I store with a full tank off gas! Mid season I start adding the XPS Fuel Stabilizer so that's in the system, you never really know when the last ride is done!.. I do the same with the Seadoo's as well! So far I never had any fuel related issues! (Knock on wood!..)🤞

 

Usually just park mine with what ever gas I had left from my last ride. I add no stabilizer. Pour fresh gas in the fall. Never any issues yet.
I only run premium gas

 

I agree that I also park mine with whatever it ended up with in the tank but not below half. Then I dump in a full jug of Seafoam during my last ride so it works through the injectors. Do the summarization fog mode, change chain case oil and grease the suspension. Blow the clutch out if it hasn't been recently done. Put the rear up on a jack stand and done.

 

I park with remaining fuel, stabilize what’s in the tank and top with fresh fuel in the fall.
I use to leave the tanks full through the off season to prevent condensation but then convinced myself that this isn’t an issue.

 

Add a fuel stabilizer then run the summarizer for my 2 stroke sleds. Then drain as much out and put in my lawn mower to use up the gas then add fresh come first time out the next season.

 

why let a full tank of fuel go bad?
plastic tanks dont rust
even 6 month old fuel is not fresh fuel
leave as little as possible for storage and add good fresh gas when time to ride
ethonal in gas works like dry gas so never add dry gas to e15 fuel

 

Anything gen 4 I will leave full now with sta-bil marine to make sure the fuel pump had enought fuel around it to decrease its chances of heating up and sock issues, then start it every once and a while over the summer, even if it isn’t the case after replacing the sock I rather just avoid doing it again.

Also store the sleds indoors in an insulated garage.

Then drain it in the fall and put it in the truck.

 

I've always mixed a full tank with stabilizer and let it run while summerizing. Always have worried about leaving it empty and getting condensation in the tank, as I don't store it in a "climate controlled" garage.

Just before the season starts, I drain the tanks and fill with fresh gas. End up using the "old" gas in our ATV's or Truck.

 

I was told Stabil can cause plug fouling with the Etec engines .I leave about 1/4 +- ( always keep fuel pump wet)tank of fuel treated with Seafoam for stabilization. Just before going back into service I fill it up with FRESH Non Ethanol fuel. Has worked well for me.

 

Funny you mention this. A few weeks ago I went for a ride and my buddy poured 100ml of STP Fuel Injector & Carburetor Treatment into his 850 and he swore the engine wasn't running right. I don't see how that was possible, but who knows. There may be some fuel treatment/stabilizer combo that can cause the plugs to foul on the first start of the season.

 

Here's what i do for all of my sleds. Full tanks when put away. Then every few months pull several liters out and use in lawnmowers, cars, etc. Top sleds back up repeat until official season preparation. Pull all fuel fresh goes in. I also start each sled at least twice during off season running them up to temp. I have the luxury of keeping on-site in controlled garage.

 

I do what the owners manual says

 

Always store with less than 1/4 tank, only use premium ethanol free fuel in the off season, and for 90% of the in-season. Never use additives. Fill with fresh in the fall. Never had a fuel related problem (or any other problem for that matter) Usually fill half a tank of E10 fuel a couple of times mid season to disperse any water droplets (if there is any)

 

I park it full with Premium, add stabil, run it for 10-15 minutes to get the stabil fuel into injectors then put away. Start it a few times during the summer. Never had a problem.

 

I used to store with full tanks of stabilized premium fuel, but my XS chassis leaked out the vent when the outside temps warmed up. Now I stabilize the gas and store with about 3/4 tank of gas. Never had a fuel related problem, but I do have 4 strokes now.

 

Burn reg.gas..
Stabilize what ever amount in tanks at season end. Start 1st of every month.zero issues.

 

Seems as though we are running 50/50 in our responses....As usual.

Don~

 

50/50 makes it easy to flip a coin lol

When someone asks me, I start by answering that I do not know. Since everyone have their own recipe, the correct answer is do what works, and to change recipe if it stops working lol

 

Fill with non-ethanol fuel. Stabilize 2x the recommended amount. Suck it out over the summer to use in the mower. Fill with fresh non-ethanol fuel in December or January.

On a Polaris I'd add 2 stroke oil to the tank prior to step #1 and run that through the engine for a few minutes. I'm not worried about plugs fouling like on an E-tec.

 

Only Soyd using the Doo stabilizer?

 

whatever is in it sometimes, other times i have filled them. this year is going to keep what was in it, it is octane boosted, sea foam and stabil treated per amount for summer. let the sled warm up one more time with the stabilizer in the gas, gave it some blips on the throttle, let it return to idle and shut it off for the summer.

ill wash it as soon as i get the garden hoses out for the summer, have slides to put on it, oil change to do, probably put new carbides on it, grease it and call it a summer. put the cover on it and let it sit until winter again.

steve

 

Hi Steve, just a caution when storing with various products. From what I learnt on DooTalk from folks like yourself, it can be like playing with a chemistry set. I remember a gentlemen who came on DooTalk to report he had followed the advice on DT to use K100 and found his gas had gelled. The same happened with Seafoam. I still remember the guy who used K100 saying that he had read on DT that it was the best of the best, and I remembered the threads he was referring to.

I start with those stories when someone asks me. What has not changed in my recommendations for the past ten years is to focus on the first ride of the season with fresh Winter gas for the RVP and octane. They both degrade over time, so there is no way around it.

 

Regardless of the fuel left, I throw in Seafoam, oil change fill it up in fall.

 

If you are concerned with the fuel quality deteriorating over the storage period, then you'd want as little in it as possible.......none at all is best

 

The 850 that I worked on had an empty/dry gas tank for two years.

If the sled is in the garage with moderately stable temperature, then this provides an allowance. If it is stored in a hot/black trailer in direct sun where the plastic toggle switch pops-off from too high temps, then that is probably bad for the gas.

 

I add 3oz of unicorn tears. Click my heals 3x, run engine for 12.5 seconds.

I fill my tanks with 90 to 91 non-ethanol (4 strokes), add Stabil after the last ride. Preseason, I siphon as much as I can out of the tank (~9 gals) and burn in my car. Fill with fresh non-ethanol for the first ride. I only run non-ethanol.

If you don't fill the tanks, all summer long there is expansion and contraction of the tank from the fumes - not good. DO NOT BURP AND TOP OFF. You will have a mess when temps hit 80f+. Ask me how I know.

 

Teryl fixes all tested a bunch of fuel treatments for storage and iirc Seafoam basically did nothing.

 

I like to have at least half a tank. Stabil. Then leave the cap slightly cracked to prevent over pressure and leaks.

 

Returning the favor

I love these subjects like oil threads, with no sarcasm. I have probably participated in most of them on DooTalk for the past ten years. From my perspective, these are the awesome subjects where I get to see what people are doing and the results. The cool part is that I have seen you guys post on DooTalk for longer than I have been a member.

I have Seafoam and have used it for a number of years, but I am not a fan. Several years ago I bought a few cans, so I have been using them. Last year my push power was stumbling on the first start of the season, so I decided pour some in and it began to run well after maybe five minutes. I ended-up using another one I had for the Summer and left this one filled with the gas/Seafoam mix. Today I got the wheel unstuck from the surface ice to try it. After ten pulls I got nothing. So I dumped the gas mix and put in fresh 91 E10. It took one pull to get it started and it seems to run fine.

The thing that bugs me is that I cannot fathom how it can start on the first pull with fresh gas. I would think at least a few pulls to get the fresh gas into the engine, but one pull? I have experienced and posted this phenomenon multiple times with this mower, so this is not a one off situation. I would have to check the date when I gave it a Seafoam mix and posted on the Gentlemen Projects topic, but it has been a long time, over 8 months. By the way, it was pretty weird to starting it up while my lawn was white lol

Note this was the first time I had ever stored any equipment with any kind of fuel treatment, and I probably will not again unless I decide on doing another experiment.


My Six Month Hypothesis

The conclusion that I have reached is to avoid storing gas for more than six months. I have reached longer, so this is not a hard line in cement, just a rough gauge of sorts. My car takes 87, so using six month old 91 E10 is not an issue. As long as there is no jelling or contaminants, I use-up the gas in my car and fill the equipment with fresh 91 E10.


91 E0 is gone for most of us in Canada

The reason that I mention using 91 E10 is that E0 is gone for most of Canada. For over 25 years it was labelled as 'up to 10%' yet it was E0. A few years ago, some nitwit got a whiff of that and decided it was a great platform to make changes. Ten years ago, barely anyone knew about this other the odd person who would test the ethanol content and share this info in the public space. I once did a poll and not one in a hundred knew about this. The odd shop knew this, but the most did not. Hence how I had estimated that maybe 1 in a thousand or ten thousand knew. Within a few years the percentage in the know kept multiplying until too many people knew and we lost our saving grace.


The Fix

The fix is to cycle the gas with fresh which is actually a good thing despite ethanol content. It a piece of cake with handheld equipment, and easy enough with powersports. Stored cars and trucks are complicated, which leaves to run then.