Bob Pastorello

My Feedback: (198)

Would like to hear various methods of getting carbs juicy to run after being stored/unused for the winter? Obvious method that works well is removing the pumping side of the carb, cleaning screens, putting gas in there, and reassembling.

For cowled engines that don't need the maintenance, ideas for "priming" without the disassembly or cowl removal processes?

Would like to see everyone's ideas - probably lots of folks would benefit from a thread with this info easy to find....Guys???

All Day Dan

My Feedback: (5)

Bob, if your engine has been sitting around for a few months and your gasoline contains ethanol, you may be better off changing all the gaskets and diaphragms in the carburetor before you do anything else. Make sure the choke plate closes fully over the intake. Sometimes it shifts around and that screw holding it to the shaft has to be loosen a little to recenter it. Soldering over that bleeder hole in the plate will help a little. Dan.

kmeyers

Here is one I came up with.

No amount of blowing into the full gas tank vent will push fuel through a Walbro type carb.

But if you can slip a 0.050 allen wrench short side into the vent hole of the regulator side to the center of the metal button portion of the diapham and rock it inward to lift the needle valve off the seat. You can then blow (through the full gas tank vent) fuel easily through the whole carb front to back and out the orifices ( being pressure will take the path of least resistence it might go through just the high speed jet)

Care must be taken not to damage the diapham or the lever and needle assembly.

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

After storage :
If the carb has a choke;close the choke ,open the throttle and rock the prop back and forth a few times until you "hear" the engine get wet.
If you can touch the carb; open the throttle, stick your finger in the carb opening , rock the prop back and forth @ tdc until your finger gets wet and you should "hear" the engine get wet . If you can't touch the carb but have a large opening you can use a small ball on a stick instead of your finger.
If it's inside a cowl you can use a squeeze bulb with a long wand. Fill the bulb with gas/oil mix,insert the wand into the throttle-open carb and squeeze.

Bob Pastorello

My Feedback: (198)

That's the kind of ideas I hope will be posted....great idea to open that needle....and yes, sure could be problematic for less experienced folks who might easily damage that diaphragm. Pretty delicate stuff in there. Thanks for your post!

Bob Pastorello

My Feedback: (198)

Great suggestions if you have access. When things have really dried out inside, getting some juice inside the various channels in these carbs becomes the trick. My experience is that they don't need "much", but the flapper and the needle/seat are critical....

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

Some might find this interesting:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/gas-...imer-bulb.html

AV8TOR

Bob Pastorello

My Feedback: (198)

Very interesting, but still requires access to engine. Lawn stuff that I have with primers always work, that's for sure!
Didn't know that was added to my sticky post - glad it was....I don't review that enough these days...

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

Well, some of the equipment like certain weedeaters and a lot of chain saws have a remote primer bulb. One could use a remote, self contained primer bulb and mount it somewhere unobtrusive like the bottom of the front fuselage, or cowl, etc. It would necessitate however, having a carb with a primer hookup port, or creating a hook up port on the carb. Many carbs used on R/C planes have a carb with a primer hookup port/tube, but it is blocked off since the primer isn't generally used. Just one hose from the primer hookup on the carb to the primer, and one from the primer dumping into the tank would do it.

I just may start doing this on my planes. It's a pretty good idea and that is why nearly all weedeaters, chain saws, leaf blowers, etc. have them. Makes for quicker starts, and it is a trouble shooter too. If that primer doesn't work properly, and you can tell when you pump it if it is working or not, then you have a problem in your fuel system that needs immediate attention.

AV8TOR

raptureboy

full choke, full throttle, electric starter. Well restrained aircraft goes without saying. I just leave gas in the lines since I use marine grade Sta Bil no problems.

kerwin50

I use Shtil Ultra oil. It has fuel stablizers in it. So I don't drain my tank, empty the fuel out of the gas lines or anything else. I just flip an fly.

MTK

Use Avgas and filter it well into the field can and into the tank. I've found that this stuff doesn't affect any of the rubber that's used in Walbro carbs. It takes much longer for Avgas to dry in the carb or so it seems than car gas does.

I didn't fly much last summer and have my crates mothballed for around 6 months now. We finally had a flyable day a few weeks ago so I went out. It took maybe 15 rockings back and forth of the prop to get gas into the carb and it fired right up.

Same thing with my DLE55 which was mothballed for over two years. Just gassed it up, and let'er rip...I dunno, it may be all coincidence, but I'm finding that using Avgas simply works better all around on my engines. I have yet to see some of the maintenance issues I keep reading about in these pages....YMMV as always

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

I mounted a primer bulb on my F4B with an Evra (Ryobi) 31 rear carb. The bulb is mounted just inside the front cowl and is hard to see and the plumbing is mounted to squirt right down the carb throat.
I think if most engines are stored properly and at least started the next year and stored again there shouldn't be any severe problems. After they have been sitting for a few years not running is when the pumps/diaphragms start to really harden up/dry out.

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

I have had the gas evaporate out, and the diaphragm be useless and hard as a rock in as little as two months without use..... I have pictures of the fuel line out of my fueling can, and it is so stiff that I can hang a 2 lbs. roll of solder on it. I have that both with rubber tubing and with Tygon. And my gas DOES NOT have ethanol in it. I've checked it several times. It is something else in the fuel, or lack of it here in the southwest USA that causes it.

When done flying I empty my fuel tanks and then half fill them with Coleman Fuel with 20:1 Pennzoil for Air Cooled engines and a dash of Sta-Bil. Then I run the engine for a couple of minutes, choke it to kill it, leave the storage fuel in the tank, cap the vent, and finally, finally my fuel problems went away. Note that I do not, and would not ever, fly with the Coleman "Storage Fuel".

AV8TOR

Lifer

My Feedback: (1)

It may be a bit awkward, but for the first start of the season, I squirt a little gas straight into the muffler while the bird is on the assembly stand and upside down. I then angle the aircraft in such a way as to guide the gas into the exhaust outlet. Make sure the piston is somewhere near BDC and following that, rotate the prop to close off the exhaust port, then set the bird back on its gear. Works EVERY time and doesn't require any rebuilding, etc. I suspect the idea comes from my old .049 days. Nothing better than a direct exhaust prime.

rc74

My Feedback: (6)

You need to switch to Vitron tubeing, at least in the tank.

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

Personally I find Viton tubing to be too stiff to use for a clunk line in the fuel tank.

AV8TOR

garyr1

A little sta-bil in your last flight of the season should keep things from gumming up.
The stuff works for me just fine with all my small engines and boat too.
Follow mix directions and don't over-do it though, or you will end up with a carb full of sta-bil, and that's no good either.
Come springtime, full choke, full throttle, wobble the prop a bit and start flipping.
Oh, and install a nice fresh, properly gapped plug.

1QwkSport2.5r

Sta-Bil doesn't hurt anything if you overuse it. I use Sta-Bil Marine at 2x the maintenance dose, an ounce/gal of Seafoam, and whatever oil I have on hand for my 2-stroke lawn equipment. I mix the fuel this way right when I buy it and never have problems with my engines not starting. I use the same method minus the 2-stroke oil for my 4-stroke engines and thankfully only had one gummed up carb last year in a 4hp Honda. First time in 20 years having a gelatin like substance inside the carb gumming stuff up. It didn't smell nice either.