I use 93 octane in my Grizz, O-kay heres my question, Sometimes i wont ride it for a month or so, ya know work, family, The wife wants to do something else this weekend, so at times this machine is siting in my garage not being used, By the way i always shut the gas off and run it dry, when i"m done riding it,
But gasoline does have a shelf life right? Does the octane rating lower as it get older? I took it out yesterday with month old gas in it and it seemed to run fine, as it always does, Do some of you not use older gasoline in your machines? Should i just use older gas in my truck or lawnmower and always use fresh gas in it,,

 

I have used sta-bil since 1991 and have had zero fuel related problems. I mix according to directions on the bottle for a shelf life of a year.
This time of year I have ran stabil through all my quads, lawn mowers, motorcycle and might not start some of them till next spring with no draining or run out till motor stops. I also store fuel treated with sta-bil for emergency use in the generator.

The amount of time you are talking about I don't think will hurt a thing though.

 

I wouldn't worry to much about running it dry . Sometimes I think it causes more problems because it never truly gets "dry" .

I also have had good luck with STA-BIL . For my chainsaw I always put some in the fuel for it right when I am mixing up the oil for it .

Sitting a month really isn't a long time , I don't think you really need be concerned . STA-BIL stabilizer would not be a bad idea though if you want to be sure .

I have also used a brand of stabilizer called STORE-SAFE I had really bad luck with it and maybe it was not the fault of the stabilizer . I would use STA-BIL .

Have a nice day ,

Rick Ritter

 

i just start my street bike in the winter months at least once every three weeks , my raptor gets rode at least once a week i have never used any type of fuel stablilizer, i think most gasolines now days have additives that help it last longer

 

running a quad "dry" just creates more problems that it solves. all u are doing is draining the bowl down low enough where fuel wont flow through the jets. and that creates another air space for condensation (water) to collect in your fuel system, which is much worse than bad gas.

 

Good point, But whats all this i hear about varnish forming in the bowl and clogging the jets when the floats are full of gas and its not being used for a while? The dealer is the one that told me to shut the gas off and run the float bowls empty because of problems they have had in the past, with gasoline going bad, Now I'm really confused[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

it takes a long time to start worrying about varnish

ive never used any additives like mentioned,and have never had issues

my street bike stays inactive all winter,i just start it up once in a while,and keep a batt saver on it all winter,,,same with the mower

the wheeler gets used all winter

if you let something just sit for a long while,just pull the carb apart ,spray it with carb cleaner real good,,,,clean or replace the jets,which ever,their cheap,,,,flush the tank real good,and hoses

 

All youhave to do is a search for topics, where the machine wont idle without the choke being on. Thats the pilot jet plugged up. Many of those quads are less than 3 years old, some are 6 months old. It doesnt take long for the process to happen.
If you leave the float bowl full, and the gas on, the gas in the float bowl will evaporate, and refill. This process will leave deposits, especially if the gas is blended fuel (ethenol). As far as condensation goes, itll be so tiny, and because the float bowl is vented...itll dry right back out as temps get higher.
Theres no steel in the fuel system of most quads, so theres no concerns with rusting.
All the manufacturers agree, to leave the gas off, and the float bowl dry, if its gonna sit for any length of time.
Ill take a bit of condensation,(which new gas even has) over plugged jets.
Octane level wont effect any of this. This advice is for all gas, 85 octane or 104 octane.

 

I live in an area where the gas is reformulated w/ethonal. I goes bad quicker and have heard of it playing hell w/small engines. I will let gas sit in my quads for periods of time. I noticed that hey start harder with this gas in them. I would be more careful if you are using reformulated gas w/ethonal added to it. I try to use gas that does not have the ethonal in it for my quads and other small engines. Oh by the way, The ethonal gas plays hell with 2 strokers. Something to do with how the oil mixes w/the gas. Not possitve things heard about it.