Buying a used carburetor

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scoobeb

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I just bought a used 25hp carb for my 20hp merc to upgrade power and a bit of wot. My biggest thing is when buying a used carburetor is it usually worth it? I'm going to completely rebuild it from the bottom up. I'm going to clean and replace everything. My question is ,is there anything I really need to worry about buying a used carb? I bought it from eBay and has a 30 day money back guarantee to. The carb came off another 25hp 2 stroke mercury that was running but lost compression according to the ad. The carb came off a 94 engine and mine is a 93 so that worked out nicely. Good thing is his feedback is 100% so that says something I would guess. He runs like a salvage yard but sells a ton of parts on ebay. I paid $90 for it so I think I got a great deal. I wanted new but merc said they are so far on backorder and are $330. It could be a long time before they come off backorder and I mean no one has one in stock new or used as this one just popped up recently. I'm guessing if I rebuild everything from top to bottom it should be ok. Good thing is my 20hp carburetor is identical except the bore which is the only difference. I can take everything from my 20hp carb if needed and use it on the new one I'm getting if needed. Any info on anything I should look for when I get it would be great. I would think carbs are pretty tough and not much goes wrong with them besides the rebuilding parts I'm installing.
 
scoobeb said:
I would think carbs are pretty tough and not much goes wrong with them besides the rebuilding parts I'm installing.
I'd agree with you! While I've never bought a used carb, I've bought a TON of used motors, so hence yes - the carbs were indeed 'used'.

But I tell you, I drain them, remove the bowl (clean it well) and push Seafoam through them (smallest orifice to larger) using syringe and only on 1 carb have I ever had to do a full teardown and replace the various orifice caps/covers. Sometimes I'll even some sections/parts full with it, don't I do not leave them immersed.

If you don't have an OEM manual to know what orifices drain to where, just go easy - drain & fill, and sit, then drain, just let the liquid move around by its own weight - don't force anything.
 
As you rebuild it look for rust deposits and or flakes. Make sure your needle valve seats are clean but don't damage them trying to clean them. Clean it but go easy on the cleaning. Fuel sitting inside a carburetor for years is much easier to clean than water sitting inside. Water will rust parts while fuel just gums it up.

As for the decision of buying a used carb, I think you did OK. If it came with a 30 day guarantee the seller put his faith in it that it worked. That may be one reason why he has a 100% rating.
 
Well it came out of a running engine which is a good thing.So less chance of issues with rust and gumming up.No matter the issue i'm tearing it down from top to bottom because i have torn down over 10 of them now so i didn't need a manual after the second one.I have torn down many small mercs and they all have the same type of carb in them,i can take one off in under a minute now and takes a minute to reinstall it.It takes around an hr for me because i don't dunk them,i clean every milk and cranny with a marine carb cleaner,then i use air duster can to air all the cleaner out,i have done this to all my carbs and they run cherry so far when i sold them,clean as a whistle.
 
I like working on mercs because they make things easy to service and clean,mostly 2 strokes i work on and resell but this is my own personal outboard.
 
The float is plastic,as long as their is no fuel in them they are fine,I have rebuilt over 15 of these carbs and not one had a bad float,it's not a common issue with the plastic floats that I've seen anyways.
 
Now other carbs may have floats made out of something else that may fail but those plastic floats should last near forever in a carb.
 

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