Of course, the carburetor is an essential part of a carbureted engine. It’s in charge of mixing air and fuel in the proper air-fuel ratio for combustion. Keeping your carburetor in proper functioning conditions is essential for your engine to work properly. Below you are going to find a list of the 5 most common symptoms of a dirty or bad carburetor.
Your Vehicle’s Engine won’t Start / Hard Starting
If your engine cranks but doesn’t start, it could be a sign of a dirty carburetor. When there is too much dirt and/or carbon build up inside the carburetor, the required combination of air and fuel can’t be achieved due to the restriction in its inner conducts. The engine will be lacking the necessary air-fuel mixture to start up.
Reduced Engine Performance
Another symptom of a bad or failing carburetor is reduced engine performance. If there is a problem with the carburetor, the air-fuel mixture won’t reach the engine in the right proportion, resulting in an engine with poor acceleration, a noticeable reduction in power and fuel efficiency. If, in addition, you notice stumbles and intake sneezes that only happen when you are throttling up your engine, you may also have a damaged accelerator pump diaphragm or clogged accelerator pump channels.
Your Engine is Running Rich
You are going to be aware of this symptom if you see black smoke coming out from the exhaust. This happens when the engine is using too much fuel because the carburetor is delivering excessive fuel. This produces the black smoke. Running a rich engine is not only excessively fuel consuming, but it’s bad for your engine internal components and is very contaminating.
Your Engine is Running Lean
This is the opposite of running rich. Obstructions caused by varnish, for example, can restrict or clog the carburetor bowl’s jets, preventing an adequate amount of fuel from reaching the outlet ports. Sneezing sounds and/or popping sounds are also symptoms that your engine is running lean. This means that your air-fuel ratio balance is off. In this case there is too much air in the mixture. If you notice these symptoms, they are good indicators that it’s time to clean your carburetor.
An engine running lean can also produce backfire and overheat, both of which are bad for engine performance. Running an engine too lean or just lean for a long time can result in damage to the engine because of the high temperatures that a lean engine develops.
Flooding
Sometimes carburetors may flood. This happens if dirt enters the needle valve and prevents it from closing. This makes the needle unable to shut off the fuel, which will cause the bowl to overflow and to spill fuel into the carburetor throat or the bowl vents.
This can also get your spark plugs wet with fuel, preventing the car from starting.
Flooding can also be caused by other failures, but it’s not a good thing to check your carburetor needle when it gets flooded.
Repairing, replacing or rebuilding a carburetor is expensive. Cleaning a carburetor is always easier and cheaper, and it doesn’t require as many skills. It would also help you to understand it and diagnose it better. Always try to get your carburetor cleaned up before thinking about buying a repair kit, unless you notice that it’s too worn out.