Bulbs
Flower Basics
Flower Beds & Specialty Gardens
Flower Garden
Garden Furniture
Garden Gnomes
Garden Seeds
Garden Sheds
Garden Statues
Garden Tools & Supplies
Gardening Basics
Green & Organic
Groundcovers & Vines
Growing Annuals
Growing Basil
Growing Beans
Growing Berries
Growing Blueberries
Growing Cactus
Growing Corn
Growing Cotton
Growing Edibles
Growing Flowers
Growing Garlic
Growing Grapes
Growing Grass
Growing Herbs
Growing Jasmine
Growing Mint
Growing Mushrooms
Orchids
Growing Peanuts
Growing Perennials
Growing Plants
Growing Rosemary
Growing Roses
Growing Strawberries
Growing Sunflowers
Growing Thyme
Growing Tomatoes
Growing Tulips
Growing Vegetables
Herb Basics
Herb Garden
Indoor Growing
Landscaping Basics
Landscaping Patios
Landscaping Plants
Landscaping Shrubs
Landscaping Trees
Landscaping Walks & Pathways
Lawn Basics
Lawn Maintenance
Lawn Mowers
Lawn Ornaments
Lawn Planting
Lawn Tools
Outdoor Growing
Overall Landscape Planning
Pests, Weeds & Problems
Plant Basics
Rock Garden
Rose Garden
Shrubs
Soil
Specialty Gardens
Trees
Vegetable Garden
Yard Maintenance
Cleaning the Carburetor on a Chainsaw
Cleaning the Carburetor on a Chainsaw. A carburetor does two basic things: it delivers air and it delivers fuel to the engine's combustion chamber. Air and fuel in the proper combination are essential to engine performance. If either of these pathways---that of the air or fuel---is obstructed or impeded, the carburetor will not work at peak...
Function
A carburetor does two basic things: it delivers air and it delivers fuel to the engine's combustion chamber. Air and fuel in the proper combination are essential to engine performance. If either of these pathways---that of the air or fuel---is obstructed or impeded, the carburetor will not work at peak efficiency.
Air
Suction generated by the engine's piston when on its down-stroke draws air in through the carburetor's throat. Situated in the pathway between the outside air and the carburetor's throat is an air filter. Sometimes the carburetor is actually clean enough to be in good working order but the air filter is clogged. In this case, simply cleaning or replacing the air filter can make a big difference. Once the air filter is ruled out as the culprit, an aerosol spray cleaner formulated especially for carburetors can be used and will generally do a good job of cleaning the carburetor's air intake components.
Fuel
No amount of cleaning of the air intake components will help if the problem is in the fuel components. Deposits and impurities can gum up needle valves and interfere with fuel passage. In this case, a fuel additive designed to dissolve these deposits can help.
Once the fuel additive is mixed in the fuel tank, it may take a number of pulls of the starting cord to get enough of the solvent to pass into and through the needle valves to do its work. Even if the engine is not starting right away, the cleaning agents should still be passing through the carburetor with each pull of the cord. Several cord-pulls, a period of rest, several more cord-pulls, then another period of rest may result in enough cleaner getting into the valves to eventually free up the passages and allow the saw to run properly.
Removal
If the carburetor has more stubborn cleaning needs than can be addressed with off-the-shelf fuel and air intake cleaners, it may be necessary to remove the carburetor from the engine, disassemble it and clean it in a parts cleaner with special solvents. Unless the owner has the equipment and experience to take on this task, it's a job best suited to a shop that specializes in working on small engines.
