About the worst thing you can do to an engine is to start it during storage and not get it thoroughly warm. Letting it sit and idle or just revving it up will NOT get it to operating temperature. Cold starting (even at room temperature) puts a lot of moisture and gasoline and other nasty byproducts of combustion into the oil where it stays until the oil is good and hot. You cannot get hot enough oil temp idling or free revving within reason to dry out the oil. Same for the exhaust system. Fills it full of water.
There is little rational for starting it occasionally. Sufficient lube stays on parts to carry them thru the storage.
Cranking the engine with the coil disconnected is also a bad idea. The greatest loads on the cam followers are at very low speeds...i.e...cranking. You can never crank fast enough to build good oil pressure to get lube to the upper end so all the time you are cranking you are depleting the residual oil at any wear interface and not replacing it.
Warm it up thoroughly, park it, change the oil and leave it alone until spring. PUt the battery on a tender or charge it gently occasionally and forget the idea of starting it occasionally if you REALLY care about it.
The nasty thing about getting moisture and gas and byproducts of combustion in the oil on cold starts and leaving it there during storage is that the fuel will have small amounts of sulfur in it. Put sulfur into the oil with moisture and gas and you end up with sulphuric acid which will etch alumnium and cause rust and corrosion. The oil has certain levels of anti-acid additives but they can be overwhelmed by repeated cold starts with little or no warm up. If you doubt this, check the acidity of the oil during storage as you do your starts. You will find the acid level increasing with time/starts.
I repeat, about the worst thing you can do to an engine is to cold start it in storage occasionally.
There is absolutely no reason on earth that a port fuel injected engine should be hard to start or require that much cranking after storage. Something is wrong. My bike does live the winter in a warm basement but there is no difference in the startup after storage or after an overnight soak. It starts immediately. I would suspect the gas in the tank first of all. I always empty my tank before storage and store it empty. In the spring it gets fresh gas and it starts immediately. Either empty the tank before storage and put fresh gas in or drain the tank in the spring if you must store it full (another old wive's tail worth killing) and put fresh fuel in it so it will start. You put a huge amount of wear on the cam and followers cranking an engine coming out of storage for long periods like that. Figure out what is wrong and correct it. BTW....Stabil does crap for storing fuel so if you think storing the tank full with stabil in it is sufficient it isn't. I like the empty tank from a safety standpoint (it is in my basement...) but it is the best way to be able to put fresh fuel in in the spring. Even if the fuel is not sour or degraded it will loose it's volitility from sitting that long...which makes it hard to start., especially with port fuel injection.
There is little rational for starting it occasionally. Sufficient lube stays on parts to carry them thru the storage.
Cranking the engine with the coil disconnected is also a bad idea. The greatest loads on the cam followers are at very low speeds...i.e...cranking. You can never crank fast enough to build good oil pressure to get lube to the upper end so all the time you are cranking you are depleting the residual oil at any wear interface and not replacing it.
Warm it up thoroughly, park it, change the oil and leave it alone until spring. PUt the battery on a tender or charge it gently occasionally and forget the idea of starting it occasionally if you REALLY care about it.
The nasty thing about getting moisture and gas and byproducts of combustion in the oil on cold starts and leaving it there during storage is that the fuel will have small amounts of sulfur in it. Put sulfur into the oil with moisture and gas and you end up with sulphuric acid which will etch alumnium and cause rust and corrosion. The oil has certain levels of anti-acid additives but they can be overwhelmed by repeated cold starts with little or no warm up. If you doubt this, check the acidity of the oil during storage as you do your starts. You will find the acid level increasing with time/starts.
I repeat, about the worst thing you can do to an engine is to cold start it in storage occasionally.
There is absolutely no reason on earth that a port fuel injected engine should be hard to start or require that much cranking after storage. Something is wrong. My bike does live the winter in a warm basement but there is no difference in the startup after storage or after an overnight soak. It starts immediately. I would suspect the gas in the tank first of all. I always empty my tank before storage and store it empty. In the spring it gets fresh gas and it starts immediately. Either empty the tank before storage and put fresh gas in or drain the tank in the spring if you must store it full (another old wive's tail worth killing) and put fresh fuel in it so it will start. You put a huge amount of wear on the cam and followers cranking an engine coming out of storage for long periods like that. Figure out what is wrong and correct it. BTW....Stabil does crap for storing fuel so if you think storing the tank full with stabil in it is sufficient it isn't. I like the empty tank from a safety standpoint (it is in my basement...) but it is the best way to be able to put fresh fuel in in the spring. Even if the fuel is not sour or degraded it will loose it's volitility from sitting that long...which makes it hard to start., especially with port fuel injection.
