How A Carburetor Works

While on a YouTube binge, another “How A Carburetor Works” video kept popping up in my suggested column. I’ve seen a number of these in the past and revisit a few when I’m having trouble tuning a moped. Then I thought this video was a Joke because of the thumbnail picture. It looked like some sort of sex toy to me. Maybe my head was just in a different space when I saw it.

So now two weeks have passed, it keeps showing in my suggested collum so I said ok let me see what this is about. The first part of the video is good, but if you’ve seen other carburetor videos then you’re like me and thinking “Tell me something I don’t know”. BUT! Give it some time, when the creator of the video gets down to testing out his “hand” made carburetor. I was blown away, (insert dad joke). FINALLY!!! A video that shows what goes on in a carburetor.

In this video, you get to see how the fuel is sucked up from the bowl and gets mixed with the air and into an engine. We get to see how the float functions and what goes on inside the bowl. I don’t think this will help resolve tuning issues, but it should help you better see and understand the basics of a carburetor.

Enjoy the video!

How A Carburetor Works

Air passed through the carburetor opening. As the air passes through, a vacuum is created. That vacuum pulls the fuel from the bowl. The fuel gets dispersed by the air into a mist. The mist is sucked into the engine’s cylinder where the combustion process takes over.

Simply explained: When the piston on a moped travels down, it sucks a mixture from the carburetor. The carburetor gets air passed through it and mixes this air with fuel into the engine. The mixture is ignited by the spark plug. The exhaust gases escape through the exhaust and the process starts again.