Acetone as carb cleaner - thoughts?

[Michel]

Last week I was in a local cafe in Binfield with the motorbike, when an old boy (79) on a 1986 Honda Goldwing - 1300, Californian import which he's owned for decades.

Got chatting to him, and was talking about my carburettor fun earlier in the year. He told me before he got into IT in the mid-70s he'd been a motorcycle mechanic.

Then he claimed he'd never cleaned the carbs on any of his own bikes, rarely even removed them.

He told me that he gets a bottle of Acetone, about half a pint then puts the feed from the tank to the fuel pump in the bottle, and just lets the bike idle on pure acetone until the bottle is dry. He did emphasise DO NOT REV IT.

Reckons it cleans crud from the carbs and burns crud off the valves, said the exhaust will get very hot as it pre-ignites but carbs will be clean and problem free.

Some of you are even older than me, and have the power and knowledge to either say "yes, he's right" or "no, it's total sh1te".

Your thoughts would be appreciated..

[mickthemaverick]

No idea whether that is a worker or not but if you give it a go be careful cos it'll make your nail varnish run!!

[Michel]

I'd be more worried about it burning valves out, anyway, my nail varnish is on my toes...

[bobins]

It's an interesting idea ! It should be safe on the carb components...... providing there's nothing too exotic in there. If it's carb powered then it's reasonable to assume there won't be any sensors to damage I could see it working if the engine will actually run on it.
I always try and run the carbs dry in my small industrial petrol engines (Honda GX range etc) and try and keep little petrol in the tank on them if they're not going to be used for a while - that way I have to give them fresh fuel when I start them.
Would it be easier to turn the petrol tank tap off and run the engine until it conks out ?

[myglaren]

It will ruin most plastics. I dropped a small drip on my laptop when cleaning some glass and it has left a permanent mark, also on other plastic bits.

[PaulC5]

If there is a float in the carb it would need to be checked it is ok with acetone. Acetone can dissolve paint so not a good idea to spill any on paintwork. I thought petrol might be good at cleaning stuff, if the old boy has not stripped a carb to clean it how does he know it was not already clean before adding acetone ?

[Gibbo2286]

I used to used cellulose thinner to clean carbs but not while they're running, just when on the bench, it will quickly clean them up like new.

[moizeau]

I'd worry about the plastic floats, the rubber tipped float valves and the other o rings. Never used it but Seafoam seems to have been the thing for years. Keihin CV carbs are a nightmare. Still having issues with no.2 carb on mine, getting better but never been right. The pilot circuit blocks very easily. There are 5 microscopic holes near the butterfly. 1 10mmish towards the cylinder in front of the butterly, 1 directly below the butterfly and the other 3 slightly more rearwards. I've got a Gunson Colourtune and can't get no.2 right, it always is lean and makes the throttle 'fluffy' on low revs acceleration. Above 2 1/2 k it's fine or in a low gear so it's not under as much load. It was worse when I bought the bike so I'm getting somewhere......I use Bardahl fuel stabilizer in anything I have that has a carb. 7 lawn mowers, chainsaw, 2 strimmers, hedgecutter and 3 bikes that are running. If I have to fill up if I'm out will only use 98 and only enough to safely get me home. 98 can have up to 5% ethanol in it. Carbs really don't like ethanol. I must get the mercury gauges out and check they're balanced.

[mickthemaverick]

I used to use STP carb spray and it kept my bikes going ok. No idea what was in it but I trusted STP in those days. Don't know if they still make it!!

[bobins]

Acetone is used in some carb cleaner sprays, so I'd lean towards it being OK in limited doses.

[mickthemaverick]

Well it seems it is still made and highly rated: https://yourcar.co.uk/best-carburettor-cleaner/

[bobins]

Acetone is the main active ingredient in the STP carb cleaner.
MSDS is here ----> https://www.cdgltd.co.uk/files/ww/STP%2 ... 20ROI_.pdf

It contains : acetone, xylene, 4-hydroxy-4-methylpentan-2-one, ethylbenzene

[moizeau]

On my wishlist is an ultrasonic cleaner 22l. It is a 4 hour job to remove/clean/refit a bank of 4 carbs. Lawn mowers.20 mins tops. Which is why I use stabiliser. I wish I had old rubber tipped float valve that I could dunk for 10 mins but alas.......Smith and Jones

[CitroJim]

IPA and/or Brake Cleaner for me...

[Michel]

On my wishlist is an ultrasonic cleaner 22l. It is a 4 hour job to remove/clean/refit a bank of 4 carbs. Lawn mowers.20 mins tops. Which is why I use stabiliser. I wish I had old rubber tipped float valve that I could dunk for 10 mins but alas.......Smith and Jones

Now I know how to do it, I could do it in an hour, easily. That's from riding a complete running bike up the drive, to riding it off again.

Took me 20 mins to remove the seat, tank, airbox and carbs, replace the carb heater pipes and put it back together again the other week.

Power screwdriver helps.