Walbro Carburetors, the Dummies Version

Typical Walbro 2-stroke carburetor

When it comes to freelancing on the internet, we figure people use pen names for one of two reasons: 1) so their employers don't know they're writing for a website while they're supposed to be working, and 2) to protect the guilty. The eHowian who chose the nom de plume Alibaster Smith ("Alibaster"? really?) may have used a fake name for reason number one, but we think he definitely needed to hide from the fact police when it came to some of the bushwa and dumbassery he published. If you need proof, you need look no further than his post "How to Troubleshoot Walbro Carburetors"¹ at ItStillRuns.com.

Smith opens by explaining what a carburetor is and where you might find it:

"Walbro carburetors are, by design, very reliable. Although carburetors are no longer used on production vehicles, older vehicles that are still on the road do use them. A Walbro carburetor draws in air from outside the engine bay and mixes it with gasoline. The fuel is then sent to the engine to be burned. If you are experiencing a rough idle, you should do some troubleshooting to discover the source of the problem. "

The problem, for those who actually take the time to look up the Walbro corporation, is that you're HIGHLY unlikely to find a Walbro carb on any "older vehicles that are still on the road." The reason, according to the Walbro website, is that Walbro only makes carburetors for small engines like those found in string trimmers and lawnmowers; specializing in two-cycle carbs. That little factoid pretty much renders Alibaster's ("Alibaster"? Really?) instructions... useless: "Start the engine and check the idle speed. The carburetor should be mixing the air and gasoline at a 14.7-to-1 ratio. If it is not, the idle will drop below 500 rpm on the tachometer."

We'll grant that, perhaps, you might find an original Walbro carb on a '57 Chevy Nomad Wagon. On the other hand, if Alibaster Smith ("Alibaster"? Really?) had done even the slightest bit of research before dropping this load of bull on top of the giant, steaming pile that is eHow.com, he would have found out that the odds that the OQ is working on a classic car are minuscule compared to the likelihood that some guy's trying to tune his chain saw.

This guy Smith (who claims to be a financial planner, though the "Alabaster Smith" at LinkedIn.com was a college student) posted hundreds of articles at eHow.com, perhaps half of them about working on cars. It's possible that we could mine that vein for a year's worth of Dumbass of the Day awards. Stay tuned...

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   ehow.com/how_5673215_troubleshoot-walbro-carburetors.html

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