Thoughts for winterization in extreme cold

I've never had to winterize a motorcycle before (simply always rode year round in Vancouver, and on Vancouver Island) but I'm definitely going to have to here in Calgary where temps will hit -40. Winters here are extremely dry(much moreso than the already dry summers), so moisture isn't really a big deal, but it's bloody cold.

I do not have, nor do I have access to, a climate controlled garage. It'll be outside through the winter.

I'd prefer to keep things in a quasi-ridable state, as we get chinook winds from down south allowing nice toasty 0-15C days, and I'd like to get the bike out then if possible, but am unlikely to ride at any substantially below zero temps. I'd feel better having her running when possible, as I've always been sketchy about leaving bikes sitting for any length of time. To be honest, it's mostly just because I get grouchy when I'm forced to leave my bike at home on any trip.

Tips? Tricks? I've looked around here, but haven't seen much to date, and most guides I've found are basically "here's how to leave your bike sitting in a garage for several months" guides, and really reflective of the environment my baby will be in.

A winter fuel stabilizer is a must of course - have to have that for the truck anyways, as when you're below -40 fuel lines can freeze. A battery tender as well.

Change to a lighter oil, I'd assume. IIRC Yamaha recommends downwards of 10w40, maybe go as low as 10w30?

 

Remove battery and bring it inside ..you can keep it on a tricke charger...I do not leave battery in the cold . I run a 50/50 mix of Stabil and Marvel Mystrey oil , run it till engine good and hot. I pull fuel line drain float bowls . Close drain screws and fill carbs with a syringe with the 50/50 mix and leave it till spring . One other item I fill tank with fuel my concotion of stabil and Marvel seems to work great. Before I fire it back up I drain bowls and fill bowls by turning petcock to pri . May seem like alot of work but this does work. Keep bike covered and put something to plug up exhaust this can keep mice out. Cheers

 

I've used the same method for the 33 years I've owned my XJ550. Every place I have lived gets minus 20 plus F.It always starts in the spring and have not had any carburator issues or fuel tank rust:

Wash bike
Change oil
Check tire pressure
Run last tank with Stabil to get fully into carbs. Alcohol free gas only - top up tank to full before parking.
Top up battery with distilled water.
Plug into battery minder. (Outside storage I brought battery inside - doesn't seem to matter with minder if stored in garage)
If outside storage, out of wind and snow drift areas.
Cover with motorcyle cover , esp. if outside (several winters I had no garage).
Cover exhaust ends.

In spring:
Check oil level (just in case float valve leaked)
Flip to prime for several minutes before starting
Almost always starts right off.
Before driving:
Check tire pressure.
Adjust lube chain.
Check and lube cables.
Check brake fluid.
New plugs (usually)
Run Seafoam in first couple of tanks.

Rarely does it get warm enough in January to take a ride. I usually wait until March and get it out.

 

It'll be in the wind, but covered - that's unavoidable here. I live in a townhouse with a covered driveway, so at least it won't be snowed directly on -

This was from when it was purchased this March and is largely the environment it'll be in.


I'll definitely grab a cover, though.

Obviously, center stand, and if it's parked for any length of time I'll periodically rotate the front to prevent flat spots (which can certainly be an issue in extended cold stretches.

It's not going to remain parked all winter, however. As I noted above, we get frequent chinook's which result in really warm stretches of up around 15C, and while snow tends to stick around off the roads for extended periods, it doesn't actually snow much here at all so it's very normal for the roads to be clear and dry for a majority of the winter... Hell, even some of the non-chinook but long, dry, sunny stretches? I can handle some sub-zero temps, if they're not stupid cold. Thermal underwear, good gloves and jacket, you're golden Calgary averages 330 days of sun per year. Sadly, sunny doesn't imply warmth. Those weeks, I'm absolutely going to be taking the bike out as much as possible. So, it's not going to be parked and left all winter.

Alcohol free gas is extremely difficult to find here. Found some (several years outdated) information that a couple stations have ethanol free blends, so I can swing by and check, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to find out - staff are unlikely to know anything about it at all. Why the recommendation for ethanol free?

Also, why seafoam in first couple of tanks? Just to help keep things clean from old gas? I'm less concerned about this, as I'll cycle through a couple tanks of gas throughout the winter. Forgive my ignorance here, as I've seen seafoam mentioned a few times but have never used the stuff personally, and I'm not entirely certain of what it's actually doing.

 

You know, I'd always assumed that MMO is just another one of those fuel/oil additive snake oil products (of which there are SO DAMNED MANY), however your post prompted some heavy googling and that stuff sure has a heavy cult following.

Turns out it's a thinner, detergenty oil with mineral spirit solvents added with the ratios being the "mystery" part of the name. What's interesting to me is that this makes it very much like k-moe's (grandfathers?) recommended lube&clean ATF+Acetone mix. Interesting.

I'm not looking for long-term storage advice, as I'll be riding throughout the winter when it's possible, however there's a hell of a lot of recommendations for the stuff as a fuel additive for cold weather driving too, so I think I'll give the stuff a go in it's normal additive role.

Edit: Or not, as it's pretty much not available in Canada, and shipping it here is horrifically expensive.

 

Attached is something I created last year.
What can I say? I like checklists.

 

you're on the first floor? just bring it in, park it in front of the tv and watch bike shows all winter

 

Not sure if joking, but this is indeed something I'd do.

Hah there's two steps, but a small ramp could cover that

Sadly, my "having a bike inside" credit was used up when I co-opted our dining room for a year building my sportster... That'll be a no go on the wife front In her defense, there's really nowhere on the main floor to put it (three story townhouse, and the basement is already taken up by my disassembled Seca + Maxim parts).. and going up and down the stairs to take it upstairs several times over the winter... Nah.

 

invest in a bike cover they are not that much.

 

If you're looking for gas without ethanol, shell doesn't put it in their high octane stuff. It's part of their Ferrari deal. The ethanol isn't good for high performance engines (or the rubber bits in your carbs). They list ethanol content on the pumps. In Ontario, companies are required to put the stuff in a certain percentage of the gas sold, so they can leave it out of high test due to lower volumes of sales.

 

I also agree that a lot of so called additives are snake oil. However, Stabil (for gas preservation), SeaFoam and or Mercury Quikleen for keeping things clean, really work. IMHO. The results with my one owner bike are testimony.

Also, avoiding alcohol in the gas....and I live in ethanol manufacturing country.

The last words my salesman said as I drove off in my brand new XJ in Yankton SD were "Don't ever run ethanol in your gas. It will gum up your carbs and ruin anything made of rubber." I took him at his word.....

 

Alberta has different regs than BC, Sask, Manitoba and Ontario. It's much more murky here.

I'm checking through the companies directly now, as many service stations do *not* have "ethanol content" stickers on their pumps but do indeed have 10% ethanol in their fuel - see Petrocan, where even the 94 octane has 10% ethanol. Worse, in many cases the ethanol content depends on the individual station, not the company, which is extra messed up - one station may have ethanol free premium, and another of the same brand may not. It's gross. And as pumps apparently don't have to be labeled (the individual stations can label them, but often don't) and staff are minimum wage random folks who typically have no clue whatsoever nor any interest, they're not helpful.

Apparently, Shell V-Power NiTRO (specific name) is always ethanol free (and is the fuel related to the Ferrari deal) but NOT all shell premium is ethanol free - only the particular brand is guaranteed to be.

What a mess.

 

You guys are making me feel bad, I put some stabil in a full tank and park it with a cover. Usually gets a battery tender but forgot last fall (still started in April). My thought is if it won't start after stored that way it probably has other issues that need addressed.

You'll definitely want the battery on a tender for those temps if you're going to ride in the winter. My bike starts almost instantly when warm, I tried it for fun last year on a 28 degree day and she was a little grumpy but got going.

 

Around here kwik trip premium is the only sure fire place to find no ethanol fuel which is what I run simply for that reason. Ethanol attracts moisture which means bad stuff inside a fuel tank, carbs, etc. When I was kart racing, before we were able to run actual methanol, we used straight ethanol and that stuff caused a ton of fuel system issues even on small single cylinder Briggs engines. Once I switched to a vp racing methanol, which I believe had some stuff blended in with it, I had no more fuel issues even if I got lazy and didn't drain the carb every week. I always stored it in the metal can it came in and it never sat around more than a month or 2.
As far as storing the bikes go for me this winter, I plan to fill the tanks with no ethanol fuel with some sea foam/marvel mystery oil mix in it as I have had terrible luck with stabil products humming up fuel systems. Park them both in the breezeway attached to the garage, remove batteries and store them inside on tenders, cover them, and leave them sit until spring. Or until I've got enough money saved up to put a lengthy order into chacal and can start going through them

 

seafoam is a good stabilizer for ethonol fuel you can extra dose the fuel and not worry about ruining your rubber seals

 

Aim it at the TV, and you can ride along.......

 

And say "Vroom, Vroom, Vroom....."

 

Heck, put it on the center stand and fire it up

 

Mercury Quick clean is some awesome stuff, almost ranks up there with the Mercury PowerTune.......

 

Keep it well covered ( blanket over fuel tank to minimize condensation etc..) and ride it once a month you'll be fine. Bring teh battery in when it get below freezing.

 

A nearby Mercury outboard dealership claims they never open a carb when they service outboards, just run a strong mix of this stuff through it overnight.

 

With regards to the absorption of water into ethanol- if you can somehow seal the vent in the fuel cap over winter then only a finite amount of water vapour form the air gap in tank can be extracted, right ? Does anyone simply stretch polythene across the petrol/gas cap orifice an close the cap?

 

i did that a few times, don't know if it helped or not. can't hurt though.
keeping ethanol from getting moisture from the air in the winter isn't as hard as some think because when it's really cold there isn't much water in the air.
it's the freeze/thaw cycles that get the humidity up. like when you go in the garage when the sun is out and snow is melting and your tank has dew in it

 

South Dakota does not have too much of this ...we have 4 seasons:

1) Almost Winter
2) Winter
3) Still Winter
4) Road construction

 

Or one other thing completely drain the tank ,swish marvel inside of tank , bring it inside and wait for spring .... this way you won't have to worry about any fuel issues in tank. Drain bowls put a 50/50 mix of marvel/stabil or seafoam into fuel line . Quite frankly once it drops below 60 I'm done for the season old age I suppose , once the snow flys My baby is covered in the garage till March , It is still warm here and will get some riding in we have not had rain ...TILL Next 4 or 5 Days

 

We drove SD basically from top to bottom on our way home from MN this year.....Beautiful state.....Only complaint is that pulling the boat at 80+ mph on the highway cut my gas mileage to about 7!

 

If you had driven the state left to right you would have been glad for 80mph speed limit!

And, its even prettier that way!

 

I fill the tank, put a shot of seafoam in, run about 6 mi, and park it.

I am NOT totally convinced with the whole ethanol/water thing........my sleds sit outside all year long. From the end of winter til the next good snow--may even be a year of not riding. i just put a plastic jar over the filler cap. Water in those tanks. i DO get some in the tanks if I DON'T put a cover over the cap.....

 

Fully drain the tank , pour cup of marvel swish it around in tank , bring it inside cover with a towel and store it away till spring ....no worries about gas breaking down ...do the same to carbs ... if your really want to preserve bike if it sits outside , but at least put a good motorcycle cover on.

 

I am curious about this. What is the expected outcome for this? Simply to keep the rain out? Is the bottle affixed or sealed in any way?

My last tank of the season will have a few ounces of stabilizer in it, as the off season is pretty long here, and the battery will be indoors, as we can get to -30°c. As for draining the carb, is running it with petcock in off position until it runs dry sufficient, or should I actually drain the bowl? Only one carb, so it's not that much labour. Anyone use fogging oil in there? How about wax for the exhaust/chrome bits?

 

I just put a jar over the cap, keeps rain from getting in.
I've never used fogging oil....
I just shut the valve off and run it til it stalls out.
My sleds are so old, there's no chrome anyway

 

Trying to figure out the cost vs reward for all of this on a bike I intend to sell next summer.

 

Well...... If the bike doesn't start for you next summer, you'll have trouble selling it----

 

Running gas/stabil into the carbs, then topping off the gas tank to prevent air pocket/rust/water condensation, pulling battery, covering for the winter is probably the minimum I would suggest.

 

Gonna do all of that, plus lube the chain. Again. Stupid chain. And plug the exhaust.

 

Don't forget to plug the air box to keep the critters out. I found a lot of bird seed in mine this year.