How To Clean A Motorcycle Carburetor | MC GARAGE

Got an old bike that’s not running right? The carburetor may very well need a cleaning. In this video from the MC Garage, Senior Road Test Editor Ari Henning takes you through the process of cleaning a carburetor. It’s not terribly complicated and it doesn’t take any specialized tools, but it does take attention to detail! So put on your safety glasses and rubber gloves and get to it.

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Got an old bike that’s not running right? The carburetor may very well need a cleaning. The carb is tasked with supplying the engine with fuel and air in a very precise ratio, and to do that it relies on numerous small passageways and orifices. Sometimes though, those little holes get clogged, and when they do your bike may have a hard time starting or may not want to idle. When that happens, it’s time to give the carburetor a good cleaning.

In this video from the MC Garage, Senior Road Test Editor Ari Henning takes you through the motorcycle carb cleaning process. It's not terribly complicated and it doesn't take any specialized tools, but it does take attention to detail! So put on your safety glasses and rubber gloves and get to it.

And while you've got your bike in the garage, make sure you lube your chain (click here for How To Lube Your Chain), and take a few minutes to give your bike a thorough safety check (see Safety Check here). And why not lube your control cables, too? We show you how to do it all in our MC Garage video section.

[dtmccurdy]

Biggest rookie mistake I ever made and learned from was when cleaning carbs, keep carb cleaner away from anything rubber. It swells gaskets and messes with everything. I didn't know this on my first carb job and couldn't figure out why the thing leaked like crazy and flooded the engine until I finally figured it out. Please learn from me

[AlexanderSeling]

Today I learned that I will be having my mechanic do this for me.

[Zeggawong]

Couple extra things.
Don't let carb cleaner touch plastic or rubber seals.
Don't use anything that might scratch the float valve and seat when cleaning, replace the o-ring on the float valve seat if you pull the carb apart.

[dodaexploda]

Informative, quick and to the point. No unnecessary information about what you had for dinner or stalling. Thank you.

[ReignitedAuto]

Just want to say that as a mechanic myself, this was a really well put together video! All the pertinent info was there, and it was very clearly laid out. Great job Ari!

[RioLajasWolF]

Straight to the point and simple. Camera shots are great. Really instructional. Keep up the great work!!!
MC Garage Rocks!

[llewellyncooper]

Thank you for making this simple enough for a beginner! I feel much more confident knowing what the entire process looks like from beginning to end!

[JDnBeastlet]

Thanks for the tip. The inner workings of a carburetor have seemed like a dark art to me for a long time. You have shed light.

[mortensteenjensen]

It would be cool if you made a video about "how to synchronize carburetors".
Keep up the great work!

[hommebizzare]

I love those videos. I've cleaned a diagphram carb before, but i thought the jets were adjustable, so I was too scared to screw them off - so i just cleaned them as well as i could with them in

[justashibainu]

I just want to say thank you so much for this tutorial. The dirt bike I got from Craigslist was running like shit, I cleaned the carbs exactly like you showed and now it's running beautifully.

[CharlesGauthier]

Hey Ari, great video. Really like the way you broke down the process. One big step is balancing the carbs on a multi carb machine.

[rohanadhikari]

Never stop posting such wonderful tips to clean or service bike parts...great job arihenin for u get to learn so much things

[Adikxx]

This is absolutely the best bike service channel on youtube !!! You guys are awsome!!!

[ParadiseBiker]

Helped soo much, Cleaned my carb for the first time and some of the comments helped to advise me not to let the cleaner touch my rubber parts.

[Winterstick]

As a UJM affecionanado I really appreciated this video.
This and the fork building videos.

[Kcducttaper]

On my Nighthawk 650 (4 carbs), I often run a half bottle of fuel cleaner (I prefer SeaFoam) through the bike once during the summer and once more when I put it away for the winter. I make sure I run it a little bit to get the cleaner actually down in the carbs before parking it and it starts right up in the spring.
Similarly, when I buy something with gummed carbs, if it can at least run on its own, just dumping in a bottle of cleaner along with a fresh tank of new gas will often clean out the carbs really nicely. I try to avoid tearing into carbs, but sometimes you are stuck having to take it all apart to clean it out manually and this vid is a pretty good guide for that.

[HarpreetSingh]

It is very amazing to know so many screws and little things are so important keeping a machine running .

[Mr-.]

I think this is one of the most in-depth videos. Nice.

[alanscott]

Well done my friend. Stay safe & keep the shiney side up!👍😎🇺🇸