Fuel Gauge / Gas tank???

[grubsie]

Something is wrong with my fuel gauge readings on my '06 Midnight Venture. I had the bike serviced by my local Yamaha Dealer. New plugs etc so the tank had to come off. (First Time Ever) I drove the bike for a few days after getting it back. The fuel gauge was on 1 bar left and the Low Fuel Warning Indicator came on. Always used to come on with 2 bars on the fuel gauge. Anyway, I pulled over and switched the petcock to reserve. I got about 2 miles and the bike ran out of gas. Never did that before. Got some gas from a generous nearby homeowner then filled the tank at the nearest gas station. Ran the tank down over the next few days and the indicator came on when I reached 2 bars on the fuel gauge. I pulled into a gas station not very far away (maybe 2 miles). Filled the tank and it only took 4 gallons.??? Being very confused, I decided to take the bike back to the dealer to have them check it out. $103.00 later, they said that nothing was wrong and everything worked as it should. This particular would never admit to anything as I have found out from other riders. I have ridden the bike bike for several months now not really sure how much is in my tank except when it's first filled.

I went on a long ride through the mountains this past weekend with my main squeeze. I have to say it was beautiful. On the way home the Fuel Indicator light came on and 2 bars on the gauge, so I pulled into a gas station and filled it up. It only took 3 1/2 gallons. Huh?

Anybody else run into this? The local dealer is not the place I want to take it to ever again.

How many bars do you people have left on your gauge when your Low Fuel Indicator comes on? How much fuel does it take to refill your tank if you refill immediately once you see the indicator? Is there a way to replace the gauge in the tank?

 

Thanks.

[Seaking]

I also have a 2006 Midnight and I have the fuel light coming on at odd times as well..

 

I sometimes see the F numbers come up on the trip odo and then the low fuel light will come on soon afterwards or several miles down the road later.. Sometimes the bike will hit reserve very soon afterwards and sometimes not for a while later.. it isn't always consistent.. I very seldom ever ride the bike below two bars on the gauge.. though once I ran it down to no bars showing..

 

I did notice on the last road trip that the speed, inclination and lean of the bike will affect the sensor as to when the light, gauge and reserve come on, just by where the fuel is sitting inside the tank..

 

Just out of curiosity, when was the fuel filter last changed? A clogged filter caused some weird situations on my bike when I first got it..

[ragtop69gs]

Mine normally takes 4 - 4.5 gallons when the gauge starts counting down, I never pay attention to the low fuel light.

[grubsie]

The fuel filter was changed at the time the bike was serviced. I had pretty consistent readings before they serviced the bike. Now the readings are all over the place. Is there a sensor in the tank? There must be. Just wondering if they somehow screwed it up by maybe disconnecting or reconnecting with the ignition on or something?

[dacheedah]

Is there any warranty left????

[Seaking]

The fuel filter was changed at the time the bike was serviced. I had pretty consistent readings before they serviced the bike. Now the readings are all over the place. Is there a sensor in the tank? There must be. Just wondering if they somehow screwed it up by maybe disconnecting or reconnecting with the ignition on or something?

 

I shouldn't think so.. however you could try re-seating the plug connector.. If I am not mistaken, the fuel sensor is the float type mechanism and its been known that these will stick or not move smoothly.. Mine did that one spring and I managed to work it out by putting some seafoam in the tank and sloshing the tank back and forth for a bit.. as if the sloshing action cleaned off the hinge parts somewhat.. gremlins or not, it seemed to have done the trick as I hadn't had any problems with it since I did that..

 

It could have been purely coincidental..

[gibvel]

Just a thought. I know that when I do so good right hand turns my fuel will go down a bar. When I do some good left hand turns the fuel gauge will gain a bar. Same thing if you run it on the stand before taking the bike vertical. The gauge will show more when on the side stand.

 

My thought is, the fuel tank is divided, to an extent. So if you do a lot of right hand turns you could be putting a majority of the fuel in one half, therefore making your gauge go down to a level that triggers the light. With more fuel in the other half you will, in effect, still have quite a bit of fuel still left but your gauge is tricked into thinking there isn't as much.

 

So there might be times where the light will come on and the tank won't take as much fuel and times when the larger portion of the fuel is in the gauge side and you'll end up putting more fuel in.

 

Just a thought. Don't know how actual factual it might be.

[BoomerCPO]

I don't trust the fuel guage or the Low Fuel light on my 06 Venture. I use the trip odometer on my bike. I zero it when I fill the tank and don't worry about fuel until the odometer reads 150 miles....which coincides nicely with my need for a bathroom stop/coffee break.

I also use my GPS (when at 125 miles) to show me the nearest gas station if I am riding out in the boonies out of heavily populated areas.

Note: The miles between gas stops depends also on whether I am riding solo or have Donna with me. I actually go further miles when she's riding with me cuz she watches the speedometer.

Boomer....who sez it's all about the ride.

[jmking42]

I have an '05 and the F count and the fuel light will come on with 2 bars showing.It always varies as to when I actually have to switch to reserve.Once,I had to after only 1.5 miles,another time it was 18 miles before reserve.It usually takes 4-4.5 gallons to fill up.

[dacheedah]

The float and sensor it's on the right while you are sitting on it, check your fuel level while the bike is on the level. . .

 

http://venturerider.org/forum/picture.php?albumid=1039&pictureid=6983

 

 

My thoughts are, fill up with a 1/2 can of seafoam and drive it as usual. When done do it again once you are out refresh the plugs, if it's gunked up that will get her.

 

My fuel low light comes on with about 2 bars left, I know when I flip to reserve I can go at least 18 miles.

[crowrod]

I have a 2003 when my fuel gauge turns to" F" I can go 9 miles before it starts to sputter

then another 20 or so on reserve. Has never taken more than 5.4 gallons on the refill. I some times wonder if it is really a 6.0 gallon tank?

[dacheedah]

U Mean E and not F ? ? ?

 

That would mean it runs like a Harley

[crowrod]

no I mean f as in fuel , then it goes into odometer mode a start logging miles

[Sleeperhawk]

I have a 2003 when my fuel gauge turns to" F" I can go 9 miles before it starts to sputter

then another 20 or so on reserve. Has never taken more than 5.4 gallons on the refill. I some times wonder if it is really a 6.0 gallon tank?

 

What he said on both the 05 and 08 bikes I have had.

[grubsie]

Thanks people. A lot of good info. I forgot about Seafoam. I am going to give that a try and see what happens. It just seems kind of weird that when the f indicator comes on that I still have 2 - 2 1/2 gallons of gas left. That means I should be able to go at least another 60 miles safely before I really have to fill up. I could see the F indicator and low fuel light coming on at 1 gallon like my 86 Goldwing did.

Gotta also find a way to eek out a few more miles a gallon. Sigh, wishful thinking.

[bobcat]

I had issues with the actual mileage and the gas guage also...After a fill up sometimes the first bar would come off at 50 miles (normal) then the next time at 20 miles and sometimes at 5-10 miles...

 

Luckily my bike is still under warranty so the dealer replaced the tank sending unit...That did the trick..

 

What I'm suggesting is it could be a bad sending unit..When they go bad they seem to do so in an intermittent fashion..

[dacheedah]

Check when the warranty was started to see if, by chance, you might have any left.

[darthandy]

I have a 2003 when my fuel gauge turns to" F" I can go 9 miles before it starts to sputter

then another 20 or so on reserve. Has never taken more than 5.4 gallons on the refill. I some times wonder if it is really a 6.0 gallon tank?

 

Check out the following link:

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=302

 

There is also another one somewhere in here where a member did some calculating and measuring to determine what the tank can hold. In short, it's a 6 gal. tank that can't be filled up unless the filler neck is modified. But be sure to read the full thread before filling the tank up as the fuel can expand if heated up and run out the overflow tube. I modified my filler neck and it added quite a few KM (Or miles, in your case) to my range.

 

Andy

[Guest Slab_Ryder]

Grubsie

 

I was told last year by a Millwright at work, it has to do with corrosion on the Resistor that the Float sensor rides up and down to send the electronics the signal. Right or wrong, my similar problem was cured by a combination of a good dose of Seafoam and using High Test Gasoline. When the tank was almost empty, I put a full can of Seafoam in and let it sit 24 hrs. Then topped up with High Test. Problem went away immediately.