Modern Vespa

Hi all,

My local Vespa dealer has this on their website under "Winter Storage":

"Add a fuel stabilizer and engine oil stabilizer. Add 1 oz "ethanol compliant" fuel stabilizer to the gas tank and 1 oz oil stabilizer to the oil reservoir (via the dip stick), start the motor and let it run for about 5 minutes to allow the treatment to enter the fuel lines, carburetor or fuel injector. Turn off and store. These stabilizers are blended by "Shellbourne Fuels", suppliers to Porsche and Ferrari."

I can't find a reference to "engine oil stabilizer" anywhere else. Do any of you use engine oil stabilizer or just fuel stabilizer?

Thanks.

Don't forget the snake oil!

Let's not forget turn signal fluid stabilizer when overwintering your PTW

Haha!

+1
Thanks for the mention, I think that goes on sale this time of year.

My winter storage:

Store it.

Sometimes I put Stabil in the fuel, most times not.

I also try to use winter to catch up on or get ahead on maintenance, like tire changes and valve adjustment. But an oil change to store for winter? Never. Well, MAYBE if it's close to needing it by mileage. But if there is only ~1000 miles on it? No way.

Never heard (or read) of oil stabilizer.

Usually do an annual oil change before winter, but timing shouldn't matter....

I'll throw some Seafoam or similar in the gas, run it a bit and call it a winter.

Oh, and periodically plug in the battery tender once in a while, just so we can have some quality time together

Didn't even know there was such stuff as oil stabilizer but know I do. It appears to be similar to STP. Goey stuff one bungs in an old engine to bring back the oil pressure.

Hmm when I put a scooter t away for the winter I throw in some Stability after filling the tank. Then I either disconnect the battery or put it on a tender. I call it good until I'm ready to ride it again. Then I check the tire pressure and either unplug the tender or reconnect the terminal. Then call it good and ride. If it is time for an oil change or other scheduled maintenance usually I'll do it when I'm riding again.

Many oil stabilisers that I've used just neutralise the acids that form in your oil during storage and improve lubricity. Lucas makes one as do many other companies. They are not new. Your oils own acid neutralisers get used up quite quickly so a stabiliser is a welcome boost. It stops them eating away at the engine during that time. It does some other useful stuff too for example: to help prevent piston rings from sticking in there lands etc etc. Some also improve the oil cling factor to ensure the inside of the engine, including the upper inside of engine cases are fully coated with oil. As you may know engine cases corrode all the time the bike is standing as all the oil drains away from just about all unsubmerged surfaces.

Some folks think starting the engine up to let it run for 10 mins at a time during the storage period, several times over the winter will keep the motor in good order and prevent corrosion. It wont, it makes it worse.

The issue is that for every gallon of fuel you burn, you produce 1 gallon of water (& about 20lbs of CO2 US gall, 26lb UK gall). When you start the motor and ride the bike about 95% of this water passes into the exhaust to atmosphere. 5% of the water along with unburned fuel and hydrocarbons goes into the oil during the first few minutes after start up. But when the oil gets hot the water and fuel evaporate (if you do enough miles) leaving your oil in good condition. If you start the bike but don't ride it, just letting it idle, you get a disproportionate amount of water and unburned fuel from the combustion process going into the oil due to piston blowby. Unfortunately, this water won't evaporate because you won't be riding the bike to get the oil up to working temperature, and keep it there for a period of time. Within 4 days this water turns to Sulphuric Acid. That's what does the damage, shortening the life of your engine.

That's why those in the know never start their engines over winter, but make sure they have the proper clean oil in the motor, OR use the correct oil stabiliser before putting their baby to sleep.

Never use them myself in my bikes because I ride all year round. But I've used them in clients classic bikes and cars over the years. Don't really think you need them if you have fresh oil in the engine these days before you store the bike. BUT, if you are storing for an extended period then they make sense.

Somewhat related Forrest Lucas interview . . .

"LEVIN: How did you get from trucks to the Lucas Oil?
LUCAS: We were coming across the desert all the time. You know, it's hot and is really hard on the trucks. It was hard on the motors, hard on the gearboxes. We didn't have air conditioners, so it's hard on the drivers, too.
I started looking around the additives. What can we do to put in here to make this all better? And I found some stuff that was on the market. That was better than nothing.
So okay, I kept looking for more and more and I found a guy who had a little sort of a trash company there where if you were leaving town and you had to get rid of your oil, they would come in and take it or they would buy it or you'd pay them to take it or whatever.
But this guy knew a lot about oil. I was in there talking to him things, mostly oil. At the time, I had made it up for hours, I thought it was as good as I could get it. It was pretty darn good stuff.
But one day, I said, I was looking for something else and I said, this is what wanted it for, and he said I've got it down here, I think just what you want and he showed me the rest of the barrel and I read some writing on it and I said, I didn't know this was ever made yet, it hadn't even been invented, and I took the lid off and I said, holy cow this is it. This is what I'm looking for.
LEVIN: This was additives to oil?
LUCAS: This was not an additives to oil.
LEVIN: It was oil.
LUCAS: I made an additive to oil. But it was for other uses and I don't want to tell anybody what those uses were. I took it home. I made up some batches that are -- after all these years, it's pretty much the same batches that I used right then.
One for the engine oil and one for gear oil and then one for the fuel. And is sent the trucks back out. They went from four and a half miles to a gallon. They all ran at the same time, same engines up to five miles per gallon and the smoke went away because it was all burning.
So we didn't have any atmosphere problems at all, which was not a problem at that time anyhow. But then the engines quit burning their oil, and your boxes are all cooled down. So I fixed all my problems right there with just those two products."

Thanks all for the responses. I tried to thumbs-up some of them but since I'm still in "lurker" status I am not able to do that, LOL. I contacted my local dealer and they said that they didn't even realize that advice was up there and must have been copy/pasted a very long time ago. He said oil stabilizer is not something they normally recommend and that they don't endorse any particular brand of gas stabilizer either. So there ya go!

Modern gas can go bad in a couple of months. I've had good luck with Stabil. Siphoned gas out of a couple of vehicles that had been sitting for a year. Dosed them with Stabil (and fresh gas) a year ago. Put the gas in my truck, and it's running fine. Put fresh gas (w/ Stabil) in the vehicles, and they started right up. So carb and fuel injection systems seemed adequately protected. All of my vehicles get Stabil when being mothballed in the fall, even though they may only be out of commission for 4 months. Cheap insurance against a fuel system teardown.

I think if you are changing your oil at least once a year, no need for the oil stabilizer. But some collector cars don't run much, so it is probably called for in that situation. Might be some film-strength enhancers as well, to keep bearings and cam surfaces from drying out during extended storage.

The tour guide was whistling when walking a group thru the jungle. Someone from the group asked "Why are you whistling?" He answered "It keeps the elephants out of the trees." See it works, not one elephant was seen in the trees. 8)

Yeah, we have those elephants in our trees! They tend to sneak up on ya!