Why/how does it get this bad?

[atpchas]

I work on a lot of mowers and see some pretty crudded up carbs, but this is a new record for me although I'm sure some of you have seen worse.
My question is this: How and why does the corrosion get so bad? The owner claims this mower ran last year. I've seen lots of mowers that sat all winter with stale fuel and they are nowhere near as bad.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

Crazy! I don’t think that ran last year, peoples perception of time is often very skewed!

 

[Chevboy0167]

Kinda like my shift manager claims he never leaves his tiller outside... in the rain even.... A lot of scrapping and cleaning saved it this time. Pea rock shaking in the $100 fuel tank for the win!

 

[atpchas]

Crazy! I don’t think that ran last year, peoples perception of time is often very skewed!

I have my doubts as well. It does look like the machine was left out in the weather which is certain not to have helped.

Kinda like my shift manager claims he never leaves his tiller outside... in the rain even.... A lot of scrapping and cleaning saved it this time. Pea rock shaking in the $100 fuel tank for the win!

I can understand not having room inside a garage or shed but at least spring for tarp and some bungees to secure it.

 

[Old2stroke]

That fluffy white corrosion is usually a sign of water getting into the carb.

 

[HarleyT]

I have found that any more the tanks/carb collect water more easily. I don't know if it is due to the changes in fuel, or tank design. I have come up with a novel idea on my tiller and logsplitter. After the crud starts forming, the bowl nut gets harder to screw back in, even with cleaning/buffing the nut. So when I replace the nut, after going through the carb, I tighten it enough to where it does a tiny drip, drip, etc.. And I only put only a little fuel in for the job at hand, and any excess will drip out when finished, and I never have to go through the carbs again.

 

[user 122190]

I've got a Craftsman T-1200 I am probably going to buy soon. It is not running, and I expect the carb is at fault. A simple thing to fix, and I can flip it for 3 to 4 times what the owner is asking.

Got to love these old mowers that non-mechanical people buy and that are to expensive to fix with labor rates the way they are.

 

[Stevo Bambino]

I have seen carbs that bad and worse. It is from water and ethanol. Turns super corrosive for aluminum and magnesium. I do not even bother cleaning them when they are like that. I just replace them with a cheap chinese carb. When I see that, I know the owner is not going to be taking care of it anyway and it will be back. Whether it comes back to me or someone else, I don't care. I am too busy already. I try to teach them that ethanol is really really bad for small engines, but most people are too arrogant and think they know better. Can you tell that I have very little patience for people like that? At least I try, and some actually do listen, but very few.

 

[user 122190]

I have seen carbs that bad and worse. It is from water and ethanol. Turns super corrosive for aluminum and magnesium. I do not even bother cleaning them when they are like that. I just replace them with a cheap chinese carb. When I see that, I know the owner is not going to be taking care of it anyway and it will be back. Whether it comes back to me or someone else, I don't care. I am too busy already. I try to teach them that ethanol is really really bad for small engines, but most people are too arrogant and think they know better. Can you tell that I have very little patience for people like that? At least I try, and some actually do listen, but very few.

I am a big believer in gas stabilizers/cleaners. I rarely have problems with my own equipment with reliable use of these inexpensive products, available from about everywhere. That and ethanol free gas and I fully expect all my equipment to start right up even in freezing weather.

 

[Pioneer]

I took apart a snow blower carburetor where the ethanol had actually eaten away the brass, including the main jet and left deposits in the bowl. The carburetor was basically junk because of that. Ethanol free fuel or draining the system when the seasons use is over goes a long way to preventing these problems.

 

[JHenke]

Looks like ethanol fuel damage.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

Ethanol free fuel is kinda hard to find. I found some 90+ octane pure gas about 20 miles from me, so that's a 40 mile round trip just because the local station owners are too lazy to ask for it. The people who sell it told me it's not hard to get but you have to ask..

 

[blades]

ethanol another of gov. big lies

 

[fourbyford]

In my humble experience, non ethanol fuel can sit for more than a year in dry storage or a dry climate and there will almost never be corrosion in the bowl or tank. I often don't bother with stabilizer either, one season to the next, and most times the mowers, tillers and motorcycles will still fire right up on year old gas, especially when the tank or container is sealed to prevent evaporation losses

 

[a. palmer jr.]

I was also told at the gas station that they have to keep it in a separate pump or they couldn't say it was non-ethanol. It can't be a pump with 3 or 4 different selections. Probably another government rule to make it harder to sell pure gas..

 

[blades]

one hose /3 selections? Now I know nothing about the internals of gas station pumps. Doubt that there are 3 pumps. so one pump + piping = how much ethanol laced fuel are you getting when selecting non ethanol? Think about it. The way I do it is to keep the first gallon or so divided from the rest of the purchase, don't know if this works, never tried to test it.

the way, i read somewhere, is that the refineries are not the place the ethanol is introduced/mixed but at the distribution centers.

 

[camel2019]

one hose /3 selections? Now I know nothing about the internals of gas station pumps. Doubt that there are 3 pumps. so one pump + piping = how much ethanol laced fuel are you getting when selecting non ethanol? Think about it. The way I do it is to keep the first gallon or so divided from the rest of the purchase, don't know if this works, never tried to test it.

I ideally pump a bit into my truck to clear out the hose then put the amount I need in my can

 

[3000 FPS]

That is water damage caused from ethanol fuel left in the mower and was probably also left to sit outside. I have seen this before.

 

[blades]

That's kinda hard on my diesel . Although I have heard of some doing this during the cold months, cheaper than those magic specialty bottles .

 

[a. palmer jr.]

The place where I buy my non-ethanol gas has a bunch of pumps and the one I use only has one selection, 93 octane non ethanol unleaded. The rest of the pumps are on a different island. I kinda like to put this fuel in my mowers and stuff right before winter comes, expensive to use year around, I think it's probably over $5 a gallon now. Supposed to go buy some tomorrow...