Bike storage

daves79x
ICOA Technical Director
ICOA Technical Director
Posts: 4738
Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2006 8:05 am
Location: Knox, PA
Location: Knox, PA

Re: Bike storage

Post by daves79x »

Whatever fuel you use, if you fill the tank as full as you can get it, it will stay fresh enough over 6-8 months layover that many of us have, without stabilizer. If no air can get to it, it'll be fine. I drained a tank full of unstabilized fuel that had been stored for almost 4 years and the gas looked and smelled pretty fresh. I didn't want to use it in the bike, but after seeing it, I'm sure it would have run fine.

My aversion to stabilizer came about when I stabilized 2 CBXs for winter, then the next spring both ran about 5 miles and quit. I had to completely clean the tank and remove the carbs and clean them. The stuff I found looked like jelly - it had plugged everything up and made a real mess of the inside of the tanks. Something in the fuel reacted with the stabilizer to do that. Never again.

So in my humble opinion, stabilizer is over rated and in most cases not necessary. But you have to drain the carbs.

Dave

tevan
ICOA Member
ICOA Member
Posts: 699
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 8:47 am
Location: Charleston, Illinois, USA
Location: Charleston, Illinois, USA

Re: Bike storage

Post by tevan »

daves79x wrote:Whatever fuel you use, if you fill the tank as full as you can get it, it will stay fresh enough over 6-8 months layover that many of us have, without stabilizer. If no air can get to it, it'll be fine. I drained a tank full of unstabilized fuel that had been stored for almost 4 years and the gas looked and smelled pretty fresh. I didn't want to use it in the bike, but after seeing it, I'm sure it would have run fine.

My aversion to stabilizer came about when I stabilized 2 CBXs for winter, then the next spring both ran about 5 miles and quit. I had to completely clean the tank and remove the carbs and clean them. The stuff I found looked like jelly - it had plugged everything up and made a real mess of the inside of the tanks. Something in the fuel reacted with the stabilizer to do that. Never again.

So in my humble opinion, stabilizer is over rated and in most cases not necessary. But you have to drain the carbs.

Dave
Dave,
What brand of stabilizer did you use? Stabil? Startron?

terry

User avatar
Mello
Forum Regular
Forum Regular
Posts: 239
Joined: Sun Jan 05, 2014 9:52 am
Location: Jhb, South Africa
Location: Jhb, South Africa

Re: Bike storage

Post by Mello »

Curious as to why you're using LRP and not unleaded.
"Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines." - Enzo Ferrari

daves79x
ICOA Technical Director
ICOA Technical Director
Posts: 4738
Joined: Sun Oct 01, 2006 8:05 am
Location: Knox, PA
Location: Knox, PA

Re: Bike storage

Post by daves79x »

Terry:

That was 15 years ago. It was likely Stabil or POR 15 stabilizer.

Dave

Post Reply

Return to “CARBS: Cleaning, Rebuilding, Swaps, Aftermarket, Tuning, Syncing, and More”