Drain gas tank or add fuel stabilizer for winter storage?

I'm thinking that if I completely drain the tank and let it air out, rust might attack the bare exposed metal. Or I could use fuel stabilizer instead and leave the tank full. Usually when winter comes I siphon the gas out of my garden tractor and use it in the snowblower. Keeps it from going bad and gumming up the tractors carb. I was going to do this to my XJ tank. I will probably drain the carb bowls though.

 

Run some Sta-Bil or SeaFoam into a FULL tank of gas, run the bike long enough for the treated gas to get into the carbs, etc., and then leave it. Empty gas tanks love to rust; empty carbs will gum up. Better to leave the whole system full of treated gas.

 

A full tank and fuel stabilizer would be the best option. A full tank will keep moisture from condensating . If the carbs are drained the fuel residue can still gum up the jets and cause problems. Put stabilizer in the tank and run the bike to get the treated fuel in the carbs, shutoff the petcock and your are done.

 

Re: Drain gas tank or add fuel stabilizer for winter storage

You're right... Don't drain the tank. Put in some Seafoam and fill the tank for the winter. Also run that Seafoam gas mix through the engine for a few minutes. And draining the carb bowls is a must as well!

Do a Forum Search for Winterizing and you'll get loads of helpful info. Specifically go to the post "Winterizing?" and scroll down to SecaMaverick's "Winter Storage Guide for Motorcycles" link. It's very thorough! Good luck.

 

Re: Drain gas tank or add fuel stabilizer for winter storage

I'll save everyone some time, Thanks SecaMaverick and Palmer650

This covers everything.


http://www.clarity.net/adam/winter-storage.html

 

The guy suggests coating the cylinders with WD-40 if you can't find some oil- - - don't do that !
After reading RickCoMatic's reasoning behind draining the bowls, and having my carbs gunk up in the middle of the SUMMER! , I'm all for draining the bowls.
But I have a third option I'd like you all to consider:
After draining the carbs, load them with an inert light oil that won't evaporate, deteriorate, or eat plastic and rubber. Lamp oil that stays stable for years. Bone dry carbs can get moisture in them to rust the float hinge.

 

And don't forget to change the oil before putting it away for the winter. Old oil will absorb moisture more readily and from what I've read, builds up corrosive acids. Then in the spring you change the oil once again and you're ready to go. And that's my 0.2 cents.

 

And don't forget to also take out the battery and put it on a floater/charger. If you don't have a floater, use a multimeter to check the battery's charge. If it's down a bit, put a 1A charger on it for 3 or 4 hours then check it again with the multi-meter. Then check it ocassionally throughout the winter, giving it some charge time if it drops. But a floater/charger is preferable since it will do all that for you and doesn't cost that much more than a manual charger.
And that's another 0.2 cents from me.

 

I store my bike in a friends basement (quite a chore getting it in/out, but warm). She requested that I empty the gas tank because it is inside her home which I understand. I put a goodly amount of marvel mystery oil in to coat the tank and prevent rust. The tank was drained AFTER the carbs were filled and stabilized. Will the marvel do the trick or should I move the tank to another location where I can keep it filled with fuel/stabil?

thanks.
-marshall

 

I drain the bowls and then add stabilzer to the gas. put a few squirts of oil in the cyclinders and take the battery out for long storage.

JMO

 

thanks JMO.

I did all that. I'm wondering if a coat of marvel is enough to protect an EMPTY tank from rusting as I can't store a tank full of gas in the basement where I keep the bike.

Thanks.

 

JMO= just my opinoin.

Add stabilizer to the tank and take it off and store it some where safe.

The xj700 tank is easy to take off. The deal with emptying it is rust. Ive been down the rust road and its not fun.

Dont you have a shed or some thing? Well good luck with it. There will be more good advice to come, im sure of it.

 

ahhhh....J.M.O. duh...got it Ridz.

Ya I'll figure something.

Thankx man

 

i put some good 2 stroke oil in the full tank on the tractor, mower and bikes then run them till they smell like the MX track, never had a problem in the spring