Diesel for storage

We are anal about finding the best quality oil for our Commandos, we use the highest octane fuel we can get, why the hell would we mix Diesel with the petrol?
Surely it will have effects on the extra BHP or so we strive to get, spending a fortune on tuning parts.

My only warning re filling the tank with diesel is that it can be difficult to clean. Once had a mate who filled a petrol van with diesel. He drained it and filled with petrol. Every now and again he would leave a smoke screen behind him, we believed that the diesel stuck to the side of the tank and washed out every now and again.
On the plus side a bikes fuel system would be easier to clean out.

I hate the stuff, it stinks and is difficult to wash off, however it is good in certain cleaning situations, oh and good in a diesel vehicle!!

I have been filling 2T oil ( or even Redex, but this is I am informed, little more than coloured paraffin) in steel tanks that I have for storage for donkey’s years, just put about a quart in the tank, swill it around, and come spring time wash off with half a gallon of petrol and drain. Any left in the tank will aid upper cylinder lube.

I live in the Pacific Northwest, a place noted for dampness. In addition to being a life long motorcyclist and Norton owner since 1972 I am also a boater. For many years the approved method of winterizing my inboard-outboard boats was to fill the tank completely, add Sta-bil and run it for about five minutes to allow it to get into the carbs, then to fog the cylinders. The last ten years because of the ethanol fuel the dealer now drains the tank down to a gallon or two, adds Sta-bil, runs the engine, then finally fogs the cylinders. After this he pumps the remainder of the fuel out of the tank. My boat sits outdoors winterized from late September to around the middle of May. Fresh fuel and it always has fired right up. There is a nice thick cloud of smoke from the fogging spray when first started up. This is the storage process that I use on all of my bikes with perfect results. Why not use a proven product to achieve results rather then something that a friend tried or you heard worked. Sta-bil costs a couple of bucks for enough to do my 8 motorcycles, my lawn mower, weed eater, chainsaws, and leaf blower. You don't have to flush it out or try to figure out what to do with it after draining it. Modern low sulfur diesel has a problem with airborn water/condensation. Sulfur levels in fuel grade diesel have dropped from 500ppm to 15ppm. One of the properties of sulfur is that it helped trap and bond with water. Now the water tends to sit in the bottom of the tank waiting to be removed by the water filters that all modern diesel powered devices have. From what I've read the water in an ethanol enhanced fuel mixes with the ethanol rather than sitting separate at the bottom as with diesel. Your tank so your call. Good luck from damp Whidbey Island, WA.

eskasteve: I assume you are using the Marine Sta-bil.
Do you fill up your bikes tanks full or do you only have a little bit in (like the drained boat tank) when you store your bikes?

If done this way I would like the tank full to prevent condensation from forming water in the (mostly empty) tank. And Thanks for the info on Diesel fuel, I did not know any of that.

DogT said:

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.

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Yours is probably the best plan. Avgas is extremely storage-stable and alcohol free. Many light aircraft sit for months and, after sumping the tanks for water, are just cranked up and flown. If memory serves, the specs call for a one year storage life but there's plenty of margin beyond that.

JimNH said:

DogT said:

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.

Click to expand...

Yours is probably the best plan. Avgas is extremely storage-stable and alcohol free. Many light aircraft sit for months and, after sumping the tanks for water, are just cranked up and flown. If memory serves, the specs call for a one year storage life but there's plenty of margin beyond that.

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Not that you'd ever get caught, but technically, running avgas in a street vehicle is illegal because there are no highway taxes paid to Uncle Sam, but that wouldn't stop such a band of rebels now would it...

Sort of like running your diesel car/truck on home heating fuel ... got to love it when you can get one up on the man ...
Craig

mschmitz57 said:

JimNH said:

DogT said:

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.

Click to expand...

Yours is probably the best plan. Avgas is extremely storage-stable and alcohol free. Many light aircraft sit for months and, after sumping the tanks for water, are just cranked up and flown. If memory serves, the specs call for a one year storage life but there's plenty of margin beyond that.

Click to expand...

Not that you'd ever get caught, but technically, running avgas in a street vehicle is illegal because there are no highway taxes paid to Uncle Sam, but that wouldn't stop such a band of rebels now would it...

Click to expand...

But you can feel good about contributing to the airports and airways trust fund!

Back in the '70s the Arabs had shut the oil off and I needed to get from Boston to Philadelphia to start a new job. I did it with a full tank plus a 55 gallon drum of 100/130 in the back of my pickup. The tailpipe was a nice shade of brown.

You can run dyed heating oil in your diesel but it's really dirty, so change your filters often.

They call it marked fuel here and if Gov. catches you even with stain anywhere in fuel system on the road it's a big costly ticket ...
Craig

dynodave said:

mightydaj said:

...discard or use in lawn mower...

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Discard it! The ethanol causes just as much grief with your mower as does with the Norton; maybe even worse. It's death on the little, clear, primer bulbs of hand-held lawn equipment. I used to keep spares around until realizing that it was the ethanol causing them to break down prematurely. I haven't had to replace one since weaning everything off of ethanol. My condolences for you unlucky ones who don't have easy access to straight fuel.

Nathan

If you want to store it with gas in it I would make sure it was av gas or race fuel.

Or drain the fuel completely and hang a couple bags of desiccant in the fuel tank. The tank will stay shiny and rust free for a couple years.

I ran a diesel repair shop for 25 years and know all about the bacteria that grows in diesel fuel. I would not let it anywhere near my Norton. Jim

The dreaded black death, I remember a few years ago our loyal trawler fleet got a bad supply of fuel from BP the black death went through the whole fleet, cost BP a lot of money to fix the problem, but they came to the party when all test showed it was their fuel that caused it, there was a shortage of fresh prawns (shrimp to you yanks) for a few months while the boats got repaired.

Ashley