A Carburetor Icing Field Test: Procedures and Results

The test procedures and some of the results obtained in a carburetor icing field test at Vancouver, British Columbia, during the Winter of 1962-1963 are described. One hundred twenty-nine cars were involved in the test which lasted approximately four months. A total of about 15,000 test runs was made. Fifty percent of the cars stalled at much higher rates under weather conditions conducive to carburetor icing than under other conditions. Thus, carburetor icing was found to be a significant field problem even with effective antiicing additives present in the gasoline. There was much variation among car makes in their tendencies to stall, indicating the possibilities of design improvements in reducing the problem. There was an indication that recent model cars stalled at lower rates than earlier models, showing that some improvement has been made.