Hi everyone,
I winterized my bike ('08', here is the thing.
I took the gas tank off, and have left it off so I could work on the air filter
mod later on. I put the tank in a bananna box, re-filled w/gas, covered loosly with
a big blanket, set in a corner of garage (off the floor).

Now, very strong gas smell coming from there, so I checked and the blanket seems
wet w/gas. The whole garage stinks pretty bad of gas.

The reason I refilled the tank was to prevent rusting.
I did check and the fill cap on the tank seems to be on normal.
Do these tanks vent or something?

How should I resolve this?

Any input appreciated, thanks.
Kevin

There is a vent on top or where the tank fits on the frame.
Gas expands and contracts with temp changes. This is constantly going on. So if you fill the tank up to the brim and your garage temp changes, gas runs out the vent. In all honestly I have no idea why people fill their gas tanks on these bikes to prevent rust. I could be wrong but the tank is lined with a material to prevent rusting. I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.

Insert funnel into auto gas tank and pour gas into open end of funnel. Store empty bike tank in a cool DRY place and refil with fresh gas when needed.

When I was working on mine, the exact same thing happened. Turned out to be leaking from the fuel petcock. It was in the off position and still leaking , so I had to replace it. Now it's good to go.

As far as my tank (granted I have the 1600cc model), fuel can leak from 4 areas:
1. gas cap
2. vent tube (top of tank, front right hand side)
3. fuel petcock (can leak from 2 places from the petcock)
4. the fuel guage unit (the other 2 bolts in the bottom of the tank)

Not sure if the 1700cc tank is set up differently. Hope this helps.
Phil

Thanks for the replies so far.
I think first thing I will do tonite is siphon some (most) of the gas out of the tank and
put it in a dry place.

greenpus wrote:
There is a vent on top or where the tank fits on the frame.
Gas expands and contracts with temp changes. This is constantly going on. So if you fill the tank up to the brim and your garage temp changes, gas runs out the vent. In all honestly I have no idea why people fill their gas tanks on these bikes to prevent rust. I could be wrong but the tank is lined with a material to prevent rusting. I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.em.

================

Bike fuel tanks can rust when left empty and or partially filled from air & moisture that gets in the tank thru the vent or is already in an emty or partially filled tank.

So a good way to store a bike fuel tank is to add approx 1-1.5oz marine grade stable then fill it alomst to top leaving just enough room to allow for some expansion due to temp changes to avoid fuel comming out of the tank vent like seems to have happened in this case.

I have done this with every bike i have owned over the past 43-44yrs riding bikes and never once had the tank rust or fuel be bad messing the carb up.

But many yrs back marine grade sta-ble fuel stabilizer wasnt avail & i used std type fuel stabilizer used in the boating industry .

I always use the fuel stabilizers designed for the boating industry because they are better suited /formulated to handle any type storrage cond when it comes to storing fuel in tanks/carbs etc.

I have also used fuel stablizer in the 1969 chevelle ss 396 classic muscle car i have owned since 1978 (mowers/weedwacker/chainsaw/etc) and have never had any fuel tank and or carb issues related to rust or buildup in the fuel system due to fuel going bad in any gas powered items.

Scott

KevTec wrote:
Thanks for the replies so far.
I think first thing I will do tonite is siphon some (most) of the gas out of the tank and
put it in a dry place.
===================

Even though some fuel tanks on bikes may be coated with a rust/corrosion retardent i have still seen them rust when stored empty or partially filled if theres enough mositure in the area where tank is stored.

With that said if you tank is leaking fuel from 1 of the 3-4 places as already suggested you could pour maybe a 1/4 qt of heavy single grade (not multi visc/multi grade) 50wt or 60wt oil into the tank and swirl it arround to coat it to help stop & or at least retard rust/corrosion from forming in the tank.

I have also done this a few times over the yrs with good results too.

And having a 1/4 qt or so of oil in the 5gals fuel the tank holds when you fire it up next season wont hurt anything or be noticed by the motor other then a little extra lube for the top end.

But if your worried about the oil in the tank you can simply pour approx .5gt fuel into the fuel tank and swish it arround to remove the oil from the tank and dump it prior to putting tank back into srv'c.

Scott

Question - would it be ok to empty the tank and use some marine grade fogging oil, the same stuff used in the cylinders, to lightly spray the inside of the gas tank? Any ill effects anyone can see from that, instead of using regular oil and having the hassle of trying to dump that out, rinse w/gas, etc?

thanks again

Just thought I would reply to my own question...
I just got off the phone w/dealer, they said it is ok to spray a 'small' amnount in the tank, and not to worry about rust in tank unless tank is empty for a long period of time, but just to be safe, I think I will empty it and spray small amt of fog oil

always drain the tank, now days gas begins to go bad after 30 days anyway. Even if you left it in there till spring it would be bad and you would need to drain it