How To Prevent Zenith Carburetor Icing
While most of our customers are now running Perkins, Deutz or Deere diesel engines in their wood chippers, drill rigs and welding machines, we still have people who prefer to run gas power units. After all, Continental, Ford Industrial and White Hercules engines were very popular and for a machine that is not in use every day keeping it running makes sense.
While some people run Ford gas power units, typically with the Ford 172/192 four cylinder industrial engine, and others are still running White Hercules power units with a G1600 engine, we see a lot of Continental engines. We were distributing Continental engines here in the Northeast starting in the late 1950’s and while they are no longer available and parts are harder to come by, they are still running and we still provide some popular parts tot those who need them.
The Continental engines that we see are often the Continental TM27 or the F245 industrial engine. Most of the engines mentioned so far often ran Zenith or Marvel Schebbler updraft carburetors. A common problem is that these Zenith updraft carburetors ice up and don’t run well in cold weather. Moreover, often the engine’s exhaust manifold heat riser or flap is rusted shut and doesn’t function. New fuels can also play a part; since today’s gas has a lot of alcohol in it and alcohol runs cooler than the straight gas from decades ago.
On creative solution we had seen to help cure this, required some comfort with welding. We have seen customers weld or braze a 12″ long piece of ½” solid core drill rod or even threaded drill rod, onto the engine’s exhaust manifold oriented so the tip of the rod ends just under the bowl of the carburetor. The idea was that the heat from the manifold would be transferred to the rod to help warm the bowl of the carburetor to help minimize or even eliminate icing.
Sometimes a little creativity and knowhow can be put to use to solve problems and extend the life of your equipment. Carburetor seem to be wearing down? We have a stock of carb kits to help you rebuild your carburetor. Call us with the number or the tag on your carburetor and we can get a carburetor or rebuilding kit out to you!
Still having trouble with your Continental, Ford or Hercules gas engine? We can help get you up and running with both tech support material as well as ignition parts. We have distributors, even solid state ones for the Continentals, fuels pumps and much more for your Continental F163 and F227/F245 Series, the Hercules G1600, and the Ford 172 or 192 engine. Call us toll free at 800.233.6539 to order.
