Draining fuel tank

Hello All

As the cold weather has arrived, I was thinking of going to a nearby boat dock and buying 5 gallons of straight gasoline to replace the E10 fuel in the scooter's tank. Is there an easy way to drain the fuel from the tank? Should I just run it to near empty and then refill with the gasoline?

Thanks

I've siphoned my tank empty but it's kind of tricky getting a 1/4" hose to the lowest point. The hose wants to curl up when it gets down that far.

So maybe you should siphon out as much as possible or run to empty then refill with non-ethanol fuel BUT be sure to add some Seafoam to the tank first.

Just my 2¢

Tim

I've siphoned my tank down to 1-2 litres left. I used a fairly inflexible clear plastic hose that had the same diameter as the space between the filler neck and the cross bar inside the neck. I pushed the hose down to the bottom front of the tank and it worked well.

When I syphon any tank I put a length of wire inside the tube I am using. I can then bend the tube to go where ever I need to suck up the last drops. A few years ago I accidentally filled my Honda Blackbird with diesel right to the top and as I finished realised because of the colour and smell!. I syphoned most out with length of garden hose but the last half litre or so eluded me until I thought of using wire.

My two cents:

I've never drained the gas tank on anything I've owned. All of my gas cans have SeaFoam in them. I use a 5 gallon gas can for my push and riding lawn mowers and my snowblower. Sometimes a 5 gallon can will last me over two years and into the third season before it's gone. I've never had any problems with anything starting at the start of any season. In the motorcycles I've had I also run the tank down to less than 1/2 left then add SeaFoam and fill the tank up. I take it out for a semi short run to make sure the "fresh" gas has filled the carbs. When I get back to my garage I put the bike on the center stand and top off the tank. If there are petcocks on the tank I turn them off. I put the battery on a 2 Amp charger overnight about once a month to keep it topped off too. At the start of any season with any of my equipment, including the bikes, they all start and run like yesterday was the last day they ran.

Like I said, It's just my two cents. But it has always worked for me with no problems.

Dale N. wrote:

My two cents:

I've never drained the gas tank on anything I've owned. All of my gas cans have SeaFoam in them. I use a 5 gallon gas can for my push and riding lawn mowers and my snowblower. Sometimes a 5 gallon can will last me over two years and into the third season before it's gone. I've never had any problems with anything starting at the start of any season. In the motorcycles I've had I also run the tank down to less than 1/2 left then add SeaFoam and fill the tank up. I take it out for a semi short run to make sure the "fresh" gas has filled the carbs. When I get back to my garage I put the bike on the center stand and top off the tank. If there are petcocks on the tank I turn them off. I put the battery on a 2 Amp charger overnight about once a month to keep it topped off too. At the start of any season with any of my equipment, including the bikes, they all start and run like yesterday was the last day they ran.

Like I said, It's just my two cents. But it has always worked for me with no problems.

If I can add my $.02 to Dale's, I run premium fuel the last several tankfuls of the season (in Canada our premium contains no ethanol...yahoo!!!!). Instead of SeaFoam, I use Sta-Bil. From what I've read, Star-Tron works really well, but is unavailable in Canada. It supposedly keeps the ethanol from separating from the gasoline. I pull my battery entirely and bring it in the warm house, trickling it once a month also.

I don't drain my tank mainly because, with the exception of the odd few very snowy weeks, I'm able to ride all year. When it does snow here it usually melts away the following day. Not exactly Florida weather, but not Polar Vortex county either. So neener, neener, neener to all you folks living up near or north of the Twin Cities

Tim

Cosmic_Jumper wrote:

I don't drain my tank mainly because, with the exception of the odd few very snowy weeks, I'm able to ride all year. When it does snow here it usually melts away the following day.

I'm so envious. When it snows here after mid-November, it stays until late March/early April

I'm with jumper. I don't drain mine either!

I'm with bigbird also. Here in MN we have 10 months of winter. 2 weeks of a cold spring. 2 weeks of a cold autumn. The rest is left for riding.

Well, it seems like that anyway... LOL