Carbs turned black

Used pinesol and water to soak carbs,they turned dark gray.How do I clean the gray off?

Bead blast. Mask well or the grit will get into the inner passages and destroy the carbs. You can try soda blast first but in my experience it's not aggressive enough to remove the dark finish.

BTW, lemon juice carb soaking will turn the carbs dark too.

Thanks,I don't mind the color,it actually matches my engine covers.Will gas take it of if I run it like that.

I wish I had a dollar for every time I and others have warned against using Pine-Sol to soak the carb's in !!
The only thing I have found to work getting the dark charcoal grey/black off, is giving them to somebody with a "real" soda blast set up and pay the invoice.

I have a small sonic cleaner that I use to clean parts. But I ran into a YouTube video that a plastic jar and a hand held sander where use. A big patch of Velcro was use to hold both pieces together. Carb was cleaned for 25min each came out like new,
I use CLR at 60% and water at40%

missionkz wrote: I wish I had a dollar for every time I and others have warned against using Pine-Sol to soak the carb's in !!
The only thing I have found to work getting the dark charcoal grey/black off, is giving them to somebody with a "real" soda blast set up and pay the invoice.

I plan on picking up a sonic cleaner this year and doing my 2 sets of carbs...... read this a few times or more now and shudder when I did ....thank you and if we ever run into each other I owe you a buck or at least a beer.

CLR sounds good not 100% on what is the best yet but we know what not to use...... since its only for 25 min at a time its gotta be some thing potent but not too much...... Zukdave likes simple green if I remember.

Lucky guys, carb color is the biggest problem!
List of my problems doesn't get shorter when I solve them, I just discover new ones!

I don't know about using CLR. It has acid in it. Sounds risky.

Simple Green Pro formula would be a safe choice. The regular Simple Green is corrosive so I'd be careful of that stuff too.

I wouldn't use CLR on aluminum. It will pit and decay the aluminum if left too long or too strong. If you do make sure you have proper ventilation - poison gas will result. Ya pine sol ed em, I'd say get em soda blasted or live with it. R

rrsmsw9999 wrote: I wouldn't use CLR on aluminum. It will pit and decay the aluminum if left too long or too strong. If you do make sure you have proper ventilation - poison gas will result. Ya pine sol ed em, I'd say get em soda blasted or live with it. R

Pretty sure the OEM Mikuni and Keihin carb bodies are zinc. Not sure about the TK's as used on some 550's though.

G-Force wrote: Used pinesol and water

Straight up Pinesol is what to use. Not Pinesol AND water. Never had an issue with 100% Pinesol. Now, like others said, you probably need to soda blast or scrub with some other cleaner. Might be superficial, try hitting them with wd40 and a wire brush.

Thanks for all your replies.I talked someone at O'Reilly auto parts,he also suggested soda blasting or aluminum rim cleaner.I would just keep the dark color but it's inconsistent.