Fuel low light coming on too soon

[Hoople]

You have a 1.2 gallons left when the dash reads 5 miles to empty. I would bet on it. Unless somehow your EFI 09 is much different then my EFI 04. You can probably go another 100 miles. I would have to test that.

That is what I am going to find out this week. Going to ride bike until reserve says 5 miles to go then see exactly how much the fuel pump will pump past that point into a jug. Measure exactly what it takes to re-fill. Re-calibrate float if necessary. Bike has an analog mechanical pointer plus electronic reserve. Tied of guessing & should not have to do math every time I think I need to re-fuel.

Your probably right but for me having 1.2 gallons after the float says 5 miles to empty is way too conservative. I am going to make it say 10 miles to empty when I have 10 miles of gas left.
I don't need to set my alarm clock an Hour and a half before I need to get up!

 

[fin_676]

That is what I am going to find out this week. Going to ride bike until reserve says 5 miles to go then see exactly how much the fuel pump will pump past that point into a jug. Measure exactly what it takes to re-fill. Re-calibrate float if necessary. Bike has an analog mechanical pointer plus electronic reserve. Tied of guessing & should not have to do math every time I think I need to re-fuel.

Your probably right but for me having 1.2 gallons after the float says 5 miles to empty is way too conservative. I am going to make it say 10 miles to empty when I have 10 miles of gas left.
I don't need to set my alarm clock an Hour and a half before I need to get up!

if i were testing for fuel capacity distance id carry a small petrol can with me and ride till it runs out then refill from the can id be carrying 5 litres thats the size of a small fuel can here and it would esily fit in the saddlebag or on the rack rear seat would be another place to carry it or in a back pack

Brian

 

[Jonas]

if i were testing for fuel capacity distance id carry a small petrol can with me and ride till it runs out then refill from the can id be carrying 5 litres thats the size of a small fuel can here and it would esily fit in the saddlebag or on the rack rear seat would be another place to carry it or in a back pack

Brian

Would be the easiest way. You know you should have 1.2 gallons when you bike says you have 5 left(from past experience). Plan your trip to end up (based on mpg) very close to a gas station. Even if you know within .2 gallons it would be good. Plus you would have the backup gas can if needed.

 

[Hoople]

if i were testing for fuel capacity distance id carry a small petrol can with me and ride till it runs out then refill from the can id be carrying 5 litres thats the size of a small fuel can here and it would esily fit in the saddlebag or on the rack rear seat would be another place to carry it or in a back pack

Brian

Yes, that would be a Great way to get the answers I am looking for with far less work.

I can see forming the float arm is going to be a good guessing game. It just may be that the float will make contact with the metal tank before the collected valley of gas is used up. Then I will never get the system to read correctly and I will be back where I started. We shall see.

Would be the easiest way. You know you should have 1.2 gallons when you bike says you have 5 left(from past experience). Plan your trip to end up (based on mpg) very close to a gas station. Even if you know within .2 gallons it would be good. Plus you would have the backup gas can if needed.

Yes Exactly. That would do it. Heck I could live with a .2 error. It's that extra gallon I wonder about. I am also sure some fuel is not reachable in the tank when it is low. Along with component displacement volume that may account for another .3 of the 1.0 (?)

 

[bobwire]

i have, 205 mi. to bingo.....05 rk.....................bw

 

[gamspaugh]

My light comes on after my gauge gets to around 1/8 then When the needle contacts the peg It takes 4.6 gal to the first click of the nozzle, (do not click twice as you will get a gas bath lol) all it took was one time to learn that lesson

 

[TQuentin1]

My bike is a bit older and does not try to tell me how far I can ride when it thinks I am getting low on gas. But it does turn on the idiot light when it thinks the tank is sort of low. I use that as a reminder to look carefully at the fuel gage (not reliable) and the trip odometer to use a best guess of how much further I can go before I am gonna be pushing the big beast. I have never run COMPLETELY dry, but have been low enough that it stalls when I brake coming to a stop at lights or signs. I have been collecting mileage and refill volumes since I got the bike. Below is what the data looks like over that last little while - blue is mpg, green is $/mi. Largest refill volume is 5.427 gal on 9/23/09. Average miles/full tank is 166.8. So I REALLY start looking for gas around 155 miles depending on how I have ridden the bike since last fill up.

I know that having the electronic indication so far off is annoying. So work around it until you have time to fiddle with it.

TQ

 

[bwalsh22]

My light comes on when I fill up my tank and turns off after I burn about a gallon...bottom line I don't even pay attention to the light. I have an LED gas gauge from Kuryakn which is pretty good, although I have run out of gas 2 times now, so I still haven't learned my lesson.

Since the last time, I usually fill up around 180 miles on my 5 Gallon Dyna tank. That is as far as I am pushing it since walking to the gas stations the last time was not too much fun.

 

[Hoople]

I have been collecting mileage and refill volumes since I got the bike. I know that having the electronic indication so far off is annoying. So work around it until you have time to fiddle with it.

TQ

TQ nice chart. If i understand it correctly, Blue is MPG made up of city & highway, with each dot being a fillup. Would you happen to know if your tank is quoted in manual as being 6 gallon.?

 

[Hoople]

They all do that!:newsmile100:

.

They all do what. Have an inaccuracy of 20%. Think about it, based on percent of error, there really is not a reason why they should be that far off. Yes they may all do it but for me that should not make it acceptable. I can't think of too many places where anyone accepts 80% accuracy as ok and acceptable. From my experience the metric manufactures seem to get down to the drop so it can be done.

I will know more after I tear into mine this week. There may be more to the story than I realize.