no Reserve Fuel

[Sexagenarian]

Forgive my lengthy dialogue in advance. After so many years on this planet, I find people like to read about the trials of others in order to make their own plights more bearable. so here goes..

Friday: so I took off on my Brand-new-to-me, 1997 RSTD which is my very first ever motorcyle. I was tired of being my wife's bit#@$ch as she has a Harley. So I went through the motorcycle course and absorbed as much as my ol' brain would take. I was having a great time right up to the point my engine started to sputter. No problem I thought. Just switch to the Reserve level in the tank. Except there was no reserve level. Bone dry. How? Was I motoring around with the fuel lever mistakenly in the Reserve position? Of course the wife is laughing hysterically at me now, which makes my ego shrink immensely. Nope. The long part of the lever was pointing down to the 'on' position. Maybe the person I bought it from told me wrong. Maybe the long part of the lever is not the indicator, maybe it is the short part and I truly was driving around in the 'reserve' position all this time.....

Saturday: My Clymer on the RSTD showed up in the mail and showed the fuel lever operating modes. Yup, I truly was driving with the lever in the correct position. Then why no Reserve?

Sunday: Curiosity got the best of me. My fuel indicator light never came on either. So time to find out what is going on. Off goes the speedometer cover and two pin trip button connector and the 18 pin meter connector get opened up. Interestingly the Clymer refers to it as a 12 pin connector... HHhmmmmm... Fuel lamp has continuity. Fuel sender connector is reachable just by taking the seat off. No continuity towards fuel sender, wiring towards the meter connector does have continuity. Wiring good. Off goes the meter, just cause I am curious now, and to clean up the previous 65,000 miles of dirt underneath it. Off goes the fuel tank after siphoning my tank refill into the gas can from Friday's refill. Almost ready to pull off the sender but I thought I better wait until Monday (today) to find out if my local dealer has the part in stock. I stare at the fuel valve assembly. I just have to find out why I had no reserve. Off it comes. As I pull the assembly away from the tank, I notice a short stubby piece of plastic on one input port and nothing in the other input port. Blowing through the output port confirms that with the lever in the 'on' position, the gas was being selected via the port with nothing in it. Which is why it was sucked dry. Shaking the tank revealed that there was definitely something loose in it. After an hour or so, I had finally manipulated the 'little plastic pipe extension' over to the other side of the tank so it could be grabbed with my finger tool from the fill hole. I put the piece of plastic back into the port and pushed hard to get it to seat all the way down. A friction fitting between plastic and metal!! I was astonished, but at least the mystery of why there was no reserve had been revealed.

My clymer manual shows that these two extensions should have been metal protrusions and not something that was inserted. Is this normal. Has anybody else experienced the loss of their reserve? Before ordering the fuel sender, does the low-fuel indicator light on the meter actually work correctly? Stay safe!!

[M61A1MECH]

I had a 98 Royal Star Tour Classic, and the low fuel light did work, but I did have to replace the sensor one time while it was under warrenty. I had the bike for 9 years and 96,000 miles, the light was still working when I sold it in 2007. I will say that I never totally depended on that light, I all ways set my trip meter so I knew how far I had gone on that tank, just in case the light did not work. I would usally try to run it down to where it needed to be switched to reserve before gassing up, if I was familar with the area and knew a gas station was with distance of the fuel left in the tank. Can not say that I have ever heard of any one having the stan pipe on the petcock come off, but there is always a first time.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Low-fuel indicator light?

 

 

I think I have seen it flicker a time or two...

[steamer]

I just stop and fill up when I get down to a 1/4 tank on the gage.

[Condor]

Back in the day I used to run to the reserve when we didn't have fuel guages, but now with all the gizmotry, I run by the odo. 150 miles = 2 hours = potty break... I just replaced the pitcock in the '99 with a new one, and I don't see how the stand pipe could come out unless it was bad from the factory and the previous owner did the 150 mile dance and never noticed??

[djh3]

So if I get this rite, essentualy the "normal" pick up came out of the petcock and because it basicly has a lower draw point than reserve at that point. It draind the tank below where reserve would pick up. Stanger things have happened I supose. I am in the habit of riding on trips till it sputters and flip the fuel lever and look for gas.

[Barrycuda]

I had a 98 Royal Star Tour Classic, and the low fuel light did work, but I did have to replace the sensor one time while it was under warrenty. I had the bike for 9 years and 96,000 miles, the light was still working when I sold it in 2007. I will say that I never totally depended on that light, I all ways set my trip meter so I knew how far I had gone on that tank, just in case the light did not work. I would usally try to run it down to where it needed to be switched to reserve before gassing up, if I was familar with the area and knew a gas station was with distance of the fuel left in the tank. Can not say that I have ever heard of any one having the stan pipe on the petcock come off, but there is always a first time.

 

Likewise on not depending on the light. Funny thing is, I do not always depend on the bars either. Sometimes one bar will disappear after 5 miles and the other after 35, go figure. My philosophy is similar, I just set the trip odometer and monitor from there. Inalsonhave been turning the valve TO the reserve position to not be surprised when I need reserve fuel, and its just water or something else. Or even it get stuck when I need it most.

Edited May 28, 2014 by Barrycuda

[steamer]

I will say this again as I have on other threads. Shift to reserve at least once a week so you don't get the surprise I got. I hadn't used my reserve since the previous season. On our way home from MD at Freebirds I ran the tank down till the low fuel light came on, so I shifted to reserve to find out to my surprise that the bottom of my tank was full of water. we were lucky there was a gas station just down the road. I now leave it in the reserve position all the time and fill up when I get to a 1/4 tank. just like I do with my truck and car. I mean isn't that why the put a fuel gage on the bike.

[Barrycuda]

I will say this again as I have on other threads. Shift to reserve at least once a week so you don't get the surprise I got. I hadn't used my reserve since the previous season. On our way home from MD at Freebirds I ran the tank down till the low fuel light came on, so I shifted to reserve to find out to my surprise that the bottom of my tank was full of water. we were lucky there was a gas station just down the road. I now leave it in the reserve position all the time and fill up when I get to a 1/4 tank. just like I do with my truck and car. I mean isn't that why the put a fuel gage on the bike.

 

Steamer,

I think it was you...your post that I read that had me decide to switch to reserve for no surprises. I appreciate the heads up.

[Sexagenarian]

So if I get this rite, essentualy the "normal" pick up came out of the petcock and because it basicly has a lower draw point than reserve at that point. It draind the tank below where reserve would pick up. Stanger things have happened I supose. I am in the habit of riding on trips till it sputters and flip the fuel lever and look for gas.

that's it exactly. with the 'normal' pickup tube floating around in the tank, the port it used to be sitting in was now the 'bottom' of the normal tube which places it way lower than the bottom of the reserve tube. Being a new owner, plus a new rider, I really appreciate the suggestions on utilizing the reserve frequently in order to divert surprises when you least want them. thanks all!!

Hhhmmm, come to think of it, it was after running the tank dry in this manner, that my gas problems began the next day. I probably carried something foreign to the carbs via the filter and pump. Working on that problem now. see this gas thread

[M61A1MECH]

Running the tank dry like you did coupled with the fact that the strainer on the pick up tube was not there, probably is what did in your carbs.

 

There is most assurdedly a bunch of crud in the very bottom of almost any fuel tank and you do not want that going into the carbs, that is why they put those screens on the pick up tubes and even the reserve pick up is not right on the bottom, always leaves that little bit of nasty in the bottom of the tank.

Carbs do not like the nasty bits.

[RandyR]

There should be a fuel filter between the tank and carbs.

[Sexagenarian]

hi Randy. there is, and i have replaced it now that i am removing the carbs for a thorough cleaning..

[Sexagenarian]

I will say this again as I have on other threads. Shift to reserve at least once a week so you don't get the surprise I got. I hadn't used my reserve since the previous season. On our way home from MD at Freebirds I ran the tank down till the low fuel light came on, so I shifted to reserve to find out to my surprise that the bottom of my tank was full of water. we were lucky there was a gas station just down the road. I now leave it in the reserve position all the time and fill up when I get to a 1/4 tank. just like I do with my truck and car. I mean isn't that why the put a fuel gage on the bike.

My RSTD doesn't have the fuel gauge, just the idiot light that is supposed to come on when some idiot (me!!) forgets to look at the trip odometer

[PhilH]

Forgive my lengthy dialogue in advance. After so many years on this planet, I find people like to read about the trials of others in order to make their own plights more bearable. so here goes..

Friday: so I took off on my Brand-new-to-me, 1997 RSTD which is my very first ever motorcyle. I was tired of being my wife's bit#@$ch as she has a Harley. So I went through the motorcycle course and absorbed as much as my ol' brain would take. I was having a great time right up to the point my engine started to sputter. No problem I thought. Just switch to the Reserve level in the tank. Except there was no reserve level. Bone dry. How? Was I motoring around with the fuel lever mistakenly in the Reserve position? Of course the wife is laughing hysterically at me now, which makes my ego shrink immensely. Nope. The long part of the lever was pointing down to the 'on' position. Maybe the person I bought it from told me wrong. Maybe the long part of the lever is not the indicator, maybe it is the short part and I truly was driving around in the 'reserve' position all this time.....

Saturday: My Clymer on the RSTD showed up in the mail and showed the fuel lever operating modes. Yup, I truly was driving with the lever in the correct position. Then why no Reserve?

Sunday: Curiosity got the best of me. My fuel indicator light never came on either. So time to find out what is going on. Off goes the speedometer cover and two pin trip button connector and the 18 pin meter connector get opened up. Interestingly the Clymer refers to it as a 12 pin connector... HHhmmmmm... Fuel lamp has continuity. Fuel sender connector is reachable just by taking the seat off. No continuity towards fuel sender, wiring towards the meter connector does have continuity. Wiring good. Off goes the meter, just cause I am curious now, and to clean up the previous 65,000 miles of dirt underneath it. Off goes the fuel tank after siphoning my tank refill into the gas can from Friday's refill. Almost ready to pull off the sender but I thought I better wait until Monday (today) to find out if my local dealer has the part in stock. I stare at the fuel valve assembly. I just have to find out why I had no reserve. Off it comes. As I pull the assembly away from the tank, I notice a short stubby piece of plastic on one input port and nothing in the other input port. Blowing through the output port confirms that with the lever in the 'on' position, the gas was being selected via the port with nothing in it. Which is why it was sucked dry. Shaking the tank revealed that there was definitely something loose in it. After an hour or so, I had finally manipulated the 'little plastic pipe extension' over to the other side of the tank so it could be grabbed with my finger tool from the fill hole. I put the piece of plastic back into the port and pushed hard to get it to seat all the way down. A friction fitting between plastic and metal!! I was astonished, but at least the mystery of why there was no reserve had been revealed.

My clymer manual shows that these two extensions should have been metal protrusions and not something that was inserted. Is this normal. Has anybody else experienced the loss of their reserve? Before ordering the fuel sender, does the low-fuel indicator light on the meter actually work correctly? Stay safe!!

 

 

The previous owner of my '96 Royal Star warned me about this. He said he was stranded on the side of the road once because he thought he had a little more gas on the tank, but turned out he didn't. He relied on trip meter since, and that's what I always do.

 

Forget the low fuel indicator.

[Bodaggit23]

Yay, first post and it's a bump on an old thread, everyone's two favorite things on a forum!

 

Anyway, sorry, the third most annoying thing would have been to post a new

thread without searching for the topic first so, hey, 2 out of 3 isn't bad right?

 

So, the same thing has just happened to me yesterday. I recently inherited a

1997 Royal Star Tour Deluxe. (absolutely love it)

 

(I grew up on dirt bikes and petcocks and most were the same. Long leg of the petcock

was the pointer and most often DOWN was "ON", UP was "RESERVE", and forward or backward was "OFF")

 

According to the only way my petcock can find it's way to "OFF" is long leg FORWARD,

which means "ON" is DOWN and "RESERVE" is UP. Ok...

 

My Low Fuel Light works but like most I don't trust it.

 

So I set out to find how many miles I can go with the two petcock positions.

 

Filled up with gas and off we went with the petcock in the "ON" position or DOWN.

 

From a full tank we rode 125 miles before the Low Fuel Light came on. Mental note taken.

 

I rode until I had 170 miles on the tank and it started to sputter...so I flipped the petcock

to "RESERVE" or UP and waited for it to catch it's breath again.........It never did. I pushed it to the side of the road and opened the tank, only to find a desert. Bone dry.

 

I thought the only possible way for this to happen was the stem to fall off inside the tank, which I never heard of happening before, or I had the orientation backwards, which would have made no sense.

 

I have yet to remove the tank to find out for sure but reading this thread at least helps me feel a little better about my hunch.

 

I'll try to post back when I find the ambition to pull the petcock and find out for sure.

 

Thanks for the great forum and information!

Sincerely,

Dean

Edited May 29, 2014 by Bodaggit23
Added year and model of bike

[XV1100SE]

Save other people looking ... Bodaggit23 has a '97 Tour Deluxe

[XV1100SE]

So if I get this rite, essentualy the "normal" pick up came out of the petcock and because it basicly has a lower draw point than reserve at that point. It draind the tank below where reserve would pick up. Stanger things have happened I supose. I am in the habit of riding on trips till it sputters and flip the fuel lever and look for gas.

 

Bodaggit23 - with gas in the tank... does the engine run if you put it on Reserve? Wondering if the pick-up is clogged...or for some reason your petcock needs to be replaced?

[Bodaggit23]

Bodaggit23 - with gas in the tank... does the engine run if you put it on Reserve? Wondering if the pick-up is clogged...or for some reason your petcock needs to be replaced?

 

Yes, it runs fine in both "ON" and "RESERVE" positions.

 

I'll update my post to include the year and model of my bike too, sorry.

[Condor]

Yes, it runs fine in both "ON" and "RESERVE" positions.

 

I'll update my post to include the year and model of my bike too, sorry.

 

There's an 'O' ring and gasket in the petcock that may be bad and you're sucking fuel thru the reserve even tho you have it in the 'on'.... position. They are available from Y.

[Bodaggit23]

There's an 'O' ring and gasket in the petcock that may be bad and you're sucking fuel thru the reserve even tho you have it in the 'on'.... position. They are available from Y.

 

Available from Y as in Yamaha from a dealer?

[XV1100SE]

Available from Y as in Yamaha from a dealer?

 

Yes

 

See parts diagram - 29:Fuel Tank (I've attached a screen shot)

[RandyR]

there was an engineering change to the petcock in 2003 or 2004 because of this problem.

[Bodaggit23]

Yes

 

See parts diagram - 29:Fuel Tank (I've attached a screen shot)

 

So are you referring to parts 25 and 28?

 

I suppose they come in a rebuild kit...

 

Is it more likely that this is my issue versus the standpipe?

 

I'm going to pull the petcock this weekend to see for sure.

[XV1100SE]

So are you referring to parts 25 and 28?.

 

Someone with experience on the petcock can reply to this. Someone had mentioned the O-Ring which would be part 27