play well with aluminum so read the label and be careful.

The aromatic solvents are fine with aluminum, but most shops don't want you to fill their entire tank with mineral spirits or acetone. Here's a trick... Use a container inside a container. Put your parts into a plastic bag first and then pour the solvent of your choice in to cover the parts to be cleaned, tie off the top and place the whole thing into the US cleaner. The thin bag will contain the solvent but will still pass the US vibrations through to the part to be cleaned. Just make sure your bag is compatible with the cleaning agent of choice and make sure you test if first to confirm. Polyethylene or polypropylene are often good choices.

Lastly... Remember that when using an US cleaner... If it doesn't get wet, it isn't going to get clean. Deep small diameter passageways will sometimes "bubble lock" and stay dry inside and if they're dry, they won't clean. Worse the smaller the passageway is. You know... Like the kind of stuff you find inside carbs?

 

I have my entire rack very very carefully disassembled on my bench as I type. I am taking the carb bodies and float bowls into my old job where I can use the heated ultrasonic cleaner, tomorrow after work.
I am doing this COMPLETELY disassembled. If you do it with parts together, there's places not getting clean, and I don't want to have to do this twice. I don't like the idea of water in v seals either, I have unheated parking and cold winter practically here

 

Stump...I'm in the middle of a complete disassembly of the Seca carbs...it's really not that complicated...take notes and pictures...and follow chacal's write up.
If you want to swing by Cedarburg, I could show you what I'm doing...or if you get into trouble...I'm in your area all the time...just give me a call.

P

 

this is great! I have one at work but no heater. I can live with that!

I am doing a complete carb rebuild so everything is going into the US cleaner.

like Rice_Burnarr said, it will be dish detergent and water!


kinen1

 

I would suggest, at this point in ownership, that if you have a bike in need of a "church of clean" cleaning of the carbs, go ahead and break the rack and do it 100%. Replace the shaft seals and the fuel rail O-rings. On my bike the fuel rails started to leak 8 months after a cleaning and rebuild. Might as well do it all at once, really isn't that hard, and you always have a lot of help here. After all, the bikes are over 30 years old and it isn't if...it is when.

 

Thanks Patmac, I will keep you in mind as a nearby reference.
I'm having a 'guys weekend' with my Dad so can't swing by this weekend.

I assume you mean Chacal's Church of Clean write up?

I still am planning on another month of riding so won't be getting into this until later in the season.

 

I believe it's RickCoMatic's write up, "whole 9 yards to the church of clean"

 

There are two. Rick's is "The Whole 9 Yards." http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=2908.html

Chacal's is "In the Church of Clean" http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=14692.html which also includes stock jetting specs and rejetting calculation formulas, etc.

 

Another thing to keep in mind with untrasonic cleaning; sound waves do not travel well around 90º bends. Many of the air and fuel passages won't get clean by using ultrasonics because of the way they were drilled at the factory.

 

No problem. Just heat the water up before you fill the US. Not so hot that you burn yourself when you stick a finger in, but hot enough that you don't want to keep your finger in it for more than a few seconds.

 

Okay, all I combined two different write ups... oops

I ran my carb bodies for about an hour in a heated US, not long enough, but I had to leave.

They certainly looked a bit cleaner, and again I feel lucky that my carbs were so clean in the first place...
But since I didn't pull four shiny spotless "zesty" carb bodies from the tank, I may end up going for a lemon juice boil anyways.

If I had the time to sit there and reset the timer every thirty minutes for the whole evening, i think I would have been happier with the result.

 

I'm thinking that whatever didn't come off in an hour isn't going to come off with more time. Different frequency or sweep frequency maybe, but simply more time at the same settings isn't going to do anything more.

I've found that US cleaniers work well at removing anything organic, but the don't do a great job at corroded aluminum (aluminum oxide). Thankfully the oxidized sections of the carbs I've messed with are on the outside where it doesn't affect performance.

Be careful with the lemon juice. Aluminum and acids can be tricky...

 

Well, I pulled the parts at 30 minutes, when the timer stopped it the first time, and there was still somewhat large brown crappy areas on the outside of the bodies still, old fuel, oil, whatever, but cleaner than before.

After I pulled them at an hour, they were noticeably more clean on the outside, with only a small area left. I'm sure more time would have made them even more clean.

If you boil with lemon juice, you want to rinse off the parts as soon as you're done and blow them dry. It'll probably dull the aluminum finish.