Winter Storage Suggestions

[alexcus2man]

Hi Folks. First year with a 2019 Yamaha Drive 2 Gas cart. We are approaching winter season in the Midwest, and I am looking for feedback/recommendations for winter storage. I currently do not have any indoor storage, and I was considering leaving it covered outside all winter. Any issues with doing this or any tips? Will I have issues trying to fire it up next spring?

I am planning to disconnect the battery, release the parking brake (have a boot on it for parking) and cover it with a waterproof cover for the winter season.

[Dave in VA]

Use fuel stabilizer. Does it have a fuel shut off valve? If not, disconnect a fuel line and run it out of gas. Store the battery inside.

[slonomo]

Originally Posted by Dave in VA

Use fuel stabilizer. Does it have a fuel shut off valve? If not, disconnect a fuel line and run it out of gas. Store the battery inside.

What he said!

The fuel stabilizers I have used are Stabil and Lucas, both work great. I have a snowblower that I haven't used since two winters ago, it was treated with Stabil, it fired right up last week, amazing. I smelled the fuel and it smells fresh.

The battery thing....I have a minimum of 5 vehicles/pieces of equipment that have batteries, and they all go dead if you let them sit for too many months without running. So, one of my routines in the winter is I go out to the shop and start and run every one of them twice a month. It's a noisy operation, let me tell you hahaha. That seems to keep them charged up enough not to freeze.

What you don't want is to have a battery lose it's charge, then they will freeze solid like a block of ice.....after that happens they are done. I had it happen one winter....replaced at least 4 batteries in the spring. With that said, it was a cold winter, temps were below 0 for weeks.

As long as you keep the battery charged, it should be ok. A trickle charger would work if you leave it plugged in all winter, something like a "Battery Tender Maintainer" would be fine, they are like $30 or less. If you did this, I would just start and run the cart every couple of weeks or so.

As Dave said, removing the battery and storing it inside is the safe bet. If you do this, keep it off of the concrete floor on a few blocks of wood, and still keep a charger on it. Don't store anything near it, it will off gas hydrogen gas and it's highly corrosive with the acid etc.

No issues with keeping it outside covered up though.

[alexcus2man]

Thank you guys for the suggestions!

[ThreeCW]

Fuel stabilizer works best with fresh gas ... adding fuel stabilizer to old gas may not work as effectively.

For long term storage, doubling the concentration of the fuel stabilizer may give you better results ... but read the bottle directions to confirm if that is acceptable.