My Honda ST1100 has been sitting for a year. (1100cc, water cooled, V4).
I want to get it back on the road. It will need a new battery. But I'm worried about running the engine after it's been sitting so long. Should I put a little oil in each cylinder? Should I run the engine without the sparkplugs connected for a while to get oil circulated through the engine? Or should I just start it up and see if it runs? What do you think?
Candid Chris
Favorite Answer
A year isn't too long for the cylinders, it would be the fuel and the fuel system I'd be concerned with.
If the bike is injected and the fuel has started to gel than it'll do nothing but gum things up.
If it's a carbed engine you could probably get away with just draining all the the old fuel out, all the way through to the float bowls and add a dose of Sea-Foam to the next few tankfuls.
.G.
The year old fuel may be a problem. Drain the tank as best you can and replace with new high octane and some stabilizer/ carb cleaner (sat-bil or the likes to help the fuel in the carbs ) with 4 carbs you will still have a lot of fuel left in the system.
I would turn it over without starting for a few cranks just to loosten things up and spread some oil around.
But a year is not too long .
me m
Sitting a year should be no big deal and even if the gas is bad you're not going to hurt the bike by starting it and running it. I bought a 99 Ninja 250 for my son, was sitting in storage with gas in it for three years, it started but smoked real bad. On the way to get the bike, got a flat on the trailer, ended up leaving the trailer, had my wife drive the truck home and I ended up riding the Ninja home, 45 miles, ran like crap, smoked a lot. Got it home, tore down the carbs, cleaned them and put new seals in, put them back on the bike adjusted the air mixture and she ran like brand new. Did the same thing with a GS500F I had, was sitting for a couple years, rode it home about 30 miles or so, ran rough (but not as bad as the Ninja), cleaned the carbs and she ran like new again. Start the bike and see how it runs.. if it's rough drain the gas and put some fresh gas in, if it still runs rough clean the carbs and you're in business.
Anonymous
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Mr. Smartypants
I have an ST1100 that sat for a year. I put in a new battery and it stared right up, you wouldn't know there had ever been a problem. People warned me that the fuel might gum up the carbs but it wasn't a problem. If it was a small problem you could just dump some carb cleaner in the gas.