EFI and Carb motor storage?

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ktoelke54

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I live in northern climes and, in spite of my love for boating, have to store my motors for about six months of the year. I’ve had good luck with 2 stroke carb motors running them dry before storage, no plugged jets. This is my first year with an EFI motor, a 20 hp Tohatsu. I was wondering if I should run it dry or leave full of stabilized fuel? Also the manual makes some issue of draining the fuel separator before storage. (What ever that is? it’s not the fuel filter.) turbotod, you got me thinking about this with your thoughtful reply to the EFI vs carb post, when you discussed motor storage issues. I like the idea of running a motor periodically, and no doubt this would keep it healthy. But in my case, storing inside but not heated, with temps dropping below zero, makes this impractical. So at this point I’m thinking that just leaving it full of stabilized fuel, removing those covers below the cowling and locating and draining that fuel separator thingy, makes sense, but would appreciate hearing from you EFI owners.
 
DO NOT run an EFI motor dry!! You will burn out the electric fuel pump.
I would drain the water separator thingy and follow what ever the manual tells you to do.

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I have a Yamaha. Last trip out I add stabilizer / conditioner to my fuel (non ethanol) at Yamaha's recommended ratio for extended storage.

When I get home I disconnect the fuel line at the motor, connect a small container of fuel mixed up with Yamaha's EFI Fogging Oil
& some more stabilizer, and run that through til the exhaust smokes some. I just leave my separator full of the stabilized fuel.
I run what's left in the boat tank (just a portable 6 gallon) in my snow blower. Start in the spring with a fresh tank.

Change the oil & filter, change the lower unit gear lube, grease what's called for, wash her up, & put her to bed.
 
kdgrills has it right. If you go by Yamaha's manual, it should be fine. It's advisable to run ring free plus in the tank all year long; and at the end of the season your VST (vapor separator tank) and injectors will already have stabilized fuel in them so really all ya need to do is fog it (per manual) and store it properly. In the cooler climates up North, gas storage isn't so much of an issue as it is here; where the temps one day might be a cold and rainy 20 degrees, the next 75 and tornadoes. The warmer the air temp, the more likely it is that fuel will evaporate and leave the bad stuff behind. It's less problem with EFI than it is with carburetors but it still happens from time to time even with EFI; prevention is the cure here.

Ringfree is good stuff. I like the little 4 oz bottles, they're like $3 and treats quite a bit of fuel.
 
Oh, VST, I was thinking fuel / water separator.
Regardless, I don't drain either.

I do run ringfree and stabilizer every tank.
Who knows if it actually does anything, but
for the little bit I use, it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.
 
Thanks for the helpful comments, I’ll find out who the local Yamaha dealer is and get some Ringfree.


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