The Storage Myth That Hurts Your Motorcycle The Shop Manual
Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00When it comes to winterizing or otherwise storing your motorcycle, most advice on the
00:10topic is sound, wash it, change the oil, add fuel stabilizer, you know the steps.
00:16But there is one recommendation that can actually be more harmful than helpful, and that's regularly
00:21starting the engine.
00:22Why is it such a bad idea and what's a better option?
00:26Let's open up the Shop Manual and find out.
00:38This episode of the Shop Manual is brought to you by Kershaw, my go-to unboxing knife
00:42and a tool I carry with me everywhere.
00:45Get 25% off your order at KershawKnives.com with code NEWKNIFE25.
00:53When your bike is in storage, starting it every month or maybe every couple of weeks
00:56and letting it idle for a while is supposed to keep the battery charged, circulate oil
01:01to keep the engine lubricated, and help keep the fuel system from gunking up.
01:05Those all sound like good things, except they're accompanied by a fairly serious problem, moisture.
01:12You've probably seen water dripping out of the weep hole at the bottom of your bike's
01:15exhaust at some point, and we've all seen clouds of steam coming from the muffler at
01:19startup on a cold day.
01:21Sure, there's inevitably a little water in gasoline and there's some humidity in the
01:26air going into the air box, but the majority of the water exiting an engine is actually
01:31created in the combustion chamber.
01:33That's because when gasoline burns, the carbon and hydrogen atoms in gas combine with oxygen
01:38in the air to create carbon dioxide and water, which its mother calls dihydrogen monoxide
01:44when it's in trouble.
01:46And trouble is exactly what water is.
01:49It will linger in your engine and exhaust and cause all kinds of mischief, from rusting
01:53your valves and acidifying your oil, to ruining your O2 sensors and corroding your exhaust.
01:59Now, if combustion creates all of this water, then why isn't it a problem during normal
02:04use?
02:05Because, when you actually ride your motorcycle, revving it up and putting the engine under
02:09load, everything from the cylinder head on down to the drain plug and back to the muffler
02:14tip gets scorching hot, so the water vapor in the exhaust gas has zero chance of condensing
02:20into a corrosive liquid.
02:22However, when people start their motorcycle during winter storage, they usually only let
02:27it run for five, maybe ten minutes, because it's boring and uncomfortable to stand around
02:33in a cold garage.
02:34And when you run a motorcycle for that short amount of time, things don't heat up enough,
02:39even if the temp gauge on the dash says so, and you end up with condensation within your
02:44engine and exhaust.
02:48But what about the battery, oil, and fuel problems that starting your bike is supposed
02:52to avoid?
02:53How do you deal with those?
02:55The lubrication thing really isn't an issue, since oil is exceptionally good at sticking
02:59around and never really abandons the surface.
03:03Gas going bad is a real concern, so you should fill your tank with fresh fuel and treat it
03:08with a quality stabilizer, which will keep it good for several months.
03:12Or you could just drain the tank, siphon the fuel out and run the bike until it stalls
03:17for fuel-injected motorcycles, or drain the float bowls on carbureted bikes.
03:22As for the battery, your best bet is to plug it into a maintainer, which will do a far
03:26better job of keeping the cells charged and conditioned than idling the bike ever will.
03:31If you don't have power where you store your bike, then just take the battery out of the
03:35motorcycle, bring it into an outlet, and then plug the battery and maintainer in there.
03:40If running the bike is genuinely your only option, then first of all, you've got to do
03:44it somewhere with good ventilation.
03:46Second, it's critical that you let the engine run long enough that it gets up to normal
03:51operating temperature.
03:52And I'm not talking about the coolant temp that's displayed on the dash.
03:56That's going to show hot long before the bottom end of the engine is even warm.
04:00Honestly, you've got to let that sucker run long enough that the engine cover is too hot
04:04to touch.
04:05You need the oil temperature to get up over 212 degrees so that it boils off any moisture,
04:10and that can take a long time in a cold garage.
04:14So as tempting as it is to exercise your bike during its winter nap, you are much better
04:19off prepping the bike properly before storage, and then just leaving it alone until you're
04:24actually ready to ride it.