sta bil or drain carbs for storage

oh, yeah. All most forgot. I all ways put about 4 ounces of marvel mystery oil in the last tank and ride a while before storage. MMO will keep the ethanol from shrinking the seals and causing leaks. My 750 had started leaking pretty bad, a couple of tanks with MMO and it stopped.

MMO softens and swells rubber bits, not to the point of being ruined but it helps.

 

commrad: "....... Even if you drain the bowls there will be residue left that will cause chalking and tarnish."

That's insignificant compared to clogging.

 

I'm with commrad. When I'm not going to ride a bike for a while, I put a couple of oz. 2-stroke oil in the tank, top it off and run the engine for a few minutes, don't drain the carbs. I have let bikes sit like this for several months, they start right up and run fine. I let an XR250 sit like that for over a year, started right up, ran like it did when I parked it.

 

I've used creakies trick too. works well. I've had the best luck with synthetic chain saw oils like husqvarna/ johnsered oil. Never tried stihl, never liked their saws, not saying anything wrong with them, just not for me.

When I got my 750S it had been in storage for close to 20 years, the first two tanks of fuel through it were 80:1 with Husqvara saw oil. As long as you don't have it too rich it can really help keep the valves and rings lubed.

 

Just adding this, copied directly from Honda's Service manual:



NOTE:

If the vehicle is to be stored for more than one month, drain the float chambers. Fuel left in the float chambers may cause clogged jets resulting in hard starting or poor driveability.

 

Good advice but will cause a cloud of oil smoke when you start your bike next season. Or maybe I add too much oil.

 

Don't know if anyone is watching this thread still. I do add oil to the cylinders of my yard equipment when winterizing but I always wonder about this practice. Is any significant water vapor going to get into the cylinder? And if it does, giving the coat of oil and gas, is it going to rust? I asked a friend about this as I think I saw this advice in my VFR manual. He said he has looked at engines that sat for thirty years idle and there was no rust in the cylinder.

This, along with the fact that reaching the spark plugs is not the easiest thing to do, I will not be doing adding oiil to the cylinder of my motorcycle.

Chuntera, yes the bike will smoke on startup until the oil is burned up. But it will burn of the plug quickly and will not harm is done.

 

Nice Prarie-Dawg! I am of the school where it is better to leave a bike hibernate once you winterize it, starting in cold garages for a few minutes does not heat up the oil to sufficiantly burn off the water and other impurities. You could take oot your battery and charge it every so often on a trickle type charger. When I was in NJ I rode 12 months a year and would never think of "winterizing anything" :loco: this is me though. Could check tyre pressure too if your super board folding towels, covering the exhaust pipes is good, could use the wifes shower caps :wacko: Cheers.

 

When I used to live in Calgary, Alberta it commonly dropped to -35*C during the winter and could stay that way for weeks at a time. Whenever I stored my bike for the winter, I always added stabilizer to the fuel tank, then filled tank and rode home. Once home I would turn off the fuel petcock and let the bike idle till it ran out of gas in the float bowls. Then I turned the fuel petcock back on and fired her again to let the stabilized fuel mixture get in to the floats. Then I would pull the plugs and spray in a bit of fogging oil from the local auto part store (honestly, that is what it said on the can and it is kind of like light oil in a spray can) and then replace the plugs and change the oil. Then I would put the bike in the shed and let her sit for the winter, which in Calgary can be 4 to 5 months if you had a good year. LOL. As Ridervfr said, I wouldn't go start the bike again till riding season started. This was the way by best friend Doug always taught me to do it and he had been shown that by his father and thus it seemed like the thing to do. Never had a problem with the method but it was time consuming.

Where I live now in Kelowna, BC, the winters are much milder with the temps rarely dropping below -10*C, I just add some fuel stabilizer, change the oil and filter, park the bike in the garage and leave her till spring. I can, and have ridden the bike every month of the year, as long as there is no snow on the ground. The typical riding season in Kelowna lasts from March (sometimes late February) until mid November, as long as you don't mind riding when the temp drops to around the freezing mark.

 

Aww come on, I can tell you miss those -35c temp.'s! I've always mixed the fuel with stabilizer and let it sit in the carb's if there was no petcock, and ran it dry if there was. Also, I do not put fuel in my bikes that has ETHANOL in it. That stuff's evil! Premium fuel doesn't have ethanol in it. It can go bad in as little as 6 weeks. Mine has, for sure.