Don, I have saved many a small engine from the scrap heap by an overnight soaking of the carburetor in carburetor dip. Wash out in the sink, blow dry. 

The stuff comes in a gallon can with a parts basket in it. There's a coating of something on top to keep the solvent from evaporating. Truly nasty stuff that smells nasty too, but it works. I have had my can for about 20 years, so long that it had to have a new can to contain it. 

You can get it at any good parts store. 

Jim

On Dec 27, 2012, at 9:11 AM, Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM> wrote:

>   You really don't want to leave gasoline with alcohol in any fuel system
> for long, without at least treating it with some fuel preservative.   I've
> been using Stabil now, which seems to work OK, but I haven't any long term
> storage experience with  vehicles using it.
>   You would not believe how ethanol gas can coagulate into such a
> tenacious gummy messy substance if it's just left in a tank and fuel system
> without any 'help'   I recently revived a couple of our dirtbikes which had
> just been 'pushed aside' for about 6yrs.   These had gas/ethanol fuel in
> the tanks (a KTM and a DRZ) and somehow, they were just 'out of sight, out
> of mind) against a Ponderosa tree with covers.   I knew I would be
> rebuilding the fuel systems after that kind of dumb neglect but I was not
> prepared for the substance I found in the tanks....It was like hard gel
> that was almost unaffected by any solvent that I found...   I had to throw
> away the Suzuki gas tank it was so bad, and replace, not just clean and
> rebuild, both the fuel valves.    The carbs took multiple multiple
> cleanings.
> 
>   Now I am more careful with that crap.   If I intend to store any motor
> for longer than a few weeks I always at least put some Stabil in the fuel
> and run it into the carbs or injectors before I shut off the motor.   If I
> can, I fill the tank with 'Non-Ethanol' gas, which is available in some
> stations around the Northwest, and make sure to run that into the intake
> system, again with some Stabil in the tanks, too.
> 
>   I have a friend who's in the motorcycle suspension business.  He uses
> Stabil as a solvent for gummed-up motorcycle forks and shocks...I soaked
> those two motorcycle carb parts in Stabil to remove some of the gummy mess
> the ethanol left in there...It sort of works....better than MEK, Acetone,
> or any other nasty solvent I tried at the beginning of my 3 full day ordeal
> fixing my 'storage mistake' this spring...
> 
>  I wonder if Corn ethanol is any different than Cane-juice like they use
> in Brazil?   Or sugar beets, which I am told is very much more effective as
> a fuel source than corn....