Posted by Keith in Washington [24.41.55.51] on Friday, November 13, 2015 at 10:32:55 :
I just ran into a real problem with old gas. I just recovered my Honda ATV. I was put into storage and "dissapeared" for several years. It apparently sat outside in the high desert for several years. It does have some sun damage but not bad.
However, the gas tank and carb are really messed up. The gas tank is 1/3 full of a real nasty smelling degraded gas. The tank is covered with an orange brown crap. I thought the tank was badly rusted but if you rub it with a finger it comes off and there is clean metal under it. I have dumped the gas and have sloshed the tank with fresh gas. The sludge is coming off but it will take awhile to get it out.
The real problem is the carb. It is totally frozen. It is visually very clean. The float bowl had a bluish residue which wiped off very quickly. The choke is frozen in its tube and is not moving even when I pull hard on the cable. The butterfly's are frozen and will not rotate. The vacuum piston is really stiff and basically frozen. It looks as if the gas attacked any rubber parts and destroyed them. That in combination with the summer heat of over 100 degrees really baked everything even more. I have soaked everything in WD40 and PB Blaster. No carb cleaner as I want to get the carb off the bike before I use it but I need to disconnect the choke from the carb but it's piston's O ring is frozen in its bore.
So it looks like I will be cleaning for awhile.
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