Read our Ultrasonic Engineer's reply to the customer's query below.

 

Q: Will this carburettor cleaning solution damage neoprene seals, O rings etc? Is it totally safe to leave seals in place or is removal required prior to use?

 

A: Over the years many different materials have been used to make seals and gaskets in carburettors, and we cannot guarantee that our cleaning solutions are safe to use on all of them.

Generally, the rubber seals used are very robust to chemicals considering they spend their life in contact with petrol or petrol vapours.

In an ideal world, we would recommend fully stripping down a carburettor and removing all gaskets, seals, and diaphragms before ultrasonic cleaning, this will give you the best chance of removing contaminants and getting into all of the cavity’s, crevices, and component parts then replacing all seals and consumable parts with new.

 

In the real world unless you’re carrying out a nut and bolt rebuild this is unlikely to happen, most of our customers have great results lightly stripping down their carburettors to expose areas such as the float bowl where contamination can accumulate and placing straight into the ultrasonic cleaner. Usually, a 30-minute clean will give good results dependant on the age and start condition of the carburettor being cleaned.

For such a short period of time it is unlikely that seals and gaskets would be damaged, especially as a limited surface area of the seals are exposed when a carburettor is in its built-up state.

We wouldn’t recommend soaking the carburettor’s for long periods of time as longer exposure is more likely to damage the seals.

 

If you are concerned about potential damage where possible we would recommend a test clean to be carried out with old sacrificial seals if you have them, prior to a carburettor clean to ensure no damage would be done.

 

It is always good practice to fully rinse and flush the carburettor after cleaning to remove dislodged contaminants and cleaning fluid using fresh petrol or compressed air.

 

For more information please visit our website listing here, or contact one of our product specialists.