Be careful with the paint where the blanket was touching it. A gasoline soaked blanket touching a tank = messed up paint. My dad had a custom paint job on his Dyna and while waiting for his new gas cap to come in he filled it up to get it started and stuck a rag in the filler hole. The gas actually climbed the rag and messed up the brand new paint. He wasn't very happy! The tank is easy enough to remove - I would just put some stabilizer in it and put it back on the bike. You want to run the bike for a bit with the stabilizer in it to get the treated gas into the system (carb or injection).

KevTec wrote:
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
====================

I see no reason why you couldnt use fogging oil.

Scott

JGR wrote:
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
======================

Thats hard way to store any gas powered items that i used to also do many yrs ago before i foud out about fuel stabilizers in boating industry over 40yrs ago.

But these days there is no need bother draing fuel system/tank/carb and chance rusting tank & drying out carb gaskets/rubber oring seat drying-shrinking-cracking etc or not getting all fuel out of carb having the fuel go bad in the carb gumming up idle circut/jets etc.

Iv'e been using good quality fuel stabilizers for past 40+yrs and never ever had fuel go bad in my bikes/classic/mower/snoblower/weedwaclker/chainsaw when filling up with fresh fuel (very important!) ,properly dosing fuel with the stabilizer(very important!),then running motor for 10-15 mins to get treated fuel completely thru fuel system & carbs circuts(very important!.

Some people make mult mistrkes when stabilizing fuel that they are not aware of that gets them into trouble and gunked up carbs and say fuilizers don't work when they didn't properly staa-bilize thier gas powered equipment in the 1st place.

Heres a few things people over look or make mistakes with when trying to treat fuel/gas powered items/vehicles for storrage thsat gets them into trouble.

* TREAT NON FRESH FUEL THATS ALREADY BEEN SITTING ARROUND UNTREATED WITH STABILIZER FOR MONTHS WITH THAT NOT FRESH FUEL ALREADY 3/4 OF THE WAY TO GOING BAD ALREADY TAKEN ON MOISTURE/WATER ETC.

* DOING THE ADOVE MENTIONED TO A PARTIALLY FILLED TANK OF FUEL WITH HALF TANK EMPTY SO AIR/MOISTURE IS PRESENT IN THE UNFILLED PORTION OF THE FUEL TANK TO REACT WITH ETHENOL IN FUEL CAUSING THE ALREADY MONTHS OLD FUEL TO GO BAD QUICKER.

* NOT RUNNING THE MOTOR AT ALL OR NOT LONG ENOUGH POST TREATING FUEL WITH STABILIZER TO GET THE TREATED FUEL COMPLETELY THRU THE FUEL LINES,FUEL PUMP IF RUNNING ONE,THEN INTO CARB AND THRU ALL ITS CIRCUTS TOO. SO EVEN THOUGH FUEL IN TANK MAY BE TREATED THAT TREATED FUEL NEVER GOT INTO THE CARB AND ALL IT'S CIRCUTS AND CAN GO BAD GUNKING UP THE NON TREATED FUEL THAT STILL IN THE CARB WITH OLD FUEL THAT WAS TREATED IN FUEL IN THE TANK WHICH IS 2 STRIKES AGAINST YOU THERE.

Bottom line is if you use a good stabilizer like Sta-Bils new Marine Grade sta-bil at approx 1.5 oz per 5gals/full tank in R* in a fresh fillup of over 4gals of fuel,then ride the bike for approx 10 mins to get fresh treated fuel into ALL CARB CIRCUTS you are good to go for at least 1yr & even longer if your bike/gas powered equipment is stored in dry cond with little to no temp variation.

I use the stabil in fuel storrage can i have at home for the mower/snowblower etc so everythings always covered ,i use it in bike durring riding season at lower maint dose of approx .5-.75 oz per 5 gals fuel because it also keeps carb/fuel system clean too.

When i am close to end of riding season i use the stronger storrage dose of marine grade stable in last few tanks of fuel so when i stop riding for the season my bikes fuel system is already properly treated with the full storrage dose with a fresh full tank of fuel & the bikes good to go sitting from mid to late November to very late April but most of time mid to late May on avg before rain gets all the salt & sand off the roads maing them safer ride on & getting back into decent riding temps/weather too here in NY.

Scott

I tend to store my bike/lawnmower/snowblower / everything that sits for longer than a week using the wet method.

I just helped a buddy get his second bike back on the road, because he forgot to winterize LAST year.

Ethanol is terrible. That Gel is what you get from not doing it at all.

sergbutton wrote:
I tend to store my bike/lawnmower/snowblower / everything that sits for longer than a week using the wet method.

I just helped a buddy get his second bike back on the road, because he forgot to winterize LAST year.

Ethanol is terrible. That Gel is what you get from not doing it at all.
=======================

Thanks for posting this,a pic is worth more because you can see what fuel going bad does!

Wet method esp with using fuel stabilizer is best by far.

Thats because the ethenol in most of todays pump fel can attacks rubber parts and gaskets in carb when left dry.

Thats happens when moisture/air in carb combined with what chemicals the fuel left behind soaked in the rubber parts & gaskets acutally breaks down those materials causing the rubber & gaskets in carb to shrink & crack. That causes fuel leaks and or vacuum leaks not to mention bad fuel also clogging jets/carb circuts too.

BTW,last carb i had to fix from a friends bike with bad fuel was 2x worse looking then your pic,it had a dark green almost blk color looking blob goo of sticky goo in the flaot bowl and same goo was stuck in all jets/carb circuts too,was a mess.

Like i said ealier,everything i fuel up gets marine grade stabilizer so i don't have ever think or worry about have fuel related problems with any gas powered equipment or in my bikes or classic car that both sit with non use at times too.

Scott

To drain the tank, Do you have to take it off the bike or not?

No you can remove the line from the petcock (turn it off first) and attach another line to it and drain into a five gallon gas can. Open the gas cap for venting.