How To Clean A WeedEater Carburetor

When your weed eater has a dirty carburetor, it can be a headache. It may sound like your engine is struggling to even breath, or it just won’t start altogether. Taking apart your engine’s carburetor may sound drastic, but it is more than likely the solution to your problems.

More times than not when you are having problems with your weed eater and it needs to be fixed, it’ only requires a carburetor cleaning. So before you take it into the shop or worse—replace it. Follow our guide to learn how to proper clean your weedeater carburetor.

Signs That You Have a Dirty Weed Eater Carburetor

Firstly, you should understand what the carburetor’s function actually is. It is the chamber where your engine mixes both air and fuel so that the engine can achieve proper combustion and run efficiently.

You can try to spray some carburetor cleaner into your air intake. This will clean the intake almost immediately and the cleaner will work its way into the carburetor itself.  If your engine starts up after you do this, then this is a good sign that your carburetor needs to be completely cleaned.

How To Clean Your Weed Eaters Carburetor

Before we start to do anything, you are gong to need to take off the plastic casing that surrounds your engine. Use a screwdriver, typically, a Philips bit to undo the screws around the engine. Once you have removed the screws put them in a safe place where they won’t get lost.

Remember where each screw goes and how it comes apart; you will need to remember how when you put it back together.

Locate your air filter on your engine, it typically will be located right next to the carburetor. Usually consisting of foam or filter material to keep debris particles from getting into the engine. Your filter is getting dirty quicker than anything else in your engine and should be removed and properly cleaned or replaced regularly.

The carburetor will be connected at two different points. One that takes in the air and the other where the fuel enters. You will need to disconnect both of these connections to remove it. Disconnect each of these one at a time and empty out any leftover fluid that may be in it.

Find yourself a flat and level surface to work from. Lay out your carburetor pieces and get yourself some rags, small brushes or pipe-cleaners, and some carburetor cleaning spray.

Spray the cleaner over all the parts and scrub off any grime or slime that has accumulated in the ports or holes and on the pieces. Remove any of the removable parts and let them soak in some cleaner while you’re scrubbing the other pieces to thoroughly clean everything.

Using a compressed can of air is useful to spray through your carburetor to get out any other loose debris. Allow the parts to all dry before putting it back together.

After all the parts and pieces have dried out completely, you can begin to put the pieces back together. Hopefully, you remembered how it came apart so that you can bring it back together. Re-fastened all the parts down with the screws you removed earlier. Make sure that you have them all evenly and securely tightened.