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Stripped jet stuck in carb, now what?

R

Rob Gulley

New member
2003 30hp Mercury 4-stroke. I am rebuilding the carburetors. The jet (the one that sits underneath the main nozzle) is stuck on 2 of the 3 carbs, and I unfortunately have mangled both pretty good trying to unscrew them. They have slots in the top that are suppose to fit a large flathead. I've removed and clean these parts a lot before. I've never had them so stuck that the force of my unscrewing mangled the brass.

Anyways, I don't care about the jets, as they are $10 to replace. I just want them out.

Things I've tried:
(1) Letting carb cleaner spray soak in around the jet
(2) Soaking the entire upper carb in cleaner dip for 20 minutes, water rinse and air gun dry
(3) EZ-out style screw extractor, the "drill bit" wouldn't catch, just created brass dust
(4) Taking a lighter to heat up the carb housing around the jet. I didn't try very long because I was nervous about the fact that the corrosion sticking the jet in place is basically old gasoline.

Things I've been told to try:
(1) Take a Dremel and slice new slots for another flathead attempt. Not sure why this would change anything if I haven't loosened the jet.
(2) Take a propane hand blow torch and hit the housing again. Not sure if this will win me a Darwin Award or if that hidden corrosion is safely chemically inert.

Anybody got any bright ideas?

carb1nc.jpgcarb2.jpg
 
Try grabbing it with a good pair of channel-locks after you heat it good with a torch. Any gasses that are there will quickly evaporate I doubt there is any raw fuel left in the circiuts.
 
Cool the new jet needs to be just as tight when you put it in. The best thing to use a a large flat tip screwdriver that barely fits the slot in the jet. The same with any of the jets that fits inside a hole grind a wider screwdriver to just barely fit inside the threads.
 
Yes, I think so. I didn't give it a ton of elbow grease for fear of getting them stuck again. But, even if I had really wrenched on 'em, I might've gotten another 1/16 of a turn, if that.
 
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