Fuel Gauge Inaccurate

[aprimiano]

A while back my gas tank got filled with some bad fuel. I had to have the bike towed and the gas removed. Since then the fuel gauge has never worked properly. Any ideas on how to fix this?

 

[wrightme43]

It is plugged in right under the tank?

 

[aprimiano]

Don't know, but would the gauge still be giving a reading at all in that case? What happens is I fill it up to full and it shows it is filled except for one bar; then I use it down to the last bar although I still have half a tank left; then the last bar starts blinking and I go about 30 miles beyond that; after that I do not want to risk getting stranded so I fill up again even though I know I have more fuel than it shows.

 

[wrightme43]

Hmm, is it under warrenty?

Sounds like the sending unit is messed up.

 

[aprimiano]

It's still under the 1 year OEM warranty. With the problem happening after the bad fuel, I'm thinking it may not be covered.

 

[wrightme43]

It should be covered.

 

[reiobard]

It's still under the 1 year OEM warranty. With the problem happening after the bad fuel, I'm thinking it may not be covered.

they don;t need to know what caused the problem, just that there is one...

Treat the dealer with a need to know basis and all they need to know is the symptoms of the problem. If they ask what caused it just say that you are not sure. (you can;t be sure that the bad gas caused it, could just be a coincidence for all you know)

 

[wrightme43]

Yes especially if they did the work. They will treat it as a war. issue to cover their butts.

 

[shaggystyle]

We had something similar happen here in louisville a few years back. One of the local distributors put something bad in their gas. It ended up dissolving the metal contacts (I think they're silver? but i could be making that part up) that measure the fuel level in the tanks. They ended up paying out to have every car that filled up repaired. You should call the gas station or if that doesn't work, call their corporate number and report the issue. Even if it's covered under you warranty you might get repair money or at least free gas from the responsible distributor.


Here's a link to the news story:
Tainted gasoline traced to Marathon

 

[aprimiano]

Turns out it was the sending unit. wrightme43 -- good call!

 

[4you2]

Can you provide more information what was wrong with that sending unit?
I have the following problem:
My fuel indicator shows the last bar blinking even if I have full tank. I took out fuel pump to see if there is problem with fuel gauge meter. Every thing looks fine. I even took a tester and checked if the resistance is changing while moving the float up and down. I see on tester that the resistance is changing, however speedometer always shows last fuel bar blinking.
Any ideas on that?

 

[RJ2112]

Can you provide more information what was wrong with that sending unit?
I have the following problem:
My fuel indicator shows the last bar blinking even if I have full tank. I took out fuel pump to see if there is problem with fuel gauge meter. Every thing looks fine. I even took a tester and checked if the resistance is changing while moving the float up and down. I see on tester that the resistance is changing, however speedometer always shows last fuel bar blinking.
Any ideas on that?

The sending unit in the tank is not passing that information to the gauge... the sending unit is functional, but the meter is not 'seeing' the change in resistance. It only 'sees' the 'open' high resistance reading.

Check the connections. You either have a pin that is not making contact, or a broken/worn wire.

 

[4you2]

Ok here's what I've done:

taken the fuel pump out of the tank, inspected the sensor but am unable to see anything faulty.

there's a wee silver cyclinder that the positive and negative connect to, I gather this is some sort of variable resistor, possibly will a float in it or some such thing.

I took the nose fairing off and inspected the plug, no faults, no loose wire, I inspected the plug that the front wire loom connects through and found no issue with the fuel light wire.

I made the mesurement of resistance and I see it is about 200 ohm. According to the manual it should be around 20 to 140 ohms.
I chucked a 100ohm resistor on the plug, the flashing stopped.

I make the conclusion that fault is in the sensor in the tank.

 

[RJ2112]

Ok here's what I've done:

taken the fuel pump out of the tank, inspected the sensor but am unable to see anything faulty.

there's a wee silver cyclinder that the positive and negative connect to, I gather this is some sort of variable resistor, possibly will a float in it or some such thing.

I took the nose fairing off and inspected the plug, no faults, no loose wire, I inspected the plug that the front wire loom connects through and found no issue with the fuel light wire.

I made the mesurement of resistance and I see it is about 200 ohm. According to the manual it should be around 20 to 140 ohms.
I chucked a 100ohm resistor on the plug, the flashing stopped.

I make the conclusion that fault is in the sensor in the tank.

If you cannot get the resistance for the sensor to change, that's the problem. Good trouble shooting. If you change the resistor value you have across the connector, do you change the fuel level indicated on the meter? If you plug in a 20 ohm resistor, does it show a full tank?