I hate mother-$#@!ing carbs.

mad_machine wrote: odd... I have run some crappy cars.. but never once had a fuel injection failure. Carb failures yes, injection no

Yep, pretty tough to mess up fuel injection setups unless someone has damaged it physically. Carbs on the other hand are tempermental without ever touching them.

I recently rebuilt the Solex carb on my Envoy (Vauxhall) because it would stall if I gave it too much throttle ...

rebuild seem to go fine. Re-installed carb and but same bloody issue. Racked my brain, tore it down again. After a couple hours in the sun I figured it out. There was a vacumn hose slowing down the movement of the accelerator pump arm. Relocated that and it drove just fine. Ugh. I still don't know if it even needed rebuilt.

JeffHarbert wrote: Carburetors are barely controlled fuel leaks. I hate seeing one stuck on an LSx. Give me EFI any day. The only thing I currently own with a carb is my riding mower, and it's given me more trouble than I'd like.

fuel injection is electron controlled fuel leaks..

So I decided to try my voodoo magic tonight and open this mystery tube up again. Cleaned it again, bowl was full of gas, re-assembled and re-installed. Primed the bulb and held my breath. It coughed it choked, it weazed and it died. Primed it again this time twice the pumps, and it started up, but would only run if I kept pushing the primer bulb. So obviously the fuel isn't getting drawn up from the bowl, why? I don't have a clue, not enough vacuum maybe? Something not sealed right? Who knows, i don't care to investigate it any further, not worth my time to sell a $45 lawn mower.

The jet is blocked in the carb, usually from buildup or dried gas. A small needle will clear the passages along with some carb cleaner. Should run after that.

HiTempguy wrote:

mad_machine wrote: odd... I have run some crappy cars.. but never once had a fuel injection failure. Carb failures yes, injection no

Yep, pretty tough to mess up fuel injection setups unless someone has damaged it physically. Carbs on the other hand are tempermental without ever touching them.

I couldn't take it anymore. So much bullE36 M3 in this thread.

Never had an O2 sensor go bad? That's a fuel injection failure. The computer in my son's truck went bad a few weeks ago, and one injector in my GT (worst injectors in the history of fuel injection) stopped firing last year. Both fuel injection failures. Bad MAF sensor? Fuel injection failure. Bad fuel pump? You get the idea.

I'm very much pro FI, but statements like

Carbs on the other hand are tempermental without ever touching them.

is the problem with carbs, not the carbs themselves. Carbs are extremely reliable, and work exceptionally well considering their simplicity. The problem is not typically the carb, but the operator who doesn't understand it. Do you realize how small the jets are in a carb on a piece of lawn equipment? Maybe it's not a good idea to leave it almost empty, in a damp garage for the next 6 months.

The bike I currently race has a very enthusiastic membership, and excellent forum. The general consensus amongst the membership is that the stock Mikuni carbs are finicky and practically unjettable. The jetting thread for 2 strokes is over 30 pages, and there's a separate database just for jetting. There is every imaginable combination of jet, pilot, slide, and needle and no two are the same. Fortunately, the saviour has arrived, and it's the Lectron (a funny story in itself). No jets, one needle. Set it and forget it. Guess what? The Lectron thread is now over 40 pages, and people can't get them set up.

That's the problem with carbs.

mad_machine wrote: odd... I have run some crappy cars.. but never once had a fuel injection failure. Carb failures yes, injection no

you have never had a injection problem amazing.......i have laid awake at night trying to figure out injection problems on cars sitting in the garage. i love carbs...there is nothing like the sound of the secondarys opening up on a big four barrel when you put your foot to the floor and if you add another one it just doubles the pleasure...dual four barrels rock