Cola and carburetors

I've hard a similar suggestion for getting old wax and stuff off of a car's windshield. Haven't tried it yet, but I do keep thinking I'll try it someday.

The best way to get way out of almost anything is to put a papertowel over it and use an iron on it loswest setting to heat up the wax. The towle then wisks it up and way.
Why do I feel all Martha Stewart right now?

Sure, but how fun is that compared to pouring a can of Coke on your car, standing back and grunting "Yeah, I'm cleaning it!"

Allegedly, state highway patrols carry two gallons of Coke in order to remove blood from the highway after a car accident. This sounds like an urban legend, but Coke does have a pH of 2.8 (or so I've read). I imagine it works quite well on a clogged carburetor.

I've cleaned a carburetor and while I didn't use Coke there is really only one way to do it right and that's to take it entirely apart, and use a carburetor dipping bath. You can get em at parts stores, usually comes in a paint-can with a strainer. You'll want to replace all the spring and floats too and you can usually just get a kit with everything you need if you can determine the exact model carb you have. If you're at all mechanically inclined it's not as big a deal as people make it out to be, and I don't remember the kits being too expensive either-- unless you've got a six-pack on the top of your motor or something :)

I had an old 2 cycle SnoScoot that hadnt been run in years. I spray cleaned the carb. but it still ran bad or wouldent run at all. I compleatly took the assembly appart and soked in pure coke overnight. I then just cleaned with water and blew dry. It was amazing how many small cavities were visable and cleared after this treatment. I remounted in the sled and it ran great. Good luck

I can't believe I drink 4 cans of this stuff a day.

Do you think it needs to be cola, or could another flavor (or seltzer for that matter) work?

I think it has to be cola. The reason it works is that the carbonic acid content in the soda.

Coca cola may clean you're carberator when it's off the car.Do not use it while its on the car.Coca cola contains sugar and will eat away at the valves and rings.

Coke will not clean a carburetor. In fact the sugar will leave a sticky residue if not cleaned with soap and water. As for the Highway Patrol, they usually use Clorox Bleach to clean up any blood, or bodily fluids as it will kill just about any pathogen known including Aids and Hepatitis B and C

I used to work as a aircraft tech and when the pilots used Rainboe a rain repellent system on passenger jets at to low a forward speed the stuff would stick to screens and smear. There was a special pad that cleaned it off, because normal cleaners would not touch it, but if you were caught in the field without the pads then a can of coke from the galley would work just as well. BTW Rainboe is now banned because it was ozone depleting. Justice Bros makes a excellent carby spray cleaner that is cheaper that coke I think the main ingredients are acetone and paint thinners.

We maintain point of sale terminals and have had several with spilt coke into the keyboard. Within 24 hours the coke eats through the copper tracks and destroys the board - never use Coke on anything metal unless you want to ruin it! If you do accidently spill it on anything electrical disconnect the unit and wash it out thoroughly with water, (it's probably beyond repair anyway). Dry it afterwards using the hand dryer in the washroom.

Be careful Bud, I used that 35 or 40 years ago with limited results, it's not that strong, and the danger is that your friend will try to add the cola into the gasoline to clean the carb while the engine is running. The problem with this is the sugar in the soda, or more accurately, the sugar in the gas tank now. As you probably know, sugar and gas are the last problem he would want, and if he has just a plugged carb, why not just pull it apart, clean it with gumout or other carb cleaner, blow it out good, and reaasemble. As often as not you don't even need any new parts or gaskets to do this, at least if you are careful disassembling it in the first place, and the valve and piston dome damage he is risking by running the engine lean (hot) are not worth doing anything less for.

This is soooooo true...my dad's carbureator was clogged and the coke cleaned it right off! So GROSS!!!