How often to rebuild carbs?

[ddavis90325is]

I am having fuel delivery problems (1984 35hp remote) and i'm not sure why. I re-built the carb about a year ago, with a whole new carb kit. Now how often should i have to do that? I run the motor a lot, probably much more than most because i fish at least 100+ days a year. Twice i have pulled the carb and cleaned it out without replacing parts, once this solved the problem, now it is not, is it time for another carb kit? I'm a college kid so dropping $30 on a kit every year isn't too bad, but i put $20 into a fuel pump kit only to find that it didn't fix my problem. I understand this is part of owning a boat...

Another thing that may make some on this board cringe, is i don't use the best oil to mix. I usually just go with Penzoil outboard or the Wal-Mart Supertech brands, because i figure for my application it's good enough, but would this be contributing to my problem?

 

[5150abf]

Re: How often to rebuild carbs?

My geuss would be your carb isn't as clean as you think.
I cleaned mine 2 times in 2 weeks and my motor still didn't run right cleaned it right the 3rd time and got it.
You shouldn't have to buy a kit again,certainly not every year, just make sure all the jets are really clean especially the high speed jet which is inside the carb drain, pull the drain plug from the carb bowl and you will need a really skinny straight screw driver to get them out, get a peice of old stranded copper wire, pull strands off till it just fits thru the hole, scrub it back and forth on the wire a couple times and reasemble.
Don't use anything harder than the wire though.
And the oil, as long as it is TCW3 it is fine no matter the brand, more expensive oil is just more expensive.
Oh, and you are a dog! I wish I could get out 100 times a year!
Enjoy yourself now, soon you will have a wife and kids and a real job.

 

[iwombat]

Re: How often to rebuild carbs?

If you're careful about using fuel stabilizer, use a filter and run seafoam in your gas routinely you won't need to rebuild your carbs really ever. Stale gas, pumping crud through your carb bodies and no detergents or solvents (seafoam or techron or others) will cause you to rebuild often.

 

[CharlieB]

Re: How often to rebuild carbs?

Carb cleaning basically depands on how clean is your fuel supply and how often you refill your tank.

Over time moisture accumulates in tanks, that's why the pickup dip tube is slightly shorter than the tank depth, so to NOT suck up the crud that accumulates on the bottom.

Relatively new craft/tanks are fine for years, older tanks, well, it gets to be a repetitive problem, solved by cleaning the tank, instaling a water seperating filter and/or replacing the tank. Take your pick.

But this may not be your problem THIS time, we need more information on what the symtoms are.