Salt in my carbs, you?

[Bruin]

When I pulled the carb off my bike, it had a teaspoon of dry salty looking granules in the empty float bowl. It has a fuel filter but runs a velocity stack. Then I pulled the carb on my wife's bike. It has air and fuel filters and thanks to a petcock that seeps a little, the float bowl stayed full of gas. Amazingly, it too harbored salt crystals. There were even some in the intake. I'm thinking the only access to her bowl was through the gas line. Since the same thing happening in two different bikes with the only thing in common being their source of fuel. I theorize that there was salt in the race gas we purchased from the truck. As the gas evaporated and refilled the bowl, it became concentrated and formed crystals. Has anyone who raced BMST this season had this happen? Any other theories? If you have not checked your fuel system, think about it.  Photos below...

[donpearsall]

Salt in your float bowl does not surprise me one bit. It gets everywhere because there are microscopic particles in the air.
After several years of having corroded everything on my bikes including salt in the intake system, I fit a KN air filter on the intake. There STILL were salt crystals in the intake, corroded and frozen throttle body shafts and salt corrosion on the valve faces. I talked to the KN Filter engineers about it. They said the crystals were too small for the their filters and the salt  was getting right past the filter material. I might as well run no filter.

[Milwaukee Midget]

I just cleaned out my Weber - no salt in the bowl, but everywhere else, yup.

I think it's just as likely that the heating and contraction of your own fuel tanks would cause that.  They'll heat up faster and higher outside than the large tanks in the ERC trailer, and cool down quicker and cooler than a large body of liquid would.  That combination, in conjunction with the likelihood of higher winds at night, kicking up salt, while the tank is cooling and drawing a vacuum would make a plausible scenario for a carbureted vehicle.

But I will say that that seems like a lot of salt for a motorcycle carb.

[Glen]

Have you pulled the brake drums on the tow vehicle & trailers yet. Don't put it off to long.Salt will be places you will find much later after all kinds of towing on the salt wet or dry. Several cleanings later and I found a big glob on the garage floor a few days ago.

[Peter Jack]

I'd get the material analyzed by a lab. My bet is the crystals aren't salt but some other product of corrosion.

Pete

[Freud]

Have you seen very tiny glassy looking deposits on your plugs?

They glisten and are dark.

Vesco told me they were salt on my TX 750.

Salt everywhere.  Ever consider renting  just for

your time on the salt?  It's a lot cheaper than

the service on your own vehicle.

FREUD

[wobblywalrus]

Freud, I remember TX 750s.  Never could imagine one being raced.  I do not want to hijack Bruin's topic, but can you post a picture?

[Bruin]

Clue: I have drained and inspected both gas tanks, neither show any sign of salt like deposits. So the gas may not be contaminated. It is looking more and more like they are forming when the saline heavy air meets the gas. But I am still astounded by how much formed in both carb float bowls, it's not like there is an air scoop directing air into the float bowl.

[Freud]

A correction......TZ 750.

Just an example..........question everything I say.

It was a fun ride.  Foto later

FREUD

I just noticed a self correcting spell checker.

How did that come to be? Like texting's corrections that sometimes bust our balls.

THANKS, Elf Bob.

[AHG]

Air bleeds passages in the carburetor could allow entry of minute salt particles.

[dw230]

Why a separate post of the same question?

DW

[Bruin]

DW     Finding so much salt in two different bike's carbs concerned me such that I posted two notes so I could reach the tech readers for their expertise and the BMST readers, where the contamination happened, for their shared experience. I figured that not all readers of each necessarily read both pages.

[dw230]

OK

DW

[JimL]

Double edged sword.  The air bleed to the atomizer tube stuffs in salt and humid air, while the chilling in the throttle bore (wide open throttle) cools the carb body and condenses water in the float chamber.  I drain the water out of my float bowls after a run....you should check yours.  I also dont mess with any gasoline that aint red.

The only solution is complete, total teardown of the entire bike, immediately after the event.  Bikes are trouble, because everything is mounted right behind the salt water sprayer (otherwise known as "front tire").

It helps to cap the velocity stacks and exhaust pipes immediately after the turnout.  As the engine cools, it inhales salty air and holds its breath.  Amazing things still get damaged, every year. 

[wobblywalrus]

Brian, after every event I drain the carbs before I leave Wendover.  Then the plug wires are pulled off the plugs and grounded to the block with short pieces of thick wire.  The throttle is opened and marvel mystery oil is sprayed into the intakes while the engine is spun.  Last the mufflers are loosly plugged with oily paper towels.  The air cleaners are covered with plastic bags.  This solves the problem you are discussing and it prevents a few you have not mentioned.