[John Bartley]

John, have you tried cleaning any of the new plastic Briggs carbs in your cleaner, or the troublesome 2 barrel carb from the Briggs "V" engine? How long do you run the cycle?

Because we don't have a long hot summer here we typically don't have the lawnmower carb problems that I used to get when I lived four hours further south. Most of my cleaning work is carbs from chainsaws (intermittent use) and snowblowers (sit all summer with fuel in them). String trimmer carbs are so cheap now that we just change the carbs if the trimmers are worth it. The cheapy trimmers ($149) we don't even fix ... at a shop rate of $1/minute it's just not worth it to the customer. Most carb cleaning is done in a blend of about 2L of water with 1/3 cup green concentrated detergent - almost any detergent will work. I leave chainsaw and snowblower carbs in for about 15 minutes at about 120'F. I have yet to have to clean either of the carbs you mention. I have replaced a few of the plastic carbs on lawnmowers because it's cheaper to do that than to kit them, and the Intek/Vanguard twins haven't given me any troubles up here yet .... we just don't get that hot, hot weather that makes fuel go bad so fast.

cheers

John