[Brice]

What is the best way to winterize the gas engine planes ?
Keep some fuel in the tank and piping ?
Empty everything ?

I have found different opinions on that.
Some say keep it full.
Some say that the engines should be rotated every couple of weeks. Some say they do not bother and change the carb gaskets every second season.

What is the consensus up here ?

[bbbair]

Hmmm ...

I like the Idea of asking around - but you JUST KNOW that there will be as many answers as there are Modellers!

MY OPINION / METHOD (for what it's worth)
I always use 'Stabilizer' in my fuel, then drain the tanks and put the plane to bed.

I have been doing the 'Simple Nothing' for five years and never had a problem come spring.

[Brice]

Do you mean that you use stabilizer on a permanent basis or that you just use it once to fill and empty the tank before storing ?

[Skidoo55]

There are three problems to deal with.

Ethanol in the fuel
Oil in the fuel
Rust in the motor.

Ethanol absorbs moisture, which sours the fuel and promotes rust, so any fuel left in your motor will absorb moisture and go sour. If you run some fuel that has no ethanol, such as Shell Premium before you put the engine away, that problem is partially solved. However, even premium fuel, with no ethanol will sour, it just takes longer. The stabilizer helps the fuel to last longer, but not indefinitely. About 6 months is the maximum that the fuel will stay good.

The oil that is in premixed fuel will gum up after the gas has evaporated, so drain the carb by running it out of fuel until it quits.

Rust is the least of your worries, you will find that a 2 stroke engine has a pretty healthy coating of oil on all internal components even after you run it out of fuel. However, the upper cylinder doesn't get much, so pull the plug and squirt in some 2 stroke oil, then turn the engine over a dozen times to spread it all around. You could also squirt some down the carb bore to get a little extra on the bearings, but they should have a good coating of oil already, just from running. Oh, that last tank of fuel, I would run it at at least 40:1.

Done.

[Brice]

Originally Posted by Skidoo55

There are three problems to deal with.

Ethanol in the fuel
Oil in the fuel
Rust in the motor.

Ethanol absorbs moisture, which sours the fuel and promotes rust, so any fuel left in your motor will absorb moisture and go sour. If you run some fuel that has no ethanol, such as Shell Premium before you put the engine away, that problem is partially solved. However, even premium fuel, with no ethanol will sour, it just takes longer. The stabilizer helps the fuel to last longer, but not indefinitely. About 6 months is the maximum that the fuel will stay good.

The oil that is in premixed fuel will gum up after the gas has evaporated, so drain the carb by running it out of fuel until it quits.

Rust is the least of your worries, you will find that a 2 stroke engine has a pretty healthy coating of oil on all internal components even after you run it out of fuel. However, the upper cylinder doesn't get much, so pull the plug and squirt in some 2 stroke oil, then turn the engine over a dozen times to spread it all around. You could also squirt some down the carb bore to get a little extra on the bearings, but they should have a good coating of oil already, just from running. Oh, that last tank of fuel, I would run it at at least 40:1.

Done.

Two good things, I am using Shell 91 and I am running 40:1 (Belray HR1) on a permanent basis in my DA60. (Incidentally, a couple of other suppliers of gas claim that they do not add ethanol in their premium fuel, i.e. 91 and 94.)

Now this is where I get conflicting statements.
Some say that if we empty the carburetor and fuel lines, the remaining oil will solidify faster and the rubber membranes and seals will harden much faster. They advise to leave the system full of gas/oil so that this does not happen.

?????????????????????????????

[Skidoo55]

I agree with that, if you can keep the carb full, do it. The problem is that the gas will evaporate, and you're left with more oil to gum up, so I think it's better to run it dry. Others will disagree, which is okay. The absolute best thing is to keep running them, but that probably isn't going to happen, so you do what you can to protect the motor.

[Brice]

I could leave the gas in and flip the engine every other week but the garage will stink of fuel.
Can't win.

I guess I will empty it and change the "rubbers" in the carb if problems develop.

Thank you all for your suggestions.

[bbbair]

I'm not trying to start a fight here guys - but - I think that sometimes we tend to over think these things...

Like most of you I have a Lawn mower and a Snow blower - at the end of the respective season just What do you do to store them??
(and let us not forget, Weed Whackers, Chain Saws and Outboard motors)

At the beginning of the NEXT Season what do you do to get them ready for the job ahead??



Why do we think that our RC Engines are any LESS Durable?

The Carbs are all 'Walbros' and the gas is (often) the same PLUS I use Fuel Stabilizer.

Personally; I do NOT loose any sleep over the issue.

[Skidoo55]

I totally agree with that Rob, except that if you're running fuel with ethanol in it, you really shouldn't store the engine with that in it. A few easy steps that I mentioned above are you good idea, and other guys will have there methods, but you're right, these things aren't made of glass.
Don't worry about that walbro, it's made to handle some abuse, and if it ever does act up, rebuild kits can be bought at any rental shop.

[HAL9KPCM]

On my gasser heli, I buy ethanol free gas, put some stabilizer in it right from the beginning, mix the oil. The tanks is very low, but not empty. I have plastic bag wrapped over the velocity stack of the carb and steal my daughter's headbands to band it in place. I plug the exhaust port with a wad of paper towel and use the same bag/band treatment as the carb. The real reason behind the bagging, keeps the house from stinking, my wife can't smell it, so I'm good. They sit all winter like this and first flight of the season is always the same. Fill the tank, hit the prime bulb until it's full, choke, 2 pulls and the engine sputters, open the choke, one pull and running.