Well I know it's a few months to go, but, when putting my Fatboy away for winter I want to change the oil. What I don't understand though is you shouldn't run the engine after you put in the fresh oil but when you drain a Softail you're basically just draining the tank. Contaminated oil is still sitting in the engine and lines. What's the solution or proper way to do this? Thanks!

 

There are tons of guys that just park there bike and not worrie and everything works out fine.

You can start your engine after a oil change. Some say that if you start your engine in the cold winter days that to make sure you get it up to running temps. A quick start and shut off will lead to moisture and condensation in the motor. Getting all the dirty oil out of the lines is just to much work for me.

What I do for winter storage is:
I put gas stabilizer in the tank, I have a battery tender on the bike and every month I move the bike around so it don't sit on the same spot on the tires.


And I try to remember to change the oil at the end of the driving season.

 

You're fine running the engine after an oil change. Just change out the oil as close to storing time as you can. I've gotten the bike out on warm November/December days as they come up even though the bike is in "storage".

I agree with Bored, stabilizer in topped off fuel tank (run for a bit so it gets through everything), change oils, battery tender, and bike on jack. I don't run it over the winter other than previously stated. Other than that, no worries.

 

Put a Battery Tender on it, fuel stabilizer and park it where it is safe and I put it in an inflatable bubble to assure nothing disturb it. The bubble cost me about $100. Havent had ANY issues. My wife chuckles and says I make it look like great big snow globe (without the snow)

 

you can always siphon as much fuel out of the tank as possible and put it in a gas can for the winter, it won't really be that bad come spring, or you can use it in your snowblower or put it in your car or something.. put the bike on a jack and you'll save the tires from dry rotting as much..

as far as changing oil and getting ALL of the old oil out of the engine.. don't worry about all that.. as soon as you start the engine the new oil becomes used oil, and its really no big deal if old oil and new oils mix, as long as you're using the same weight..

however, if you're the concerned about it..here's what you do... there's a product on this forum somewhere that explains it better, but i'll do my best..

1) drain all the oil that you can, leaving the old oil filter in place.
2) when the oil is drained, refill with new oil
3) disconnect the oil return line to the oil tank, and using some sort of hose, hook one end of the hose up to the oil return line, and put the other in your oil drain container
4) start the engine, and let it idle until the old oil gets pushed out through the hose and new oil starts coming out
5) replace oil return line to the oil tank
6) get the bike as level as possible, or maybe even tilt it a little bit to the right, and remove the old oil filter. surprisingly enough, not a ton of oil will pour from that hole (even though you might think it would come pouring out). sure it's going to make a bit of a mess, but it's still not horrible
7) replace with new oil filter, start the engine.. and voila, you have new oil all throughout the engine.
..i'll keep looking to see if i can find that product that helps accomplish all this and edit this post when i find it.

..Scavenger Puck.. http://www.roguechopper.com/index.htm great idea, wish i thought of it, but kind of excessive.

http://www.roguechopper.com/video-tcb.html

and there's a video of what i was talking about with my 7 step process..though it looks like it was made in 1993

 

Thanks for the help Guys! Would you use the same oil thats in it (after the change before storage) the next season?

 

why not. if you haven't done any short 5 minute start ups it should be fine. even then i wouldn't worry about it.. fire it up and ride..

 

I do the same thing, Fuel stabilizer, Battery Tender, Oil Change just before storage.

 

Some would say to go ahead and change it. I do not change it and use the same oil that's in it from storage.