to drain or not to drain....the float bowl

I'd do it, just from experience in having to re-clean all my carbs after a winters worth of not riding a bike. (I recommend it, but never get around to it myself)
 
I'd recommend it too - any kind of dirt / dust that settles in your bowls usually comes out as well.
 
I drain the bowls... usually around the same time I change the oil in the snow blower :eek:
 
I would say do it as well. You don't want that crappy old fuel be the first thing that goes into your motor come spring. Just my 2 cents.
 
For the first time ever, I winterized my bikes this year. Simply poured some Sea Foam in them, and let them run for a while. And depending on where you store your bikes, I do what I can to make sure no mice get involved, LOL!
 
My routine is to use stabil let it run through the carbs. Then turn fuel off and run carbs near empty and drain the rest out of the bowls. Pull plugs and fog top end. Install new plugs. Then drain tank and fog tank. Hook up maintainer. Then come spring, new fuel, change oil, clean or replace filter s (air, oil, and fuel). unhook maintainer, kick over a few times then fire up and ride.
 
I have had atv's my entire life and have not once winterized them.
Never had an issue.
Don't even turn the fuel off.
 
Sonic, how long is "winter" in Tennessee? About 17 days? I wouldn't winterize anything either then. :)

Seriously though, there are many reasons for different locations to winterize a vehicle. Fresh gas that sits for a month or two might be ok, but old gas that sits for another 5 months probably won't be. Ethanol in gas doesn't help either.
 
Big Rich said:
Sonic, how long is "winter" in Tennessee? About 17 days? I wouldn't winterize anything either then. :)

Seriously though, there are many reasons for different locations to winterize a vehicle. Fresh gas that sits for a month or two might be ok, but old gas that sits for another 5 months probably won't be. Ethanol in gas doesn't help either.
Click to expand...

Hahaha true I didn't think of that.
But real winter here is probably late Nov until late Feb.
 
Big Rich said:
Sonic, how long is "winter" in Tennessee? About 17 days? I wouldn't winterize anything either then. :)
Click to expand...

haha, I LOL'd at that!

I always drain the bowls, don't trust stabilizer because IMO the volatile components of the fuel is still going to evaporate leaving you with the less volatile components that cause varnish. That's the crap that gums up float pivots, jets, etc. I just run the bike with the fuel shut off and drain the residual.

I don't fog anything, but then again I have a walk out basement that's climate controlled... in the past pre-walk out I would pull the plugs and spray some WD-40 in the cylinders, then slowly kick it over a few times to distribute it. I'm sure a few squirts of engine oil would do the same.

I also empty out the oil (with it warm of course) as it's full of contaminates that can etch nasty stuff on your steel engine components over the winter. Then, because I'm a dumbass, I put a tag on the key that says "no oil"...
 
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