Winterizing with a plastic tank

[Chucko9-696]

Im on Long Island i usually fill it up and keep stabil in the tank. And on those not too cold days i take her out for a quick spin.

[Christian]

best idea, drain the tank, wash it out, caswell it during your winter down time and not worry about tank expansion anymore.  it's what i did last winter when i got my 796.  there are a lot of good instructions on how best to do it on this site if you do a search.

Not to jack this thread anymore, but haven't some people recommended against the caswell sealant?

[He Man]

like who?

[Christian]

Like this forum.

http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=25074.865

[He Man]

didnt read the whole thread, but it sounds like 1 dealer who advised against it. and it sounds like he has never done it either. though i will say that my tank is uncoated and has shown no signs of expanding.

[Christian]

How many months and miles have you had it on your tank?

[thought]

so far, the only reasons that it seems that the caswell coating messes up is due to incorrect mixing of the epoxy, one reported case in that thread.  one guy noted that some chunks were coming off but he had the dealer put it in, not himself.  you're also noting one point on page 58 of a 125+ page thread... people were still trying to figure out the tank expansion issue at that point and there were a lot less people doing the caswell route.

for everyone else who has done it, i havent seen a report of any tank expansion issues.  also, in terms of invalidating the warranty if the tank does expand, the dealer would a) have to notice it was caswell'ed b) have to prove that the tank expanded because of the caswell.  which is pretty much an impossible case due to the fact that ducati is already trying to settle the case of the e10 expanding the tanks.  current offer is that they will a) replace tanks up to 6 years after purchase or b) on some models, give you a smaller tank so when it expands it wont affect the other areas.

personally, if you really trust your dealer, he's done several coatings before, and you're kinda lazy... have the dealer do it.  but if you dont mind taking some time out to do it yourself, it's not super hard... just a bit tedious.  lots of advice in this forum and you can make sure that the mix is correct yourself instead of having to depend on someone else for it.

[Christian]

To be clear - I'm just playing devil's advocate. I haven't seen enough information to sway me one way or the other. I heard some reports of people having bad experiences with it and it might be entirely due to user error. I was just bringing up the counterpoint.

[ducatiz]

To be clear - I'm just playing devil's advocate. I haven't seen enough information to sway me one way or the other. I heard some reports of people having bad experiences with it and it might be entirely due to user error. I was just bringing up the counterpoint.

So a thread of dozens of people who've done it with no problems versus one person who had a problem, likely due to application error doesn't sway you one way or another?  Plus the fact that the Multistrada guys (www.multistrada.net) were doing it at least a year before I posted it as a possible solution and none of them have had a problem at all?  That doesn't sway you?

(shrug)...  ok..

[Christian]

Haha hey, like I said, I just want to be sure.

Didn't know the MTS guys were doing it beforehand. Those guys are probably racking up some miles.

As I see it, you do it and you can't really turn back, so I want to be 100% sure before I do anything to my tank.

Dozens of people doing it and reporting no problems does not mean it is a trouble free solution. I've spent enough time on forums and with various vehicles to know that the popular opinion can then become unpopular very fast when a rash of people speak up about issues they're having. A few dozen people is not enough of a sample rate for me.

Measure three times, cut once!

Unless in carpentry, then I'm more of a measure once and cut six or seven times kinda guy.


But back to the OP's question - the safest method with ethanol fuel is to drain the tank for the winter. Whether or Caswell it or not when drained is your choice.

[ducatiz]

it works.

stabil/startron/etc are worthless to prevent problems with expansion.  they help the gasoline burn better but do not help with the hygroscopic nature of ethanol.  water still collects and separates and the PA6 material laps it up.

I have metal tanks, I top them up with hi test and put in some stabil to keep the fuel fresh.  it also keeps any moisture from clinging inside and causing rust. 

however, the plastic tanks will be drained... even my coated S2R tank now.. 

[He Man]

How many months and miles have you had it on your tank?

almost a year and 10,000 miles.

[corey]

my dealer expressly recommended the caswell coating. that was only a couple months ago, so results remain to be seen.
as far as the fellow who had coating chipping off... my thought on that was always that he likely jammed the fuel filler at the gas station down into his tank every time... maybe cracked or chipped the coating... just seemed odd to me that the spot where it  DID chip just so happened to be right at the filler opening.

[rockaduc]

it works.

stabil/startron/etc are worthless to prevent problems with expansion.  they help the gasoline burn better but do not help with the hygroscopic nature of ethanol.  water still collects and separates and the PA6 material laps it up.

I have metal tanks, I top them up with hi test and put in some stabil to keep the fuel fresh.  it also keeps any moisture from clinging inside and causing rust. 

however, the plastic tanks will be drained... even my coated S2R tank now.. 

Are you leaving the filler cap open as well?

[ducatiz]

Are you leaving the filler cap open as well?

yup..  once empty, leave it open.  my garage is heated too so it stays very dry.