Ever wonder why carbs gum up during winter storage?

[Momz]

Gasoline blends are different blends for cold versus warm weather.
Cold weather blends deteriorate at a greater rate than summer blends. Winter blends can/do leave deposits in carburetors and FI fuel rails and injectors.

http://ask.cars.com/2009/02/whats-the-difference-between-summerblend-gasoline-and-winterblend-gasoline-does-it-affect-my-cars-pe.html

[Valkjerk]

Simple Momz, move down south where the livin' is easy (& so are the women). BWAahahahaha

[alph]

when ever people talk, or mention, storing their cycle for the winter, you'll always have someone "swear" on sta-bil, or seafoam as being the best to prevent gumming up the carbs.  and then there's me.  I drain all my fuel, pull the drains on my carbs and blow 'em out with compressed air, pull my tank and suck out every drop of fuel, leave the fuel cap off and allow it to air dry 100%, and every time I've informed people that THIS is the best way to store your cycle, there's ALWAYS someone that say's I'm an idiot for doing it this way.  but, I've stored many other carbureted engines this way, both cars, boats, and of course mowers, and have never had an issue with a gummed up carb.  with the exception of my old Yamaha FJ600, which I poured in a bottle of sta-bil, then parked soon after I got my Valk.  I had to rebuild four carbs for that one, and i'll never leave fuel in a carb again.  (unless it's a simple engine like a lawn mower).

other things you must do is to squirt a table spoon of clean engine oil in each cylinder, spin the engine without the plugs to lube the cylinder walls, before it also....  make sure you've got good antifreeze, etc. etc......  but that's a different story...

[signart]

Actually warmer temperatures will degrade fuel faster than colder temperatures. You are better off if storing fuel in any container (such as your tank & carburetors) using the highest octane available as it degrades slower to start with and you have more octane to spare anyway. Not that you need higher octane for everyday use or that it will give you any more power, but it is more stable for storage especially minus the corn.  Unstable temperatures during storage such as heat and cold, cause another problem (moisture).

[Spirited-6]

when ever people talk, or mention, storing their cycle for the winter, you'll always have someone "swear" on sta-bil, or seafoam as being the best to prevent gumming up the carbs.  and then there's me.  I drain all my fuel, pull the drains on my carbs and blow 'em out with compressed air, pull my tank and suck out every drop of fuel, leave the fuel cap off and allow it to air dry 100%, and every time I've informed people that THIS is the best way to store your cycle, there's ALWAYS someone that say's I'm an idiot for doing it this way.  but, I've stored many other carbureted engines this way, both cars, boats, and of course mowers, and have never had an issue with a gummed up carb.  with the exception of my old Yamaha FJ600, which I poured in a bottle of sta-bil, then parked soon after I got my Valk.  I had to rebuild four carbs for that one, and i'll never leave fuel in a carb again.  (unless it's a simple engine like a lawn mower).

other things you must do is to squirt a table spoon of clean engine oil in each cylinder, spin the engine without the plugs to lube the cylinder walls, before it also....  make sure you've got good antifreeze, etc. etc......  but that's a different story...

Guy, you are some what " OVER KILL" But not that bad as to jump off a cliff. I have stored bikes for 60 plus years and never went to your way of doing it. Many things have changed in gas over the years and all does not work today as yesterday. Todays Sta-Bil or like will stableize gas for short term storage . But you need to input into Carb. Sysm. before shut the sucker down !!!!

[POPS 57]

Every one works to hard at this storage thing. Just go the your local airport and stick your card in at the pump and fill it with aviation gas. You never hear of a airplane falling out of the sky because of plugged carbs. I do it with all my snowmobiles the 57 chev. and any other motor that sits for a season. Very simple very easy.

[Momz]

Wonder how well we would do sans the corn?

We have a few stations in the Detroit area that have Ethanol free gasoline, however the cost per gallon is close to $5.00 per gallon.

Aviation gasoline is probably the best as a gas tank storage fuel and will not hurt the carbs or any fuel related components but few of use have access to Av Gas.

I personally drain my float bowls when I store my bikes, but their are those that don't always adhere to proper maintenance protocol.

[.]

I know I'm gonna get creamed for this but I generally keep the gas treated with Seafoam, buy ethanol free whenever possible, and if I have to store the bike, I twiddle my thumbs for a couple of days until it warms up.

There are any number of things about living in the south that leave me shaking my head in befuddlement but I've spent enough time north of the Mason-Dixon Line to know that if I ever had to endure a winter like many of you have dealt with this year it would be prudent to lock up all the firearms, sharp objects, and volatile chemicals to make sure I would not stumble across anything harmful to myself or others while roaming about chewing holes in the carpet.

I did have the bikes put up for three weeks straight this year due to weather and the main thing that kept me from getting on here and whining about it was knowing that Skinhead would probably give me a sound thrashing on here for being such a squall bag. 

What I could do without in the south, however, is the annoying tendency the weather has of going from early spring to hellfire and brimstone summer in a two week time-span around March or April and staying that way until sometime in October.

[Daddie O]

Here in California we don't store our bikes, we ride them year round...problem solved!  

[Skinhead]

I know I'm gonna get creamed for this but I generally keep the gas treated with Seafoam, buy ethanol free whenever possible, and if I have to store the bike, I twiddle my thumbs for a couple of days until it warms up.

There are any number of things about living in the south that leave me shaking my head in befuddlement but I've spent enough time north of the Mason-Dixon Line to know that if I ever had to endure a winter like many of you have dealt with this year it would be prudent to lock up all the firearms, sharp objects, and volatile chemicals to make sure I would not stumble across anything harmful to myself or others while roaming about chewing holes in the carpet.

I did have the bikes put up for three weeks straight this year due to weather and the main thing that kept me from getting on here and whining about it was knowing that Skinhead would probably give me a sound thrashing on here for being such a squall bag. 

What I could do without in the south, however, is the annoying tendency the weather has of going from early spring to hellfire and brimstone summer in a two week time-span around March or April and staying that way until sometime in October.

skerddy cat!