F-20 Carburetor Seepage

38F-20 · Feb 15, 2012

I rebuilt this carburetor about a year ago. I cleaned all of the gasket surfaces and used new gaskets. It runs great, but it just looks wet. I think most of it is fuel, but I can't really figure out where it is coming from. I just want to have all of my leaks fixed prior to paint. Does anyone have any ideas of how to fix it?

Nebraska Cowman · Feb 16, 2012

Leave it unpainted? Good luck but that's kinda the
nature of carburetors. If you had a good valve at
the tank and kept it turned off when you weren't
using the tractor that would help. I always end up
draining some of mine. That stops 'em.

36F30 · Feb 16, 2012

(quoted from post at 06:04:25 02/16/12) Leave it unpainted? Good luck but that's kinda the
nature of carburetors. If you had a good valve at
the tank and kept it turned off when you weren't
using the tractor that would help. I always end up
draining some of mine. That stops 'em.

Yep, standard procedure for me to turn off the gas when the motors not running. I turn off the gas first and let it run for a minute to burn it out of the carb then shutdown.

Ron in Nebr · Feb 16, 2012

The orange at the manifold gasket looks to be RTV
silicon sealer, correct? RTV should never be used on
anything that comes into contact with gasoline,
because gas turns it to jelly. Try cleaning the RTV
off that gasket and any others that may have it, and
reassembling dry.

Along with that, like mentioned below, shutting off
the gas at the sediment bowl is standard operating
procedure on these.

38F-20 · Feb 16, 2012

I believe the only RTV is between the carb and manifold gasket. There is not any in the body of the carb. What do you guys recommend to use as a sealer around gas or petroleum products instead of RTV? I typically use either Yamabond or RTV black, but reached for the red container when I was putting the carb on.

Like some have mentioned, I already turn off the fuel whenever it's going to sit for a few hours. I normally run the gas out of it when it sits for more than a day or so. I've got about every other leak fixed and just want to complete my restoration with a clean, dry carb externally. I'm just out of good ideas and thought I would get some other input. Thank you.

Old-F20 · Feb 16, 2012

my WK-40 used ot do that. after a long head scratching when i took the carb apart for like the 7th time i noticed a hairline crack on the INSIDE of the lower half of the carb. how it got there i have no friggin clue, but it would slowly leak out what was in the bowl and get the outside of the carb wet and eventually bubbled the paint

Ron in Nebr · Feb 19, 2012

For sealers around gasoline, my own opinion after years of being an ASE-certified GM technician, is to not use any sealer, just use the gasket dry.

Since, theoretically, gas shouldn't leak out of that manifold gasket, I'd agree with the others in that there may be a hairline crack someplace. On my own F-20, the carb's always wet also.

F-20 Carburetor Seepage

38F-20

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Nebraska Cowman

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36F30

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Ron in Nebr

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38F-20

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Old-F20

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Ron in Nebr

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