Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

So, my new-to-me-100-dollar-Spree idles great.

Original issue: Idles great, when given throttle it would throttle up for about 5 seconds then start to die out
I suspected fuel starvation, decided to clean carb and drain tank.

Tank was clean, clean, clean on the inside, fuel lines were clear, vacuum petcock operated perfectly.

I removed the carb and disassembled it - the bowl was full of trash. I pulled the screws out - the o-rings seemed barely seiceable so more were ordered along with all new gaskets from Honda.

BUT - I cannot get the long, narrow brass tube, that extends right beside the main jet to clear. I sprayed carb cleaner at it, and soaked it in a bucket of carb dip overnight... still won't clear.

So I was considering poking a needle down it? I read on another spree site that tis was a bad idea. Why? How have you guys cleared this little tube?

I reassembled it, with the clogged tube and it idles just fine but will not throttle up.

The accepted tool for this project is a guitar string. A number 13 if memory serves.

Bear has given you the correct solution.. a # 13 guitar string and LOTS of carb cleaner!! It will clear and your spree will run like new! After you clean the carb.. put it all together.. THEN PULL IT OFF AND CLEAN IT 10 TIMES! HAHAHAHAHA!!! also clean the little brass tube that is in the bowl.. it feeds the auto choke dealio! JJ

thats a high "E" to the layman.
the smallest string on a 6 string guitar.

Greetings:

Do I buy "Light", "Medium" or "Heavy"-gauge guitar strings? Fender, Martin or Gibson? Acoustic or Electric??

For you non-guitarists out there, you can carefully pluck a bristle from a brass or steel brush and work it around. The soaking might need to be repeated several times, as you're battling a fairly long "cylinder" of coagulated residues inside that tube, which your solvent can only attack from the ends. Soaking softens the first few mm, only.

Digging it out mechanically with a wire of some sort is a faster but riskier method. You sure don't want to change the size of the pilot "passageway" too much. A somewhat softer-than-guitar string wire tool works too.

won't .008 or .009 do the trick?
doesn't hafta be a tight fit -as long as it's small enough. it's the rigidity that is the key.

i generally put a few kinks and bends in one so it will scrape the sides a bit as it goes.. pilots in general are stubborn little boogers to clean.

If you want to take the tube out.Take the carb bowl off.unscrew the main jet.pull the slide out.and use a hard plastic or wood rod and push the emulsion tube from the front of the carb down.Its stuck in there so you might have to aply some pressure.or you can push from the top through where the slide goes in.That should pop out the emulsion tube for you to clean.

Thanks Bear and EVERYBODY for the info. Wife will be picking up a #13 guitar string while she is out (I'm watching the baby...)

bakaracer wrote:If you want to take the tube out.Take the carb bowl off.unscrew the main jet.pull the slide out.and use a hard plastic or wood rod and push the emulsion tube from the front of the carb down.Its stuck in there so you might have to aply some pressure.or you can push from the top through where the slide goes in.That should pop out the emulsion tube for you to clean.

Bakaracer, you lost me. The "other end" of the tube I am talking about is pushed into the carb body and the carb body has a super tiny hole drilled through to the venturi. I don't see how I could ever get wood or anything in there, eh?

Or are you suggesting I should also clean a separate item, the emulsion tube?

I will report back with results....

the tube that the needle sits in is called a emulsion tube.Its a tube with a bunch of little holes on the outside of it to meter air along with gas.at the bottom of that tube sits the main jet.that tube is pressed in and held in place by the main jet.That tube can be pushed out to be changed or cleaned.Take the slide out by unscrewing the cap ontop of the carb.look down the hole the slide came out from and you will see a brass looking tube sticking out about 2mm.the tube is about 3-4mm in diameter. push it down towards the bottom of the carb.make sure you take the main jet out first.The jet is what holds it in place.The guitar string just cleans down the middle of this tube.the little holes on the side of the tube needs cleaning to and the guitar string can not get those.

Ok. I didn't even know that the emulsion tube was there.

I took the carb back apart and put it in the carb dip tank.

I took the emulsion tube out this time (didn't even realize it was there).

I still can't get the little idle tube to clear - it's killing me. I'm going to let it soak overnight again and try tomorrow.

Can the brass tube be pulled out without destroying the tube or carb?

forrestking wrote:Ok. I didn't even know that the emulsion tube was there.

I took the carb back apart and put it in the carb dip tank.

I took the emulsion tube out this time (didn't even realize it was there).

I still can't get the little idle tube to clear - it's killing me. I'm going to let it soak overnight again and try tomorrow.

Can the brass tube be pulled out without destroying the tube or carb?

You will probably have to do the "soak, clean out the loose crap and soak again, clean again and so forth" until it is clear. Your best bet is to never let it plug up in the first place. Proper pre-storage proceedure prevents this most times. Running a fuel stablizer is a good idea too.

Post a pic of the tube you took out.

bakaracer wrote:If you want to take the tube out.Take the carb bowl off.unscrew the main jet.pull the slide out.and use a hard plastic or wood rod and push the emulsion tube from the front of the carb down.Its stuck in there so you might have to aply some pressure.or you can push from the top through where the slide goes in.That should pop out the emulsion tube for you to clean.

He's not talking about the tube UNDER the main jet, he's talking about the tube paralell to the main jet, only I've never seen it brass. It's usually a part of the carburetor, not fitted in, and not removable. Not sure what the proper nomenclature is for that passageway, but when plugged, it's generally the critter causing bogging.

forrestking
Just so you know what you're dealing with, have you ever cleaned out the paint cabinet and had a can of varnish that had not been properly sealed after last using? It is generally a lost cause of hardened resin. Well, after a carburetor sits over a winter or two, the high volitals in the gasoline flash off and leave a varnish which eventually hardens like that varnish resin. That's why it's a PITA job, but there is no other way. You could go with a smaller wire than #.013" but smaller is limber. Probably the only place you would find a smaller wire is on a piano. Guitarists replace strings every 90 days or less. Pianos go a lifetime before restringing.

OK, the score is in:

Varnish: 0
Hondaspree.net: 1

I was spraying my can of carb cleaner through the passages and realized that the tiny hole (into the venturi) and the screw hole (on the side) were not clogged, and carb cleaner sprayed into one yielded spray out of the other.

I found the below diagram, in the below thread. that picture cleared it up a little. I did not remove the tube that is over that little pinhole.

I finally decided to poke a 1/16th drill bit down the tube, while keeping an eye down the screw hole from the side to ensure that I did not start eroding the little hole. I didn't even have to put pressure on the bit, it got all "gunked up" while i was spinning it with my fingers and I pulled it out and cleaned the bit, shoved it back in, twisted, pulled out, cleaned gunk off, etc. about 6 times total.

I shot some carb cleaner into the screw hole on the side each time and finally the spray came out of the tube and the pinhole in the venturi.

I blew the carb out with carb cleaner and then some air, and dunked it back into the carb dip to rest overnight.


I found this thread with this diagram:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10359&p=86114&hilit ... ing#p86114

VOILA! You found it! Here's a better picture of the same thing, and also showing a hole to the bottom of the bystarter that needs attention.
http://www.hondaspree.net/phpBB3/viewto ... 34&start=0

I regress on the matter of "brass". Some are brass, but the ones I've worked with are not.

I doubt that you were able to get 1/16" down into the tiniest part of the hole, only into the "tower". 1/16" = .0625". The hole at the bottom and into the venturi is smaller than that. But you got er dun, and that's what counts. And you also learned a lesson on dried gas = varnish and problems for carbs.

Now, regular treatments of Seafoam in the gas tank will keep the varnish dissolved and flowing on through. This not a solution for winter prep, unless you plan on starting and running your scoot/s periodically during the winter. Even Seafoam will evaporate off when open to the atmosphere.