[CensR]

Hello Everyone,

I am a new rider and unfortunately the season has come to an end.

This is my first time under going winter maintenance so I just thought I'd try to get some insight from all of you more experienced riders.

Firstly, I was told at my local shop to drain my carb. I have been unable to do this. I took out these two screws on the carb but that just released a cap with a spring behind it. I didn't want to do too much more digging as I am totally new to this.

So my bike is currently in storage under a tarp with fuel stabilizer in the tank. Nothing more.

I have heard things about seafoam? Should I run some of that in the bike? I'm worried about my carb and bike sitting for 4-6 months.

What if I turned off the fuel valve and ran the bike until it died? Would that essentially drain the carb?

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[Easy Rider]

So my bike is currently in storage under a tarp with fuel stabilizer in the tank. Nothing more.

Inside a building or out ?
Did you run the engine enough to get the stabilized fuel into the carb(s) ?
Is the tank FULL ?

Seafoam IS a fuel stabilizer.
The "tarp" needs to breathe and if it's very windy it needs to be soft so it won't rub spots in the paint.
Coating the shiny and bare metal parts with WD40 is good if it's outside; chain too.

Battery needs to be fully charged going in and refreshed about once a month.......unless you can leave a battery tender connected.

If you didn't change the oil in the fall, do that first thing in the spring.

You don't NEED to run it at all.....but if you must, be sure to run in long enough to get HOT. Otherwise condensation will tend to rust the exhaust system and collect in the crankcase.

P.S. The drain is on the BOTTOM of the carb, not the side. I hope you got that back together right.

 

[CensR]

Hi Easy Rider thanks for the reply.

It is being stored in an underground parking garage of a condo - so it's partially heated.

I put the fuel stabilizer in and then put on about 20KM of riding so it's definitely into the carb. The tank is about 1/2 full.

The wouldn't classify the tarp as "breathable" but I don't think that's an issue as it's indoors with no wind.

Have't done anything re: battery.

First thing I'll do in the spring is take it in for a full servicing. I'm just worried that the bike will have issues when I try to start it. Am I just being overly paranoid or will it be OK?

Cheers

 

[Easy Rider]

I'm just worried that the bike will have issues when I try to start it. Am I just being overly paranoid or will it be OK?

To repeat:
The tank should be FULL; even a bit fuller than normal.
And if the battery has water caps it needs a little charge once a month or so.

Both of those things are important.

 

[CensR]

Can you please explain why the tank needs to be full?

 

[Easy Rider]

Can you please explain why the tank needs to be full?

Sure.

The tank is vented and there always is a pocket of air at the top.

The larger that pocket of air IS, along with it's water vapor content, the more water will condense out of it when the temperature swings up and down.
Gradual temp changes will tend to "pump" air in and out of the vent; how much depends on vent design.

It doesn't take much of a temp swing to produce a little condensation......which settles to the bottom of the tank and/or rusts the sides.

 

[Stradawhovious]

Hello Everyone

Hello New Guy!

Firstly, I was told at my local shop to drain my carb. I have been unable to do this. I took out these two screws on the carb but that just released a cap with a spring behind it. I didn't want to do too much more digging as I am totally new to this.

Wrong two screws. What you need to do is run the bike long enough to get the stabilized fuel into the carbs, then run the carbs dry. I don't know if you have a vacuum or gravity feed petcock, so I will go through both.

If you have an "OFF" position labeled on your petcock, it's most likely gravity feed. While the bike is running, turn the petcock to the "off" position.

If the Petcock doesn't have an "OFF" position, rather it has "ON" "RESERVE" PRIME" or something of the like, you need to leave the petcock in the "ON" position and disrupt the flow of fuel from the tank to the carbs. Kink the line output line with a hemostat, or remove the output (AND vacuum) fuel lines from the tank etc.

In either case once this is done let the engine run until it's out of gas... shouldn't take long, a few minutes at most. At this point MOST of the gas is out of the carbs. Finish draining the carbs by loosening the float bowl drain plug screws, letting the rest of the gas flow out (shouldn't be much, and most of the carbs I've seen have a little nipple you can slide some fuel tubing over to direct flow and avoid dumping gas all over your bike) then tightening the screws back down. The location of these can be found in your service manual.

You DO have a service manual... right?

http://www.winds.ca/hawk/images/pubs/Shop_Manual_1978-1981_CB400T.pdf

At this point you've conditioned your gas, pulled conditioned gas into the carbs and drained the carbs.

In my opinion, you should also do the following.

spray a little fogging oil/motor oil into the cylinders (through the spark plug holes) then manually cycle the engine one or two revolutions to coat all the surfaces
change/check all fluids Change engine oil at a bare minimum (might as well put some new plugs in the beast)
clean the bike
clean and lube the chain (if applicable)
top off the tank
put the bike on it's center stand/lift/jacks
cover the air intake and exhaust pipes to keep critters out
If you're storing unheated or outside remove the battery and seat... bring them indoors. Either way it's a good idea to put the battery on a tender as well.
Cover the bike

I'm sure whatever I'm missing will be addressed by the other folks on the forum.

 

[CensR]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all your responses.

The two screws I previously removed were for the air cutoff valve. You can see the component assemble on 4-7 in the manual.

I have an "off" position on my fuel line. I was always thinking that would be an easy way to partially drain the carb. I'll definitely make a trip out to where my bike is being stored to get this list of these things done.

As of now the most critical things to get done would be:

1) top of the tank and add fuel stabilizer again
2) run the engine to mix the fuel stabilizer + gas
3) set fuel line to off and run engine until it dies
4) drain remaining fuel in carb via float bowl drain plug screws
5) center stand the bike

I'm still a bit confused on where exactly the float bowl drain plug screws are. Any help? I didn't find the manual very descriptive on that...

 

[Stradawhovious]

I'm still a bit confused on where exactly the float bowl drain plug screws are. Any help? I didn't find the manual very descriptive on that...

Click on the pic. I've circled it in red.

 

[Easy Rider]

3) set fuel line to off and run engine until it dies
4) drain remaining fuel in carb via float bowl drain plug screws
5) center stand the bike

How long will it be stored, completely unused ?

If it is 90 days or less, you don't need to drain the carbs; just turn the petcock to OFF.

There should be a brass drain/overflow nipple on the bottom of the float bowls with a large brass screw near the top of that tube, still on the bottom of the bowl.

Also check the tire pressure.

 

[CensR]

Thanks Stradawhovious. That's exactly what I needed.

Its going to probably be stored for about 4 months-5 months. Canadian winters...