Fuel system cleaning, the steps needed to get to a running engine!

Before you can even think about starting an engine that has been sitting for a long time, you need to do a few things before just pouring fuel in the tank and giving that starter a pull or kick.  What follows are some helpful videos to explain and show the steps needed to be sure that first attempt at starting an engine will be successful.  Cleaning the fuel system entirely is very important because a dirty fuel system affects performance and thus makes the engine impossible to tune or diagnose other problems that could be masked by a fuel system that is not functioning correctly.  The most important parts of a fuel system cleaning are, the tank or fuel cell, the fuel shut off or control valve, and of course the carburetor (not applicable to EFI/fuel injected applications).  Watch as I take you though the basic parts and how to clean and repair each part of the fuel system so the engine will run like new.

First off lets take a look at cleaning the fuel shut off valve, below is a detailed look at how to go about this.

Example of a carburetor dip used in the video (there are other brands)

Example of a spray type carburetor cleaner (other brands work just as well)