There’s a mystery about carburetor OH on working bikes.
Why does the bike run better after disassembly and cleaning?
Did the seal tightness of the O-rings and rubber parts improve? Did the passages have slight clogging?
It’s just vague speculation.
We can’t actually see or measure it.
If it’s clogged that badly, that’s actually great. The result is guaranteed.
If it’s clogged so badly the engine won’t start, that’s wonderful.
There’s no choice but to fix it.
The work is labor-intensive, but since the result is guaranteed, it feels easier mentally.
The tricky one is a working bike with no clogging.
Should I do the work or not?
Will it help? Will there be results?
I think about this every time. Because there’s no clogging anywhere.
It’s dirty, but there’s no measurable change anywhere.
Well, I might as well clean it up, I think, and push forward.
Unless it’s completely worn out—like rubber degradation.
Take ultra-precision carburetors like FCR or TMR, for example.
Those made of mysterious seal materials are different.
With a vacuum carburetor, there’s the issue of gas leaking or not leaking, but where exactly is the seal that causes performance problems?
• Starter valve
• Pilot screw O-ring
• Air passage O-rings
• Float valve area O-rings
• Float valve
Something like that, I suppose.
Unless they’re rock hard, they should seal fine if they have decent tension.
And if there were problems with the above (except air passages), wouldn’t the plug be sooty black?
Still a mystery.
But when you clean it and reassemble it, it definitely runs better.
If it’s rubber degradation, would replacing just the parts without cleaning give the same performance?
I sometimes think that way.
The frustration of not being able to go back in time
Once you clean it, you can’t go back to the dirty state.
You can’t experience what it was like before.
In a way, “Is it really better?” is something I often wonder about.
It must be better; I did the best I could to make it better,
so it should be better, probably, definitely, maybe.
It would be nice if it were dramatically worse, but…
if the condition is too good, maybe nothing changed, or maybe I’m just imagining it changed.
That’s why I deliberately don’t take apart the Inazuma’s carburetor.
