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Winter breakout

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dj culver

Member
Hey All!
This is my first season with my '99 Fatboy. Stored and jacked for the winter. I used stabil in a full tank of gas to keep everything from drying out. Now, I am curious, should I dump the fuel that is in there and start from new? what is the best way to get the gas out? Siphon? or, pull the fuel line off the bottom of the tank? Or, should I just run it and see? It is my experience with fuel, that it goes bad after 3 to 4 weeks without stabilizer in it, but not sure how the bike is going to like that. It has been stored since Mid November last year. Had battery conditioner on all winter. It has a carb and not fuel injected. Any other tips for the Spring break out run??:bigsmiley12:
 
I'm sure there will be some experienced suggestions soon. If it were me, I would siphon safely and fill with fresh. Change oil, spark plugs, and do a fender to fender inspection then ride!
 
If you drained the tank what would you do with the fuel and why risk any damage trying to drain??????? You have done the proper precaution for storage and to keep fuel fresh. Just turn key on start bike and go riding..... Just practice your riding skills to refresh the safety aspects riding. This would be more beneficial. :)
 
I used stabil in mine for the winter. Started just fine after sitting all winter and runs great. Some suggest a shot of seafoam the first time you need to gas up. I'm going to try that. Got a couple of nice days here in IN but is cold again now. Maybe next week.....
 
Added a little to my tank in November. The first ride was a few weeks ago, we had a couple of REAL nice days. Put fire in the wire of the '01 FLSTFI and away I went. Never had an issue. I added a little gas to the tank to top it off, ran the tank out and all is well. Run it out. I say.
 
If you use the proper ammount of Stabil you will never have an issue running that gas. If you are not convinced, go to the Stabil web site.
 
If it runs with out sputtering ride it and dont worry, if it sputters drain it add fresh gas and new plugs:s
 
After I thought about it, thats exactly what I decided to do. Siphoned, filled, changed the oil, tire pressure, fired right up and purred like a kitten (with an attitude!) on my first ride out! Invigorating!
Thanks!
 
I think gas will go several months & still be OK even without Stabil. MY old tractor has gas in I put in last Sept or Oct. and yesterday it started and ran fine all afternoon. (grandkids like to drive it around out in the field) My mowers start up & run in the spring with whatever they had when I quit mowing in the fall. If they were going to sit for a year, I might try Stabil, or just drain it for long term storage. I have a Rotax 582 in my little aircraft, and it runs fine on on 89 octane, They recommend 91 octane if it's not going to be flown much, because the octane rating will degrade over time. I'm in Kansas and we've had a rough winter, but the Harley was kept in the garage, and started & ridden at least once every month with November gas in the tank without a problem.
 
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