My bike sits 6 months due to winter in upper midwest. When winter comes it stays. While my bike Star/Yamaha V Star 1300 is fuel injected and not carbed I use stabilizer and leave the shut off in the on position and do not run it dry. I do push it outside and start it a couple of times though. Fires up just by thinking it. ( ;
I have heard Sta Bil is not good with ethanol fuels. I use Star tron which is sold at Walmart.
I had the same issue with my generator when I cranked it up this spring. The carb was all gummed up and I had run it dry. You can never get all the gas out of the bowl by running it dry so I just don’t do it anymore. I use non-oxy gas and stabilizer all year round in my small engines. I think it is better to have the carb filled with stabilized gas than to sit half full and dry out. So you just have to take the bowls off and clean all the gunk off the jets and needles.
I’ve had my waverunner stored for about 3 years now. A couple weeks ago, I jumped it to my truck (it has no battery anymore), pulled the choke, and fired it up. It took a little bit, but it started and ran fine. (probably time to drain the tank)
One thing I do when I store my summer only engines (or for longer term storage) is fog the motors. Treat the fuel, run the motor long enough to get the treated fuel thoroughly into the carbs, and spray fogging oil into the air intake. I normally spray it long enough to kill the motor. I can’t (and won’t) say it’s the best way, but it has certainly worked very well for me. Both my '75 Yamaha and '97 SeaDoo start fine, every time. Which reminds me…it’s been almost a year since I’ve started the bike…
sorry to give you more advice than you asked for. there is nothing wrong with stabil. you should continue using it if you are comfortable.
let me just give you some inputs to noodle. i ride my 2000 vstar 650 every summer and let it sit over the winter. never added stabil, just pull battery, fill tank full of reg gas. i don’t use the choke to start in the summer. only need it when it is 40 deg or less. no carb issues, no varnish issues.
diff bikes may lead to diff results. cheers.
We had a tropical storm come through the area this weekend, so I postponed my efforts to resolve the problem. I’ll let you know what happens when the time comes.
The real prevention here is to ride it at least once per month. In Florida, that should be easy.
It should be, but I am living in an apartment right now, and I was storing it at a friend’s house. I’ll find a way. 
I finally got a chance to work on the Nighthawk. I towed it up to Jacksonville, and I was hoping the ride in the trailer would help unstick the floats. It worked on three of the carbs, but the one on the left was still stuck. I tried knocking the side of the carb with a screwdriver handle, and sprayed some carburetor cleaner down the throttle assembly, but that didn’t do the job. Finally, I siphoned as much fuel as I could out of the tank and put in some fresh gas. Now she starts up and runs fine, and doesn’t leak gas from the carbs anymore.
Thank you all for your help.
BEFORE I READ YOUR FINAL POST WHITEY I WROTE THIS UP:: Least we were on the same page…glad its running proper. Motorcycles are def one of my specialties for sure…been resurrecting them since I was 12 or so…LOL
ARG…when you ran the STA-Bil…thru your fuel system…you shoultnt have let the bowls dry up… I doubt the needles rubber tips shrunk…but rather the floats could just be stuck…its either or and much more likely that the floats are stuck down. LONG ago I stopped draining my float bowls due to this and many other gremlins.
Try it again…and bring a long 3/8ths extension with you to gently tap the bowls…you just may vibrate them enough to unstick the floats and seat the float needles…the rubber tips on the float needle take a long time to deteriorate so I suspect this less.
ALSO…make sure your fuel petcock diaphragm is not stuck open…I believe you have a diaphragm on that tank and they get cranky too
Hey I finally read some of the other posts…HEY CADDYMAN…you use the same trick I do…the Ole long 3/8ths extension…makes a perfect “Float Bowl Hammer” Doesn’t it?
What is your hangup about using the choke? I never had any trouble with chokes until they made them automatic. I much prefered the hand choke on cars and trucks. Snowblowers still use hand chokes and lawnmowers either use a hand choke or primer bulb.
Hey Gdawgs…I have been using “your” method for quite a while…I ALSO fill the tank and do nothing else…sometimes I will use Stabil in the fuel…I haven had any issues thus far as long as I pull her out in early spring…this will NOT WORK for longer term storage.
If you had a thimble full of gas and a gallon of gas…that thimble will turn to varnish far far ahead of that gallon…this is why I dont drain the bowls…as there is always a little bit of fuel left in there…and thats dangerous.
@oldtimer 11,
I wouldn’t say I have a “hangup” about using the choke. I just prefer not to use it when I don’t have to. It saves fuel.