Diesel for storage

mightydaj · Jan 21, 2016

I am hoping that some one will know the answer to my question and also tell me if my idea in general is no good for some reason.
I want to store my Norton for a few months and was thinking of filling the gas tank with diesel.
Diesel looks like oily gas so I thought it would be a good rust preventer for the gas tank.

My question is: does diesel have ethanol in it? Specifically diesel in the U.S. in a region that all gas has ethanol mandated to be added to the gas.

I don't want phase separation to happen and get water at the bottom of the tank.
Of course I would drain the float bowels also and when restoring it to ride again would drain the diesel from the tank and replace with gas.
Thanks.

mschmitz57 · Jan 21, 2016

mightydaj said:
My question is: does diesel have ethanol in it? Specifically diesel in the U.S. in a region that all gas has ethanol mandated to be added to the gas.

Yes, it can depending on where you buy it. If it does contain ethanol there will be a label on the pump.
Have you checked your area for the availability of ethanol-free gas?
http://www.pure-gas.org/

Or you could just remove the ethanol from pump gas yourself. Just add water to a can of gas. I think the ratio is 1 quart of water to 5 gallons of gas. Then agitate the gas can to mix the gas/water well. After letting the gas can sit for a while the water/alcohol will settle out of the mixture in the bottom of the can. Then just siphon off water on the bottom and Bingo, you're done.

http://goldwingdocs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14679

eskasteve · Jan 21, 2016

Or you could do the easy thing and fill the tank and add Sta-bil to the fuel. Once added run the bike for a few minutes to run the treated fuel throughout the fuel system. I take my Sta-bil with me to the gas station and add it once my tank is full. That way by the time I'm back home it's all set for storage. For long term storage drain the tank and float bowls after running run Sta-bil through. That way the pesky bit of treated gas that might still be in the carb passages won't turn to jelly.

batrider · Jan 21, 2016

I drain my steel tank, fuel lines and carb bowls every winter. I leave the gas cap partially open under the blanket. I suppose you could take the tank off and coat it with some oil inside (by swishing around) if you were storing for a long time. I never did. I wouldn't mess with the diesel fuel. It's really not a great idea.

Russ

dynodave · Jan 21, 2016

mightydaj said:
I am hoping that some one will know the answer to my question and also tell me if my idea in general is no good for some reason.
I want to store my Norton for a few months and was thinking of filling the gas tank with diesel.
Diesel looks like oily gas so I thought it would be a good rust preventer for the gas tank.

My question is: does diesel have ethanol in it? Specifically diesel in the U.S. in a region that all gas has ethanol mandated to be added to the gas.

I don't want phase separation to happen and get water at the bottom of the tank.
Of course I would drain the float bowels also and when restoring it to ride again would drain the diesel from the tank and replace with gas.
Thanks.

I have been running a cummins for 20 years 230,000 miles and whole heartedly recommend your plan. I routinely recommend it to local club members either diesel that will only have cetane as the igniter or home heating oil which is plain.
ethanol in diesel... get real....no way...good way to explode your diesel
remove as much E-10 as possible from the tank before filling... discard or use in lawn mower and refill in the spring with new E-10

mightydaj · Jan 21, 2016

Thanks for all the replies, especially dynodave.
I will try the diesel.
I have heard of stabil, just never used it, so don't know how good it works or long it lasts.
My Norton tank already had some rust in it when I bought the bike so I don't want it getting any worse.
Where I live is very humid so I can't just drain the tank.
I have been riding it often enough to keep the gas fresh, but now I have 3 bikes and am getting too busy and the weather is too cold some of the time to ride enough to ensure the rotten gas does not go bad in one of them. I have already had to clean the carbs on my Bonneville when the idle circuit got clogged when it sat for a little less than 2 months.

concours · Jan 21, 2016

1oz. Of Marine StaBil (blue) will work TWO YEARS, (my personal testing) and add a couple oz.'s of two stroke oil to prevent rust. And yes, diesel will work like Dave says.

mschmitz57 · Jan 21, 2016

So what do you do with 3 gallons of diesel fuel in spring?

trident sam · Jan 21, 2016

just keep it for use next winter.
sam

ashman · Jan 21, 2016

mschmitz57 said:
So what do you do with 3 gallons of diesel fuel in spring?

Use it to clean parts with, I nomaly use kero for parts cleaning but is getting hard to find a service station that sells it in 20lt drums or bulk buying, my last drum of kero cost $69, diesel is a lot cheaper and will work to clean parts but kero works a bit better in my opinion.

Ashley

Craig · Jan 21, 2016

I wonder how long it takes for diesel stink to leave your bike and garage or shop and clothes if you drip some ?
I like stabil it lasts all winter here no problem
Craig

mschmitz57 · Jan 21, 2016

I've been using Seafoam in my myriad of piston engines for the winter and just noticed it's alcohol based. Oh bother.
I'll switch to the Stabil alcohol formula this fall.

I was using the old recipe Stabil years ago and on one of my 2-cycle engines wouldn't start after storage (snow blower, dirt bike, I forget) I noticed a thick red goo in the float bowl. Ever since then I stopped using Stabil. Now I may have used too much of the stuff. Who knows. I think there's a lot of mis-information on the web about these magic elixirs. The best solution is to not have any alcohol in the tank during storage, but unless you can buy no-alcohol gas locally, you have to resort to stabilizers.

DogT · Jan 21, 2016

I mistakenly put diesel in a new lawnmower engine once. Of course it wouldn't start and it took me about 20 minutes to figure out what I'd done. Drained the diesel and the float bowl, fill the mower with gas and it was a bit hard to get started probably because it got in the cylinders and on the plugs, but I used some ether. One it started it ran fine. I've used cans that had diesel in them to fill with gas and put in the zero turn and it seems to like it, I swear it runs better. I'm with DD, I don't think it will hurt a thing as long as you remove all you can before starting with gas. It's probably like adding a bit of kerosene or oil to the gas.

Craig · Jan 21, 2016

I agree DogT ... it won't hurt anything .... just messy and smelly .... I think better options available that's all ...
Craig

ashman · Jan 21, 2016

A friend of mine made a mistake and started to fill his ford family car with diesel, he had a 1/2 tank before he relized what he had done so instead of draining the tank he topped the other 1/2 with petrol, when he went inside to pay the counter man asked him what he done my mate said to him its a new type of engine that runs with 1/2 and 1/2, the car ran OK but was blowing greyish smoke for a week or 2, but he kept topping the tank up as it was going down, he swore that the motor ran a lot better and a lot quiter than nomal.

Ashley

travelerjerry · Jan 21, 2016

For my metal Roadster tank that is coated with Kreem, I drain what comes out of Reserve valve and remove tank from the Norton and with air compressor blow air in it until I believe it's quite dry. Leave the lid open and let it set for a day. Shut the lid and petcock valves and bring it inside for the off season. No diesel to mess around with.

DogT · Jan 21, 2016

ashman said:
... he swore that the motor ran a lot better and a lot quiter than nomal.
Ashley

That's what I thought. I was always going to try putting a bit of diesel in the gas for the zero turn and see how it did. I may try it if we survive this snow coming Friday. It probably lubes up the rings and all as long as it burns off the plug. I've always got diesel around for the JD2020. It's good to start log piles on fire too, but it smokes like crazy. Works in the furnace good.

Danno · Jan 21, 2016

Stabil has a new product out made specifically for ethanol-laced fuels. I would use that before I dumped diesel in a gasoline tank. Diesel is modified blended kerosene with anti-freeze and other additives you don't want in your fuel system. Red Stabil and Seafoam have some kerosene without those nasty additives, but the blue stuff is made for ethanol fuel. Like anything else, the right tool for the job works better than any all-purpose thing meant for something else.

DogT · Jan 21, 2016

I've got a generator for the house I've had about 6 or more years now. I may have put some of that Stabl in it, can't remember, but I never seem to have any problem as long as I keep the tank full and closed. I did have trouble starting it one year, but that's because I forgot which way the choke went. I'll probably be needing that generator sometime Friday night or Saturday morning. This looks like a disaster coming our way. I'm really not sure about that Stabl stuff. Kind of like whole milk or vaccines? Who's done a real study on Stabl (it's been done on vaccines)? It would be very difficult. It's not that expensive though. The right tool for the right job?

I keep avgas in my F/G tank all year and don't have any problems with that either, no Stabl. But when I turn off the petcocks, the avgas evaporates out of the float bowls in about 1 or 2 days. I love that stuff, smells and runs good too, probably like racing fuel. No ethanol.

Powereng03 · Jan 21, 2016

Well up here in Canada we have up to 6 months of storage for the winter and the Brit guy here suggested using this. Mix it 100-1 in your tank with a full tank of fuel and take it for a run. The 2 stroke oil coats the tank and also lubricates the gaskets and everything in the carbs. I drain the float bowls when I've parked it and leave it all winter. In the spring, I just start it up. Usually 1-3 kicks and it springs back to life. This is a way better idea than using diesel fuel. I've done this for 4 years now with no issues.

Diesel for storage

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