Draining fuel from a K1100

[Zork]

Can someone explain to me what is the most effective way to drain all fuel from a K1100LT's fuel tank? Once I do that I know I need to run the bike until it stops, but what I don't want to do is reinvent the wheel.

[rbm]

I just take the tank off the bike, remove the gas cap and dump the contents into a large clean oil fill pan.  Then once emptied, I carefully pour the gas into an approved gas container.  Crude maybe but it works for me.

[Zork]

Ok, you can't do that without undoing the fuel connections at the bottom of the tank. I've tried that and it makes a mess. There has to be a better way of doing that?

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Disconnect the fuel return line from the tank.  Stick the hose into a fuel can that can hold 5 gallons.  Start the engine and let it run until it runs out of fuel.

Alternatively, get a siphon pump.  Open the tank and use the pump to start a siphon flow into a container.

[Zork]

Hmm. The return line is at the bottom of the tank so it will also make a mess when I disconnect it. I've got a siphon, will use that. Thanks! (You'd think BMW would have made it easier to do this, since bikes are also stored for the winter in Germany...)

[rbm]

Once pressure has been relieved from the tank, it should not leak from either spigot in any appreciable amount.  Pressure can be relieved by letting the bike sit overnight after a run, or by carefully easing off the supply hose from its spigot on the tank.  There will be a little bit of fuel spilt and that you can catch with a cloth.  If you are seeing a flood come from either spigot, then there's something going on that's not right.

[frankenduck]

Once pressure has been relieved from the tank, it should not leak from either spigot in any appreciable amount.  Pressure can be relieved by letting the bike sit overnight after a run, or by carefully easing off the supply hose from its spigot on the tank.  There will be a little bit of fuel spilt and that you can catch with a cloth.  If you are seeing a flood come from either spigot, then there's something going on that's not right.

If there's an appreciable amount of gas in the tank it will drip. When I take tanks off with gas in them I tilt them up against a wall to keep them from dripping.

The above suggestion to siphon is what I do and recommend.

[Zork]

I did all that. Siphon, disconnect the return line and run it until nothing came out, tip the opening into a can. The meter is at zero and the damn thing wants to run on thin air!!!

[Zork]

Finally! Holy moleed. That took forever. But now I know exactly how far I can push it before I have to get out and push.  Thanks for the help!

[Laitch]

. . . since bikes are also stored for the winter in Germany...)

I store my bike in the winter here where it can get -20ºF. I store it with a full tank of fresh fuel with stabilizer added. I disconnect the fully-charged battery and that's all until spring, unless I work on some mechanical component.  Is emptying the tank a requirement in Germany? Are you storing it under contract in a facility that requires empty fuel tanks before storage?

[Zork]

I live near Boston now, i just don't like to leave fuel with ethanol in the tank over the winter. In Germany i never used fuel with ethanol.

[Scott_]

I'd think that parking it with an empty tank will ask for more problems...... unless you are storing it in a heated/conditioned space, you run the risk of moisture/condensation collection in an empty tank.
Like Laitch, I store mine will full tank of non-ethanol fuel treated with stabilizer.

[Zork]

Non-ethanol fuel can only be obtained at marinas, and soon at airports with the introduction of 100 octane unleaded to replace the 100 low lead, or at places like Lowes and Home Depot in cans. Either way, it is expensive, as you well know. And fuel stabilizers are not really needed for ethanol free fuel unless you're talking about storing fuel for more than six months. My garage is heated, so there's not a problem there. I am, however, seriously thinking about setting up a rig to remove ethanol from gasoline using water. It works extremely well, and the ethanol can be harmlessly burned after extraction as the byproducts are CO2 and water.

[alabrew]

Here in Alabama, Walmart sells ethanol free fuel...

[Zork]

Yes, in cans. Lowes has them here. $20 for 110 oz, less than a gallon. I'm crazy, not stupid. There is a difference. 

[frankenduck]

I have a station near me with a pump that sells unpoisoned gas.  I don't worry about it in my bikes though. (Since I live in a wet place over the winter I have a dehumidifier that keeps the garage humidity at 60%.)   But I do use it in my B&S lawnmower.  If I don't then the carb blocks up when it sits outside in a shed over the winter. 

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Corn-free fuel is available at pumps here in the New York Soviet Socialist Republic, and there are more place to buy it as time goes by.   

According to this site, corn-free is available in Massachusetts:  https://www.pure-gas.org/extensions/maps.jsp?statecode=MA

I run-corn free for the last couple tanks of the season, after two fill ups, the residual ethanol is about .05% or less, essentially none.  Then I'll add a bit of Techron before I put my bikes away for the winter.  Zero issues in the past 6 winters I have been storing my bikes. 

Since I have my bikes near my wife's car, I give the lower parts a shot of marine engine fogging oil to protect them from the puddles of salty water that come from her car(avoid getting it on the brake rotors and calipers).  A couple mothballs around the air box and 1 or 2 in the exhaust keeps the critters at bay.

[Zork]

If New York is a soviet socialist republic, then Texas must be the new Talibangelic ghetto of the United States. 

Yes, pure gas lists all the places where you can blue a large wad of cash for non-farmer-soviet-subsidy gas.

[Laitch]

Like Laitch, I store mine will full tank of non-ethanol fuel treated with stabilizer.

First off, here's a minor correction. I store my moto with stabilized E10 and have done so for the past 60,000 miles and eight years.

And fuel stabilizers are not really needed for ethanol free fuel unless you're talking about storing fuel for more than six months.

That isn't accurate. If you're talking about storing or idleness in high humidity under six months, it will impede phase separation in straight gasoline occurring from condensation and oxidation. That's Deep South weather, maritime weather generally, and even Vermont summers. 

Anyway, keep us posted on the development and use of the gasohol still at the Zork Climate-controlled Transportation Museum. Don't neglect to post photos. 

Talibangelic

[The Mighty Gryphon]

I've heard that the military is expanding the Afghanistan deal to give a new Humvee with a .50cal to anyone who claims to be a Taliban member.  It's rumored that thousands of Texan rednecks are converting to Islam to cash in on the deal.  If they get enough converts, it's said that Biden will also give them cash to buy fuel and ammunition.

Praise Allah!

[Zork]

Won't work. If it weren't for gravity most Texans wouldn't even hit the ground. It's like Star Wars storm troopers, a gazillion shots and Luke doesn't even get a scratch. 🤣

[Zork]

Just checked. Average of $100 for 5 gal of ethanol-free fuel here in Mass. Who would be stoopid enough to pay that kind of money? Screw the corn farmers, I'm making myself a rig with a glass carboy, vented cap and my siphon pump.

[Zork]

So... I noodled this last night, and today I broke down and bought four cans of Tru-Fuel non-ethanol 92 octane. I got the qty discount (4+ at Lowes) and the veteran's discount on top of that so I picked them up for about $70 total. See, I pictured myself having to take things apart to clean up gummed-up fuel, etc. with my @#$*&@#$ arthritis flaring up, and the left side of my brain convinced the right side (after no small amount of arguing and spitwad mortar round lobbing) that the $70 is in fact nothing more than a cheap insurance policy. The four cans (110 oz each) exactly filled up the tank to the very rim. I took that as a sign from Murphy that it was a good decision. Started up the bike until it settled down to purr over being fed the good stuff, then shut it down for the fall/winter. Nighty-night, Schultz... 

[Zork]

...and before anyone asks me why I am being such a wuss and not riding in the fall and winter when the grips are heated, I have a heated riding jacket and I used to ride all through the winter in Germany... it's because I have another project in the works, Lola la Puttanesca, the conversion of a 2008 International CE-300 39 ft school bus into a skoolie motorhome. No time to focus on anything but that, and a new job starting Monday next.

And yes, Lola is my kinda girl, big butt and a yuuuuge #69 plastered over the roof. 


LolaLaPuttanesca.jpeg (66.57 kB . 768x431 - viewed 348 times)

[Laitch]

I'm crazy, not stupid. There is a difference.

I don't see it.