gas gauge?

I have never put more than 3.8 gallons of gas at fill ups. I always gas up when the gauge is down to 1 bar. anyone go longer then this? the owners manual says the tank size is 5.13 gallons also it states the fuel gauge will blink when there is under a gallon. I never run that low because I get parinoid about running out of gas. anyone wait till the light is blinking?

I ride mine pretty hard and most of it is in stop and go traffic and it still gets between 38 to 40 MPG in my experience. I put 176 miles on a tank and when I filled it up I still had about a gallon to go. I'm sure others have run it down far past that. The light on mine starts to blink at about 155 miles or about 10 minutes or so after it hits one bar left. I usaully get gas when it starts to blink but I'm in no rush to the gas pump. 200+ miles on a tank should be no problem in a strech. The bike also has what I'd call a count down ODO (F ODO). I dont know if you have seen it but it starts to count up( I know I said count down but I think backwards on stuff like this) so your able to guage how many more miles you have left before you go from horsepower to manpower. I really like the gas guage setup on the bike. Sure beats the old reserve light or the " Hey, I ran out of gas.....oh, wait! Let me turn this knob and hope I have enough gas to get to the station before I really do run out."

Yes, your fuel meter will start blinking and your trip meter will switch to your reserve, showing how many mile you have riden since the meter started blinking. I think I went around 23 miles with it blinking.

thanks, thats good to know! the most I've ever gone is 192 miles. my average is around 145 before I fill up but I've never seen the blinking fuel gauge, I've noticed if I short shift and stay under 80 mph, I'll get 49-52mpg, if I play more accelerating hard and run 110+ I only get 39-40mpg.

I have went 40 miles on the count up fuel warning meter. I didnt want to, but the power was out for some reason so I couldnt buy any fuel untill the next city. I did get my Ky fried chicken before it went out, but sitting there it went dark.

I know this dosen't really pertain to this exact subject but if you plan to do some undertank maintenance like airfilter or what not, be sure not to fill up before you do it like I did. I was hooking up some lights to the battery and I started smelling gas, looked on the garage floor and a little puddle of gas had neatly formed under the fuel overflow tube. The garage stank like gas for a week. My wife was a little POed.

I've seen the blinking light...

...and it said time to get some gas.
after reading the posts on the gas gauge, on the way home today I decided to stretch the tank a little farther.I left work with one bar, and about halfway home it started blinking. I rode another 10 miles before I fueled up.
now I know I can go three days without a fuel stop even hauling donkey

I get around 45 mpg. My F trip starts around 145 miles. So I figured i could go about 225 until empty. I went 55 miles with my F trip and ran out of gas with 200 miles on my odom. What confused me after pushing my bike to the gas station. I refiled the tank using the centerstand and was only able to get 4.4 gallons in the tank. Is .7 gallons unusable?

mbruegge said:

I get around 45 mpg. My F trip starts around 145 miles. So I figured i could go about 225 until empty. I went 55 miles with my F trip and ran out of gas with 200 miles on my odom. What confused me after pushing my bike to the gas station. I refiled the tank using the centerstand and was only able to get 4.4 gallons in the tank. Is .7 gallons unusable?

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You just woke up a year and a half old thread... but since you did, I'll answer the questions.

For one, the reserve comes on with about 0.95 gallon left. If you are getting yours to turn on at 145miles and you're getting 45mpg, that means you won't even make it to 190miles before running out of gas. The overall volume of the tank is 5.13 gallons, but that doesn't mean it will fill that much because the fuel pump shuts off early to prevent the tank from over flowing. If you want to get more gas into the bike, you'll have to centerstand it. THEN, after it auto-shuts off, pull the sleeve of the pump back to trick it into allowing more fuel out and just fill the tank by eye. I usually fill mine just shy of the metal grate at the top of the tank. When bone dry, I've gotten as much as 4.75 gallons in there. Granted, there must have still been some fuel in there since I rode the bike into the gas station. I do not recommend running it this long before filling up, but it's good to know that you can in a pinch. I normally fill up within about 10-15 miles of the reserve kicking in.

I usually get 175 miles before the blinking starts. I've gone 20 more with no problems.

The gauge is sooooo much better than the traditional reserve. My list bike had no gauge and I was always worried about running out.

There have been scattered reports of fuel pumps burning out, perhaps as a result of running too low too often (overheating - the pump is in the tank), so I suggest that you don't run it down to nothing every time.

After reading everyones experiences I am confused by my own. My bar started blinking on Friday (182miles) but I wanted to do the headlight mod this weekend so I did not fill up. I went right to the gas station today and on the center stand, filled it to the grate and only got 3.95 gal in tank. If that is the case I had over a 1 gal left.

wrightme43 said:

I have went 40 miles on the count up fuel warning meter. I didnt want to, but the power was out for some reason so I couldnt buy any fuel untill the next city. I did get my Ky fried chicken before it went out, but sitting there it went dark.

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If you ever want to find out just how far one can go on reserve... Just carry a gerry can of extra fuel in your top case or on your rear seat. Ride until it stalls, then you will know from now on just how far you can push it on reserve.

CanadianFZ6 said:

If you ever want to find out just how far one can go on reserve... Just carry a gerry can of extra fuel in your top case or on your rear seat. Ride until it stalls, then you will know from now on just how far you can push it on reserve.

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This thread finally answered some questions I had on fuel gauge / economy / blinking lights. Thanks!

I find the gauge on my 06 to be quite inaccurate. The reserve bar blinks well before it should. I ride a few kms after it blinks and I always fill up with 15-16 ltrs. Thats nowhere near the 19.4Ltr capacity.

how about this one? does anybody's reserve bar start to blink which sets off the F: counter, THEN, after a few miles the bar stops blinking but the F: doesn't stop counting?
it like the reserve gets tricked into thinking there is less gas than there actually is.. then when it figures it out, you have to turn the bike completely off the reset the F: counter.

moo cow said:

how about this one? does anybody's reserve bar start to blink which sets off the F: counter, THEN, after a few miles the bar stops blinking but the F: doesn't stop counting?
it like the reserve gets tricked into thinking there is less gas than there actually is.. then when it figures it out, you have to turn the bike completely off the reset the F: counter.

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This happened to me occassionally. If you understand how the fuel is measured, then it makes sense that it could happen. The sensor is on one end of the tank (rear I believe), so as fuel sloshes around, it detects different amounts of fuel. Mine was pretty consistent with what the manual says about reserve volume.

I have run around 30km/18.75miles on reserve at the tail end of a hard ride in the twistys( still riding hard:rockon: ). I pushed my luck as it was all going to be down hill to the nearest servos...lol. When I eventually did stop to fill up I only put in 16litres. I can't help with gallons but the tank holds 19.8 litres I think if I remember the manual correctly.

The manual also says the reserve starts flashing with 3 litres to go. Mine seems to start flashing with around 6 litres to go:cheer:. This is not a once off. I usually fill up at the last bar or just as reserve comes flashes and usually only put in 12-14 litres.

If you really want to know exactly, put a tin in a pack and ride 'til empty (Only if you know your tank's clean:spank.
Cheers
Mike

Ran out with 37.6 on the F counter.

Big lesson learnt though, keep an eye on where the gas stations are when you are that low. I decided to push it in the direction I was headed (thats the natural instinct) on a lovely hot sunny october day in South Florida, over two bridges crossing rivers (has anyone tried to push their bike uphill, not fun!) for a total of 2 miles to get to the next gas station.

Oh, and of course on the way back, just for fun I looked to see where the nearest gas station was if I had turned back, 1/2 mile and as I ran out going up a bridge over the interstate then it would have been downhill all the way.

I stretched mine to 42 miles on the F-trip counter. I was a little nervous at the end.

ozzieboy said:

I have run around 30km/18.75miles on reserve at the tail end of a hard ride in the twistys( still riding hard:rockon: ). I pushed my luck as it was all going to be down hill to the nearest servos...lol. When I eventually did stop to fill up I only put in 16litres. I can't help with gallons but the tank holds 19.8 litres I think if I remember the manual correctly.

The manual also says the reserve starts flashing with 3 litres to go. Mine seems to start flashing with around 6 litres to go:cheer:. This is not a once off. I usually fill up at the last bar or just as reserve comes flashes and usually only put in 12-14 litres.

If you really want to know exactly, put a tin in a pack and ride 'til empty (Only if you know your tank's clean:spank.
Cheers
Mike

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+1 me too.the most I have ever put in was 18 litres after riding 50k's on reserve.