Ive had a full tank of high octane gas with a good dose of injector cleaner basically sitting in the tank since november. Not sure if its still good. According to some, gas goes bad after a couple weeks. Should i drain the tank?

 

I'm sure there is a fart joke in there somewhere. Nothing worse than a bike with bad gas.

My bike has been sat with a tank full of gas since November too. If it starts and runs fine then great, I'll use that tank. If it's hard to start I'll change the fuel.

 

Gas goes bad in a couple of weeks? I would hope not.

Gas normally goes bad after multiple months if not a year or more. I add fuel stabilizer to a tank of gas if I think it will sit for more than 3 months but I think I am being fairly conservative with that and I am sure you would be fine with gas from November.

 

gas could start to go bad in as little as a few months because of the 10% ethanol..

 

Outsider, stop buying high-octane, you're just wasting your money, and the bike was designed to run on 87, so the extra dollars spent is basically for nothing, except richen the petroleum giants bank accounts!
Most folks who are honest about it, and don't just want to stick to their "I only buy the 'good stuff' " crap, will admit that the bike runs a little better when they've gotten all that 91 stuff purged through.

And I'm with Prime on the other bit, if you can start it easily enough, burn that old gas through, but in case you have some little bit of gumming in the carbs, which you surely will, I would recommend that you run some Seafoam through the next few tanks, to clear that up.

BTW, you're not that far from me, did you get nailed with a heap of snow in the last few weeks also?

 

I run non ethanol 87 from a marina by my house. The ethanol tends to gum up and go bad quicker.

 

This is part of the contribution to gas going bad, but once upon a time, there wasn't any ethanol in the fuel, and gas went bad then, too.
I do remember when, in Kansas, they started blending gas with ethanol (about 1000 years ago )...I'm old, but not really, anyway, surely there's some other old codgers here who remember the stuff being called "gasahol".
I remember that just like now, it was met with opposition, probably much more than currently, and there was far more ethanol-free gas, then there was ethanol-blended gas.

Ethanol sucks up water, which is why it contributes to gas going bad, and this problem can be limited, by not giving the ethanol any air to suck the moisture out of, in other words, if the tank is full, than you'll have far less of an issue, not to mention, lessinging the chance for condensation when it's cold.


But the fundamental reason for gas to go bad, the old "gumming up" problem, is just the reaction of the carbon in the fuel, with oxygen - this happens over time, whether you've got any ethanol in the tank or not, and the deposits resulting from this reaction, is the "gummy" stuff.
Again, you can limit this issue with full tanks, and of course, burning the fuel through regularly, and using fuel stabilizers.

I know most of you probably already know this crap, but this is for those reading who may not know much of the "nuts & bolts" with fuel.

 

That, my friend, is the best you can run!

 

yes...gas went bad then to but atleast it took a few years...now its it starts in a few months...

 

Ha, nice! I think i've heard the regular stuff is better. Well the bike just had a thorough carb clean. Plus the tank is damn near full and has been since november and I added probably more carb cleaner to the tank than I should have (november as well). So hopefully should be o.k. Wanted to start it and let it run yesterday, wouldn't cause of cold. Still learning the trick. A little throttle usually works, but need to practice so it doesn't rev high on cold engine. I knew I flooded the engine when it backfired. Like a gunshot, boom! But as for the "gummy stuff", not too worried. I can take care of that with additive. What I don't want is to suck up garbage from the tank. That, I can't handle.