Un-mothballing a Monster...

[OT]

Perhaps covered elsewhere, but I wasn't able to find...

A friend parked her Monster in her (heated) garage 2-years ago.  At the time, I put Stabil in the gas and the battery on a Battery Tender.

Bike is a 2003 air-cooled with ~18,000 miles on do - looks fine.

She wants to start riding again...what's the best way to get it rolling (I presume hitting Start button, but am wondering about, for example, all the oil having drained to the crankcase leaving the rings/cylinders dry, etc.)

Thank you all in advance.

[koko64]

Belts, oil, filter, battery top up with charger, plugs. Rotating the motor with the plugs out with a little oil squirted in before starting to lube it all up. Rotate with crank tool or turning the rear wheel in top gear. Change the brake and clutch fluid too, and check the tyres for condition and flat spots and correctly inflate. Lube all the joints, hinges and levers.  Some will spray WD40 or some such on electrical connectors and to clean switches. Service chain. Run fresh gas or go for a long easy ride after a short test ride to check everything works. Power may feel flat with Stabil and some may pour in some injector cleaner with fresh gas. I would. Others will pick up what I've missed.

Just a thought, be alert to possible perished fuel lines, clagged fuel filter and dirty injectors. Retrace what the last service included too and consider that.

[ducati culture]

before u start... open the gas thank and ensure its rust free.  I had to learn this the hard way. now my tank needs coating   Hopefully your tank was/is full and with treated gas.

[oldndumb]

Stabil in a tank for 2 years could cause problems.

Over a relatively short time, it will separate into 3 layers, the middle of which is a viscous mixture. That mixture could affect a fuel pump, or jets/injectors.

The pic shows an experiment which K100 vendors suggest for dealers to do. Equal amounts of fuel and water and fuel treatment is bottled with a nail in it. The test demonstrates corrosion protection and visible evidence of each treatment's ability to absorb water.

I took the pic about a year after this particular test was started. It is still on my dealer's parts counter after four years and looks the same. The official K100 site claims that it is effective for 2 years. I used it in a bike which I stored for two years with a full tank and it started with no problem.

I'm not trying to claim that K100 is the best fuel treatment available. All I'm pointing out is that the  Stabil  sold today is not the same formula which they started out with when it was an effective product. As with many products, environmental rules have caused formulation changes which are often not made public to the consumer.

The second bottle from the left is Stabil.

[koko64]

Wow. A good illustration.
So Stabil for maybe 6 months max?

[SpikeC]

 Holy Guacamoly! That is quite the demonstration!,

[Dochunt]

Wow.
I use Stabil in my snowblower and lawnmower.
Will change that now.
With the bikes and the cars I tend to run them even in the winter.

[oldndumb]

Wow. A good illustration.
So Stabil for maybe 6 months max?

I don't know.

I asked and no one remembers how fast the Stabil started doing the coagulation. They did seem to think that it was just a few days before it was noticeable.

I was able to determine that the pic was taken 1/13/2012. This is a pic I took this morning. Nothing has been done to the contents. Over the years, the bottles have been shaken numerous times by customers as they are sitting out on a counter. Note that the Stabil is now third from the left.



The K100 site says it is good for 2 years. My opinion, from looking at the sample, is that they are being conservative. I sniffed the bottle and it still smells like gas with no hint of a varnish smell. The Stabil does not smell like gas. My uncalibrated two nostril sniffer has no idea what it smells like. 

[Howie]

Stable seemed to work fine in my lawn mower, the only gasoline engine I mothball.  Fuel looks like and smells like fuel.  It is in there for only about 5 months though.  Looking at those bottles is scary though.  Thank you very much for sharing your test results with us.

[oldndumb]

I don't know if it would make a difference, but if I were to run the test I would have started it with only fuel and the treatments and not have put the water in initially. Over time, water would have phased out of the E-10 and then probably have become visible.

Could be that the initial amount of water was a significant factor. Be that as it may, the K100 was not affected.

[Ddan]

If I read you correctly, that test is 1/3 fuel, 1/3 water and 1/3 K100?  That's hardly representative of what happens in a fuel tank.

[oldndumb]

If I read you correctly, that test is 1/3 fuel, 1/3 water and 1/3 K100?  That's hardly representative of what happens in a fuel tank.

Maybe, maybe not. Do you have a definitive description as to what happens in a fuel tank considering the multitudes of fuel to water variations and combinations possible? I know I don't and never claimed anything other than what is visible in the pics. Our conclusions are probably mostly opinion since no one is claiming any expertise in this subject.....I know I'm not.

[koko64]

Stabil has worked preserving the fuel in my track bike for around 3 to 6 months, but Im wondering if its not so good in handling alot of water or E fuels.
Just my unqualified opinion based on my limited observations.

[oldndumb]

^ ^

[koko64]

 I have also used Motul fuel stabilizer. Seems ok for a few months or so too.
One thing though,  any additive like those two or numerous injector cleaners I have used seem to make the bike run flat until its used up. Too high a dose maybe? Again unsure.
Ill see if I can get K100 here to try.

This is a great topic fellas.