What Is a Carburetor?

A carburetor is a part that mixes the fuel and air intake to control the amount of fuel fed into and consumed by a gas-burning engine. Though modern vehicles mainly use fuel injection, carbureted engines were significant in the development of automobiles and they are still widely available on small engines today.

Problems with carburetors

A carburetor must let exactly the right amount of fuel into the engine’s manifold. If it allows too much gas into the engine, the car can flood out or run rich, which means that the car’s fuel economy is suffering. If the carburetor allows too little fuel in, it can stall out and die. It can also run rough because it is not getting enough fuel to keep the engine firing on all cylinders.

Carburetor Styles

Carburetors are named both for how many cylinders they have and for where their air intake is located. Carburetors that have an air intake on the side are called "side draft carburetors." Those that draw air in from the top are called "down draft carburetors." Those that pull air up from the bottom are called "updraft carburetors." Carburetors that draw the fuel through a series of multiple chambers, such as those found on most motorcycles, are called "multi-barrel carburetors."

The first carburetor was patented by Karl Benz in the late 1890s on a joint patent for several other internal combustion engine design improvements. They remained the most common fuel delivery type on combustion engines until the late 1980s when fuel injection was developed. Carburation made engines run smoother and more efficiently and are still useful in small engines today.