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My neighbor's shortcut on tuning a carburetor backfired on me
My neighbor Tom who works at a garage in Denver told me I could just spray starting fluid directly into the intake to tune a carburetor... I tried it on my '82 F-150 and the whole thing caught fire for about three seconds. I had to replace the air cleaner and the intake gasket after that. Has anyone else gotten bad advice from a so-called expert that cost you more time and money?
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jesse_smith102d ago
My buddy tried that starting fluid trick on his lawnmower. Lit the whole deck on fire. Took him three weekends to rebuild that thing.
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caleb_bell52d ago
Man, that's brutal. @jesse_smith10, did he at least get the carb cleaned out before he tried the ether or was he just spraying it straight into an air filter that was soaked in gas already? I've seen that trick go bad when people don't let the excess fuel evaporate first. Feels like there's a fine line between a quick start and a fireball.
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aliceharris2d ago
Saw a video on YouTube a while back where a guy did exactly that, sprayed ether straight into a carb that was still dripping fuel. Caught fire before the engine even turned over. I've always been told to let it sit for an hour after flooding it, then try starting fluid as a last resort. Some folks swear by pulling the spark plug and cranking it to clear the cylinder first, which sounds safer to me honestly.
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