"Holy Carburetor Crud Batman!"

[mswyka]

One of our sleds has not been used in a few years - 4 to be exact - a combination of being busy and having a few years with not too much snow.
 But since I like to start all the sleds a couple times a year, whether they are used or not, three seasons ago when I tried, it did not start.  Last year during the snow season - a decent season I would add - I made an effort to get it going and it refused.  Yesterday I started to look a little more closely.  And, after blowing fuel out of the spark plug holes and the overflow tubes of the PTO side carb, I figured it was time to pull the carbs.   Turned out that both carbs were gelled up.  This one worse than the other.  No wonder that the sled did not run.

I cannot say that I open every carburetor every year, but I have never seen anything like this before.  Now I have to back track and see if we have the same stuff in the fuel lines, pump and tank.

[gixxer6]

WOW!  That's nasty...  It looks like old maple syrup! 

Do you use any fuel treatments?  I put Seafoam in all of my gas engines...

[mswyka]

Seafoam sounds like a good idea.  I have been using Stabil when they go into storage in the spring.  Unfortunately we live too close to NYC and cannot buy non-ethanol fuel in our county.

[Interceptor398]

That one is a bit knarly!

[gixxer6]

Seafoam sounds like a good idea.  I have been using Stabil when they go into storage in the spring.  Unfortunately we live too close to NYC and cannot buy non-ethanol fuel in our county.

For what it's worth, we have a local small engine mechanic that has been at it for the last 30+ years.  I asked him what he recommended, he said that he has cleaned literally thousands of snowmobile carbs over the years and he always asks what they use in their fuel.  He said that by far, the carbs that used stabil are always nastier than Seafoam.  And that he uses it in all of his machines. 

After that discussion, I threw away my bottle of Stabil and bought seafoam. 

[mswyka]

I find it peculiar.  We will have a few carbs off of sleds each year and have never seen anything like this.  We will have quite a few carbs come in with sludge, crud, oxidation and goobers - but had never seen any after we had set a sled to right - until this one.

I am thinking a fresh set of jets may be in order.  Either that or I might break down and pick up an ultrasonic cleaner.

[Lloyd (ljm)]

   I used to replace a lot of jets.  Then I got an ultra sonic cleaner.

That carb is nasty!   

[mswyka]

The carbs have been cleaned up, new jets and back into the sled.  Crankcase had a bit of fuel in it and finally mangaged to blow that all out.  Sled still would not run.  Checked spark coil - no spark.  Put the spark coil on the tester, still no spark.  Swapped in a used, but tested coil and she fired.

So then I went looking for a new spark coil  and I am having a bear of a time finding a reliable source.  Dennis Kirk, a frequent source shows no listing for the spark coil for these sleds.  Checked a few other sites and found the same thing.

[mswyka]

Short video of this snowmobile's saga. 

https://youtu.be/5pvvCAWkkRs 

[Interceptor398]

I do like electric start!

[gixxer6]

Very nice! 

I still think you were storing some maple syrup or honey in that carb.  It reminds me of when I used to eat the maple syrup crystals as a kid.  Lol

[mswyka]

So far there are a few take-aways here for me:

1.  Get the best fuel that I can get
2.  Use better stabilizer
3.  Run the sleds every year.  They like to run and need to be run
4.  If I can't run all the sleds every year that might be an indication that we have too many (so far this year I have gotten them all running.  No riding yet, but they have all shown proof of life.)

[gixxer6]

We have "Rec fuel" available here in Michigan.  It's 91 octane recreational gas that contains 0 ethanol.  It has a much longer "shelf life" than the gas with corn in it. 

[mswyka]

Unfortunately we are too close to metro NY and need to travel to counties further out from the city to get non-ethanol fuel.  Although I am tempted to try avgas someday.

[mswyka]

Credit to where credit is due.