Carb icing

[macho comacho]

Hi all,
I was out for a ride last week and the temp was about -1 the bike seemed to be spluttering on any throttle so i checked the carb and there was ice on the slide and down inside the carb,Has anyone had this problem and how can i prevent this from happening and dont say not to ride when the temp is that low.....
Cheers Macho

[fury1]

wrap the carb with a piece of old innertube and fasten with zipties,I also make sure you run a set of carb vent hoses into the airbox,and cut the bottom ones at a 45 degree angle,also something to think about,if you run into alot of powder snow,your airfilter will get clogged with snow as well and the bike will not run well

[iajim]

On the subject of carb icing, I'm assuming it was -1 Fahrenheit, not centigrade. The inner tube wrap around the carb is probably the best, if you could take advantage of some heat from the ex. pipe or cylinder you might give that a try. Some years ago Yamaha used heated carburetors on their snowmobiles. The problem is that the carb is usually an area of low pressure, the crankcase being an area of vacuum. Lower pressure can cause the temperature to drop below the ambient temp causing the moisture in the air to freeze up. I know it sounds "hocus-pocus" but Yamaha didn't go to heated carbs for nothing. Try to protect the carb from all kinds of moisture and as warm as possible.

[macho comacho]

Thankyou for a quick reply,
I will try the suggestions and let you know how i get on.
Cheers Macho

[Treesmacker]

What if you replaced the small rad. hose between the two rads. with a longer
hose and wrapped it around the carb under the inner tube?????
Too keep the snow out of the air box you could cover the grap holes in the side panels with a pair of nylons from your wife!

[fury1]

really dont think you needed to heat the carb,as long as you keep the snow off it and insulated it with the tube you should be good to go,but it wouldnt be a bad idea to keep from getting stuck way out on the trails somewhere to have some kind of heating running near it,yeah we use the nylon trick on the airbox openings as well,keeps the powder out

[iajim]

Warm coolant circulating under the float bowl and near the intake (air cleaner side) was essentially what Yamaha did. You might consider using some copper plumbing fittings from the hardware store. It would be very time consuming to mark, cut, dry fit, re-position, then solder it all together, but you would have a source of heat inside the inner tube near the carb. I guess it all depends how often you ride in the winter and how deep the snow is.