Tech Tip 2 Carburetor Damage From storing Your ATV

 It used to be you could lay up a machine and come back to it six months later and it would actually start. Today, however, that is not the case. To get the modern “lean burn” automobiles started, the fuel is made from more aromatic stocks. It atomizes faster than the fuel of a few years ago. This creates a new problem when you “lay up” an ATV for the summer/winter. Three to four months is all it can take to evaporate the fuel in the carb’s float bowl to a green powder.

I realize some people like to use a product like Stabil in the fuel system when storing an engine. The problem I have with Stabil is that, even though it prevents the fuel from breaking down chemically into varnish, it does little to prevent evaporation. This is the real problem because of the small quantity of fuel present in the float bowl.

My advice is to turn the fuel petcock off and run the ATV around the yard until it starts to die. Feed in some choke until the engine quits. Now the carb and jets are free from any trace of fuel (that doesn’t happen when you just drain the float bowl), your quad will hibernate peacefully and be ready for service whenever needed.