giantsean 59 #1 Posted August 8, 2019 Hi All, I'm working on building a good OEM Kohler #26 carb from my original + various parts carbs. My question is on the brass floats. One interesting thing I noticed with my original's float is that when you shake it, you hear/feel a tiny bit of liquid (or maybe grit) sloshing around in there. For the parts carb floats, one is totally empty, one seems filled with something though not as much as my original. tried submerging them all in water to see if there was a hole or something, and no bubbles at all. They did float/tip at different levels due to their various levels of "full". The empty one floats directly level w/ the surface, and the "fullest" one dips a bit down into the water. Since I did not see bubbles and since you'd think if they were full of gas they'd have long evaporated if exposed to air, I wondered if they had water or some sort of granular weight sealed in to make them run to spec. Anyone ever notice this phenomenon and can comment on what the story is? Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wfrpalm 218 #2 Posted August 8, 2019 You need a new float if there is anything inside that weights it down. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wallfish 17,494 #3 Posted August 8, 2019 Gasoline will seep into a tiny hole in the float. You won't see any air bubbles come out when submerging it in water because of the air pressure inside and water can't seep into a tiny hole like the gas can. If you squeezed it under water it would force the air out of the hole and you would see bubbles. If you put a single drop of gasoline on the surface of the float, it will spread out and seep out on the surface. If you put a single drop of water on there, it will remain as a small puddle and not seep. I don't remember the technical terms for this 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
posifour11 723 #4 Posted August 8, 2019 4 hours ago, wallfish said: Gasoline will seep into a tiny hole in the float. You won't see any air bubbles come out when submerging it in water because of the air pressure inside and water can't seep into a tiny hole like the gas can. If you squeezed it under water it would force the air out of the hole and you would see bubbles. If you put a single drop of gasoline on the surface of the float, it will spread out and seep out on the surface. If you put a single drop of water on there, it will remain as a small puddle and not seep. I don't remember the technical terms for this Surface tension? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
giantsean 59 #5 Posted August 8, 2019 + 1 for surface tension. Maybe it's due to the molecular structure or maybe it's gas (in gaseous form) getting in and condensing? At any rate, I used the empty one with the OEM rebuild kit and she runs like a champ! No Chinese parts on this old girl. I will keep the floats as I since watched a video on Youtube talking about how to find the leak by warming it up with your hands and looking for the wet spot (hmmm...). That didn't work with either of mine but maybe I need more heat. I know a torch is out, but would a heat gun cause any problems? Thanks! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wallfish 17,494 #6 Posted August 8, 2019 3 hours ago, giantsean said: + 1 for surface tension. Maybe it's due to the molecular structure or maybe it's gas (in gaseous form) getting in and condensing? At any rate, I used the empty one with the OEM rebuild kit and she runs like a champ! No Chinese parts on this old girl. I will keep the floats as I since watched a video on Youtube talking about how to find the leak by warming it up with your hands and looking for the wet spot (hmmm...). That didn't work with either of mine but maybe I need more heat. I know a torch is out, but would a heat gun cause any problems? Thanks! Roll it all around and you will see the wet spot. (gas will seep out) Light it on fire and the heat will keep pushing the gas out and it will keep burning. You may have to stop it and let it cool down if there's too much gas inside because too much heat will melt the solder holding it together. Wanna guess how I know? Once all of the gas is out you can repair the hole with a tiny amount of solder. 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
formariz 11,994 #7 Posted August 8, 2019 19 hours ago, giantsean said: One interesting thing I noticed with my original's float is that when you shake it, you hear/feel a tiny bit of liquid (or maybe grit) sloshing around in there. I am not saying that you do not have a hole in yours, but I have run into that with brand new floats. Seems to be perhaps a little pebble of solder? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
