Jim

Beyond the edge is the unknown. Here be Dragons
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This Fortnine guy is sometimes informative, sometimes humorous.... always entertaining.
So, what are y'alls thought on winterizing the fuel system?
Fill it up with non-alcohol blended fuel and call it good? If there's a general consensus here on the forum, I couldn't find it.

 
Fill it up with non-alcohol blended fuel and call it good :cheers: completely full tank though
Then either drain the carbs or run them dry
 
Fill with high octane, ethanol free gas, adding a double dose of fuel stabilizer (not sure if it really helps but figured it couldn’t hurt), run the bike so the stabilized fuel runs through the carbs, turn off petcocks and run carbs dry, empty the bowls (easy on the evil PWK carbs), pull plugs a fog the cylinders, pistons to tdc, replace plugs, plug in battery tender and she’s all ready for the winter.

I’ve followed this procedure on all my engines be it a weed whacker all the way up to my car and have never had issues running after long term storage. Many friends think it’s excessive but those same friends have start up and running issues the following season.
 
This Fortnine guy is sometimes informative, sometimes humorous.... always entertaining.
So, what are y'alls thought on winterizing the fuel system?
Fill it up with non-alcohol blended fuel and call it good? If there's a general consensus here on the forum, I couldn't find it.

I appreciate the recommendation, I believe I've got a new channel to stalk
 
Ride it to the gas station to get a ceremonial last fill up, to keep the condensation at bay, and simultaneously realize nothing lasts forever. If that's depressing, then realize motorcycles can be rebuilt forever and you can probably get a new tank and the excitement that goes with it for 50 skins.
 
Yup - a full-up tank of ethanol-free premium in all of the bikes and the Miata and then pet-cocks off and run 'em till they stall out.

That has always worked for me and I feel it is the correct strategy, particularly after watching Ryan F9's latest video on fuel preservative / stabiliser products. YIKES!

Pete
 
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Lol, good episode of fortnine.

It seems like everybody has a bias for some additive or another, one of my favorites is marvel mystery oil. The main ingredient of marvel mystery oil is diesel fuel. if gasoline engines ran better on diesel fuel do you think they would add diesel fuel to the gasoline? At least it smells like peppermint!

We at the shop have noticed a trend that when people add seafoam to gas in a bike that hasn't started in a long time it tends to foul the plugs. Not a big problem if you're about to replace your plugs anyway, but it kind of sucks if it takes an hour to get down to the plugs like it does on some touring bikes or sport bikes.

Also if you drain your carbs completely the floats can get stuck hanging down and cause an overflowing situation that will have you banging on the side of the carburetors in the springtime.

My vote for the best storage is different depending on how long you're going to store it.
***For a shorter storage like three four months absolutely fill the tank with non-ethanol gas to the brim.***

For longer Winters or storage situations like six plus months, I would drain the entire tank and the bowls of the carbs.

Probably a stable temperature environment helps more than anything.
Also remember that if your bike was in a poor state of tune/ hard to start before you park it it might not start at all in the spring.

Side note: a couple of guys have sworn by using avgas saying it never goes bad. That's not true, Avgas can also go bad but it takes maybe twice as long.

So no magic bullet but definitely don't use ethanol if you can help it!
 
I put my sidestand down. If I'm really being proactive I'll use the centerstand.
Over winter a few rounds with the automatic battery charger with state of charge indicator moving it to a different machine every couple of days, till I've worked through the collection. Most have a tender lead to make this easier.
Use the ole sniffometer when I'm out there, checking for a petcock or such that's started dripping. With 8 to 10 carbed machines napping it happens. I've taken to using some ethanol gas in each machine a time or two during riding season to sop up any water lurking in the bottom of the gas tanks and harmlessly run it through the motor and out the exhaust.
 
I put on an internet search yesterday for places that sell ethanol free gas in Arizona, they are few and far between.
Mostly in small rural towns , a long way away from dense urban cities. The county I live in has 4.5 million people and pretty strict pollution laws. All gas here is CBG ( clean burning gas ) it has all kinds of volatile solvents in it, which is probably what melted my tank liner. Up until a few years ago, all motorcycles had to be emission tested and I had a devil of a time getting 70’s era motorcycles past the exhaust sniffer. It would’ve made it impossible to own a two stroke street bike.
 
I put on an internet search yesterday for places that sell ethanol free gas in Arizona, they are few and far between.
Mostly in small rural towns , a long way away from dense urban cities.
Most FBO's sell Mogas, which is cheaper than 100LL (not much). Both are ethanol free. Light plane airport near you?
 
I put on an internet search yesterday for places that sell ethanol free gas in Arizona, they are few and far between.
Mostly in small rural towns , a long way away from dense urban cities. The county I live in has 4.5 million people and pretty strict pollution laws. All gas here is CBG ( clean burning gas ) it has all kinds of volatile solvents in it, which is probably what melted my tank liner. Up until a few years ago, all motorcycles had to be emission tested and I had a devil of a time getting 70’s era motorcycles past the exhaust sniffer. It would’ve made it impossible to own a two stroke street bike.
I wonder how much good that stuff actually does. I've been reading about how environmentally damaging is the corn industry. GMO corn causes soil to end up in the Mississippi among other things. Who Knows?
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I've been using MMO for some time. Not as a stabilizer. I just pour some in the tank when I fill up. It must not hurt, because I'm still running.
 
Most FBO's sell Mogas, which is cheaper than 100LL (not much). Both are ethanol free. Light plane airport near you?

I was just looking, there is a small airport about 20 miles from me. Since I usually either begin or end my rides at a gas station near home, I’m not really sure I would ever do that. This is such a pain. I miss the good old days. :unsure:
 
I was just looking, there is a small airport about 20 miles from me. Since I usually either begin or end my rides at a gas station near home, I’m not really sure I would ever do that. This is such a pain. I miss the good old days. :unsure:
I run our cars on E10. Everything else on E0. Go buy a five gallon gas can and fill it with whatever E0 you can and top it up. Any reduction in ethanol is good. @Mailman, since you're not going into storage, you're just going to have to hope the new liner is impervious to the solvents in your gasoline. That's why I won't use a solvent based liner.
 
For the first time ever, this year I scored some Stabil to dose my tanks. It was largely to treat the jerry cans of stand-by generator fuel, as that sits for months or even a couple of years before use, no matter how much I pay attention to keeping it rotated out.
While I was at it, bunged some into the bike tanks, just in case.
E5 is the commonly available stuff at the pumps here, and while I can't say I've had any trouble with it, I don't trust it overmuch. The content of ethanol could rise and I'd be non the wiser until it hit me.
I have a jerrycan of old petrol that's at least a decade old. It's full of two-stroke goodness for my chainsaws. Given that I don't use the saws much, that can remains half full of decade old petrol. It starts in the saws lovely and hasn't gone off.
Modern fuel is pish.
 
I fill the tanks full and a bit of Seafoam. I do not drain the carbs. My belief is that the small amount left after you drain or run them dry will evaporate and leave a gummy residue of varnish plugging the pilot orifice. I used to run them dry until I found a small ball(1/8 inch ball) of varnish rolling around the bowl which was plugging the main jet once in a while and causing the bike to sputter. Took me a while to figure that one out.
 
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