Drill Bits: Removing your fuel cell

Tearing down your fuel cell is an extremely important part of your off season maintenance. The February issue of Circle Track magazine has tips for tearing down your fuel cell.

Please keep in mind that this operation can be dangerous. Your fuel cell contains an explosive liquid. A little static electricity and you could have a real problem!

You want to make sure you are prepared to cap the fuel line once you disconnect the fuel cell. Make sure all lines are capped when they are disconnected.

Before removing the fuel cell, you need to drain it. You can siphon it out if you want to risk a mouthful of fuel, but getting a pump for this purpose is recommended.

Once the fuel (as much as you can get) is out, remove the cell and fill it with water. Let it sit for five minutes. This will ensure you get all of the fuel out, making the cell safer to handle. If you have foam in your fuel cell, it will retain some fuel even if you think you pumped it all out, so make sure you don't skip filling it with water.

Now you can continue with your teardown and inspection process. (1/10/2009)