Okay, straight from the northwoods…..and from a guy who used to be a Golf Superintendant/Turf Equipment Mechanic in the same northern tier:
These days, untreated gasoline octane drops ten points in the first month..and about a point each week afterward, soooooo….
FUEL STABILIZER STABILIZER STABILIZER STABILIZER STABILIZER STABILIZER STABILIZER STABILIZER STABILIZER STABILIZER STABILIZER STABILIZER STABILIZER STABILIZER
I prefer the green stabilizer marketed by Briggs and Stratton ( http://www.briggsandstratton.com/engine … efits.aspx) over Sta-Bil.
Sta-bil makes me ill when engines are run with it mixed in. I get queasy and dizzy..I dunno, some guys want that….not me. The B&S stuff seems to be more body friendly that way. Using it, I can use it prior to actual storage, but if caught by the winter, it is already in the system.
Try to oil change anything prior to winter. If is to be a 'hibernation' storage (no periodic starts), get it hot on stabilized fuel-a trip to the wash bay is perfect for this,get home and remove airbox and stop the engine with fogging oil right down the carb throats, change the oil and its' filter, replace the airbox (with cleaned and oiled filter-assuming K&N-new filter if not), tape off the airbox inlet, and the exhaust outlet. Draining the float bowls is your option-I've never found it necessary on the proper mix of fuel/stabilizer.
Put bike on stands, attend to any chassis lube points and chain(or pull chain and soak). Pull battery, top it off and store indoors/warm OR use a battery tender. DIELECTRIC GREASE the terminals…cover bike.
Let sit for the winter. All it will need in springtime is a check of tire pressures, and a fresh set of plugs (the fogging oil will kill them-but the good it does is well worth a set of plugs), and the battery re-installed/hooked up.
Myself, unless I was sure to be able to ride it for 20 minutes or more once a wekk, wouldn't bother with the periodic start ('sleep' storage) thingy. Better to let it sit with fogging oil and NEW engine oil in it, than to barely get the oil warm and then shut it down.
Written by ReelRazor