hot water for mr steptoe....

[mavis cruet]

ok then, one more time, why does hot water on carbs ease starting???????????

 

[Loiq]

can I make a guess?

I would say that it would help with turning the fuel into vapour and so increase the chance if the spark was weak.

but that's just a guess.

 

[Packer]

+1

Could also be very useful in very cold winter conditions if the carbs had iced up.

 

[Loiq]

helps with soluable shite to clear it out, old fuel can become abit sticky old carbs are bound to have rubbish in'em. I use to pour hot water "CAREFULLY" on the battery as well on my old van and that helped with starting in cold weather.

now I just pour a cup of tea for the bloke from the AA....

 

[Ogmios]

hot water would make 'things'* expand.
thus sealing any gaps that shouldn't be.
so making the Bike start.

*however,
what things these may be is another story.

Good Luck - i've followed your original thread and - Sorry, i cant help more.

 

[Shep]

Some carbs have built in heaters, it prevents condensation in the carbs from freezing as soon as the petrol atomises from the main jet into the venturi

 

[ELIMINATOR]

My divvy has carb heaters, the bike still suffers from carb. icing though

 

[D6]

use a blowtorch,,, it,d be quicker than boiling the kettle
it would certainly help the fuel to ignite, rendering the choke unnecessary

 

[(RIP) pastyman]

Do ya think Mr Steptoe was just taking the piss I mean he has gone very quiet on this, probably shocked that it worked. ..... Just imagine if he had suggested pouring hot treacle or something similar...

 

[mavis cruet]

still waiting mr steptoe.......................

 

[Engineer]

Cold air is denser and hence more oxygen per unit volume, so for a given amount of fuel the mixture will be leaner than when it is cold????? - so perhaps warming the carbs heats the incoming air a bit and makes the mixture richer, which is what is needed when starting.

Bit like using the choke - of course this could all be a load of bollox!

Of course it could just be one of those mysteries that only witches know the answer to.

 

[Tarka]

I thought it was just to swell up any dried and shrunken cork float bowl gaskets to restore an airtight seal.

 

[MattW]

Hot fuel vapourises more easily

The only way to reliably (I say reliably - that's probably over stating it) start my XT500 on a really cold day was to heat the carb up with a hot air gun

On the face of it, not the safest thing to do, but it didn't matter, it was my dads garage

 

[Steptoe]

Com'on, it's so bloody obvious, i point you in the right direction now do some work of your own . Think, what have you replaced so far on the carbs ? and what haven't you replaced. Have you done a compression test..

been using the hot kettle method for 20 years to pin point this problem.

Plenty of other so called airhead gurus out there, they should know.

 

[Engineer]

I no nothing about about air heads and not much about engines - low compression = loss of fuel through exhaust valves???? need richer mixture to compensate???

what happens to a carb when you heat it????