Motorcycles also "hibernate" when the weather gets cold, right? On the cold morning when your hands are freezing, you can't help but feel lazy to ride your motorcycle. If you are an owner of several motorcycles, you may not have a chance to ride them in the winter or even in the warm season.
There must be some owners of motorcycles that have not been ridden for a few months, half a year, or even a few years, and are not going to be ridden for a while. The biggest concern for such motorcycles is the "contents of the fuel tank". If you know what I mean, what do you do about it? Let's take a look at what's inside the fuel tank of a motorcycle that you don't have a chance to ride for a while, or don't plan to ride.
Water heavier than fuel will sink to the bottom.
Moisture can get mixed up inside the fuel tank, and this can cause the inside of the tank to rust. Why does moisture accumulate? There are a variety of possible factors. One reason is condensation due to temperature differences between the inside and outside of the tank. If you store your motorcycle "indoors", you may think that the environment is good. There have been cases where riders have stored their motorcycles indoors, thinking that the environment would be better, only to find that the inside of the tank has rusted to an astonishing degree. By keeping the tank empty and the cap half-open, the temperature inside and outside will be balanced even when stored indoors, and rust is unlikely to occur. However, when fuel is in the tank, the rusting process seems to be faster than expected. I once stored a motorcycle in an old air-conditioned store for several years, and the moment I opened the tank cap, I could smell rotten fuel. I had such an experience once.
In the case of airplane-type tank caps (flat-shaped tank caps), a breather passage is always provided around the cap. If this breather pipe is not ventilated properly, rainwater will accumulate, and every time the tank cap is opened for fuel refueling, rainwater overflowing from the breather will flow down into the tank. When this happens, the area near the bottom of the tank is occupied by rainwater, which often causes rust to erode from the seam-welded (continuously welded with roller electrodes) areas of the tank steel plate.
If you're not going to ride for a while, throw in an anti-degradation agent.
The fuel deterioration inhibitor, also known as a fuel stabilizer, prevents fuel's unique decomposition (image shows old package). By putting an appropriate amount of this into the fuel tank, the deterioration of fuel can definitely be extended! We, the editorial staff, also conducted practical tests and found that there was no change at all in six months or a year, and there were vehicles with no problems for more than five years. To be honest, we were surprised by the results, even if five years is a rare case.
Motorex fuel degradation inhibitor" from Daytona (image shows old package). Just because you put this product inside the tank does not mean that it will no longer function as fuel. If you want to change to fresh fuel at the beginning of your ride, you can use the drained gas in your motorcycle. The instruction manual reads as follows prevents fuel from oxidizing and deteriorating when the motorcycle is not used for a long period of time. After injection, the effect lasts for about one year, and is compatible with both 2-stroke and 4-stroke fuel engines. There is no effect on the catalytic converter system, which is a concern, according to the company. Each bottle contains 125ml, and is used at a ratio of one bottle per 12 liters. In the case of long-term storage, there is a note that says "start the engine once" after injection. When the engine is started, the fuel with the anti-degradation agent will spread into the carburetor and prevent the inside of the carburetor from rotting.
Why fuel filters are so effective
The fuel tube connects the fuel tank to the carburetor. The fuel filter is installed in the middle of the tube. Many carburetor problems are caused by "overflow" before performance is concerned, and the cause of such overflow is often a failure to close the float valve due to clogging. Why does the float valve get clogged with dust? Most of the causes are dirt in the fuel tank and rust that occurs inside the tank. The role of the "fuel filter" is to prevent such debris in the fuel tank from being sent to the carburetor. The fuel filter is also effective in visually checking the dirt inside the tank.
The breather on the tank cap is also important
Fuel tank caps have a breather function. Some models have a breather function in the tank itself, but generally, the breather function is built into the tank cap. If the breather function becomes clogged with debris or rust, there will be no ventilation between the inside of the tank and the outside air. When this happens, the pressure inside the tank increases, and fuel is forced toward the carburetor. The cause of overflow is not only the dust bite to the float valve, but also the problem of "tank internal pressure".
If you have compressed air from a compressor and an air gun on hand, you can periodically blow air through the breather passages of the fuel cap. Tank caps that are not vented and can be disassembled may be disassembled and cleaned, and dirt and rust removed, to restore ventilation.
Since it was a disassembled tank cap, I disassembled and cleaned the internal parts. It contains more small parts and springs than I imagined, and it is easy to lose parts, so when disassembling, disassemble the parts on a tray or inside a plastic bag, and be careful not to skip small parts and lose them.
In case the breather function is for a rubber tube
If the tank cap is an airplane type, some models have a breather passage around the cap, which passes through the inside of the tank, exits to the outside of the tank, and is released to the atmosphere by a rubber tube. If such a rubber hose is crushed, it will cause insufficient ventilation in place and rainwater and other water will not flow down. If there is a breather hole around the tank cap, put the nozzle of an air gun on the breather hole and blow air into it to check the ventilation regularly.
- Point 1: If you don't ride the motorcycle for a while, the basic rule is to empty the gas tank and drain the fuel in the carburetor out of the drain passage.
- Point 2: If there is fuel left in the tank, throw in an appropriate amount of fuel deterioration inhibitor to avoid fuel spoilage.
- Point 3: The cause of rusting in the fuel tank is also poor ventilation of the cap breather passage. Blow air into the breather passage with compressed air periodically.
- Point 4: If the tank cap built-in breather function becomes clogged, it will cause overflow. If it can be disassembled, disassemble and clean it. If it cannot be disassembled due to caulking, replace it with a new part.
You can't ride without fuel, that's what motorcycles are for. Even if there is fuel, if its condition is not good, it will not perform properly. For example, the fuel that remains in the gas tank of a motorcycle that has not been used for a while, has not been ridden, or has been left unattended may not be able to ignite and explode because its components have changed. Even if you are able to start the engine, you will notice that the engine has no sense of power. Just as fresh food tastes better, the fresher the fuel, the better it will perform and the more explosive it will be.
There are a variety of reasons why fuel can alter and degrade performance, but the most common reason is moisture contamination. It is unlikely that rainwater will enter the tank when driving in the rain, but if, for example, the breather in the fuel tank cap is clogged (be careful with the flat airplane type), a large amount of rainwater can enter the fuel tank when refueling. The situation is as follows.
Many tank cap motorcycles with an "airplane" design have a breather passage around the inside of the tank by design. In such a tank cap design, the breather tube can be crushed or broken, or the breather passage can become clogged with debris, causing the ventilation function to fail. When riding in the rain, the rainwater that accumulates around the cap's recesses cannot drain out and becomes stuck. If the tank cap is opened at that time, the accumulated rainwater will enter the fuel tank at once.
As a result, rainwater accumulates near the bottom of the fuel tank, and by the time it is noticed, it has eroded the gaps between the seam welds and created rust holes. There have also been cases where condensation caused by temperature differences has caused water to accumulate inside the tank, leaving the inside of the tank covered in rust.
In any case, water mixed inside the fuel tank is your worst enemy, so if you are touring in the rain or commuting on a motorcycle that must be ridden regardless of the weather, it is a good idea to use a fuel tank "drainer" on a regular basis. Also, if you haven't ridden your motorcycle for a while, or if you haven't ridden your motorcycle for a few months, and you don't think you'll have a chance to ride it for a while in the future. In such cases, it is a good idea to use an anti-fuel deterioration chemical to prevent the fuel from spoiling. This chemical is effective in preventing fuel from spoiling, so it is recommended to start the engine and replace the fuel in the float chamber of the carburetor. Or, if you remove all the fuel from the float chamber before putting it into storage, you should be able to start the engine easily and easily when you wake up.
