Is your fuel gauge accurate?

[chef@4]

Mmmm, let me see, the next town is 29 miles and my reserve light just came on, will I make it? :no: :yes: :blush:

On a full tank I'll get about 75-95 miles before the gauge needle comes off the furthest it reaches to the right to when it moves left and touches the full mark. My ultra classic gets from 20-32 mpg depending, of course as you know, how hard I ride. Do you have to learn and live with the characteristics of the fuel sensor?

 

[Mr.Wizard]

What I think is weird is how the gas light will come on when you still have 1/4 tank left. I've read where the metric bike lights don't come on until 1/8. When asked why it is said that Americans need advanced notice. :blush:

HD fuel level indicators are also a little weird. When you first fill up it seems like it takes forever to move off of the full mark but as soon as you get past half way it's like if you look a few minutes later and your about empty. I'm sure it's due to the float bouncing around but I've ridden about 20 miles when the indicator is on the big E and never had to walk! Coasted a lot but never walked. :no:

 

[Gorilla]

Personally I do it the old fashion way, I keep track of the mileage and use the trip odometer. I don't trust most gas gauges on bikes.

 

[Ozarkryder]

Never owned a bike that the fuel gauge was accurate. I have found they were consistant in their inaccuracy. Get to know the quirks of yours and you can do OK.

 

[Juju]

Fuel gauge? What is this fuel gauge you speak of? You guys actually have fuel gauges?

I'm still doing it like Ted. Goldie sez: "We don't need no stinking fuel gauges!"

 

[Papa Zook]

I built a trike that talks??? Dang I'm good! hyes:

 

[Gorilla]

Zook no debate there

 

[John Luciano]

My Gage is pretty close. I go about 165 t0 170 on a tank ( before low light ) I have once only gone only 128 and didn't believe it but when I got gas I took almost a full tank . * 70mph pulling a loaded trailer 2 up and a lot of wind. 4.8 gals.

 

[Hawgdog]

My fuel reserve light has a mind of it's own. I know I can get between 140 - 150 miles from a tank of fuel. However, that can change if we are riding 2 up and pulling a trailer! So, I added a 2 gallon auxillary tank! No more worrying about having enough fuel!

 

[1550vt]

I had a bran-spanking new 1996 EFI ultra once. That was the first year of fuel injection for the MOCO. The dealer told me I had 30-miles of fuel in there with the warning light came on and I think the manual supported that too. I was coming back from a trip in a hurry to get home one night and my little amber light clicked on. I knew where I was and figured I had the 20-miles in the tank it took to get there. Well...she nosed-over exactly one mile from the exit ramp where I had planned to fuel-up. 19-miles and she laid down. I have been off with folks since then that did not listen or learn the lesson. They would proudly announce that they had a half-tank left and would not fill up when I did. 20-miles down the road they are begging to stop for fuel because their warning light just clicked-on.

Every Harley I ever owned had it's very own fuel gauge attitude. I just determined exactly how much was in the tank at any given place on the dial where the needle pointed. I made it a point to gas-up when it indicated 1/2, then I'd gas-up at 3/4...etc. Until I had a very good feel for how much was in there based on what the needle indicated and I have never gotten away from that exercise. I do it on every bike/trike I have. I even managed to gas-up when the fuel light just clicked on and my trike has .6-gallons in the main tank when she turns amber on me. If you have absolutely nothing to do one day, you can remove the sending unit from the top of the tank and bend the float around a bit to get things reasonably accurate. If you do that, you get to see all the other stuff hidden in there that takes up fuel storage space...like the fuel pump and stuff. Like many others, my first 2 or 3 Harley's had no fuel gauge anyway and I just ran by the mileage.

 

[Yogisan]

My trike gets @ 33mpg 2-up and packed, and @ 41mpg with just me. I have a 3.7 gal main and 2.5 gal aux tank. I keep and eye on the trip meter and somewhere between 99 & 120 miles on the main tank the reserve light blinks and I have to hit the fuel transfer switch for the gas in the aux tank to pump into the main tank. When the reserve blinks it means I've got about 20 miles of driving left before I start pushing. Ask me how I know... :blush:

I've never actually calibrated the fuel guage so I don't know exactly what each mark means. Don't care, really. All I really need to do is keep track of the trip meter mileage and the little blinking reserve light.

 

[ultraboy]

Fuel Gauge? Yeah, I look at it, and I look at the tripmeter, and I also take the cap off and look in the tank. In 40 + years of riding, I've been real lucky, and never run into fuel exhaustion. Fuel starvation yes, and in the carbureated days, I've gone to reserve a few times, and taken off to merge into traffic with the petcock still closed....

 

[BlueTrinity]

I hear you there Dave,

The bigger problem is that the newer models have just the fuel light.

They did away with the friggin reserve !

 

[rmrc51]

I had put an Interstate tank on my Valkyrie for the purpose of the increased fuel capacity and the Fuel gauge option. I bought the complete set of Motosen Gauges that are specifically made for the Valkyrie. The Fuel gauge has proven to be extremely accurate. Much easier looking at at fuel gauge than trying to figure how much gas you have left by looking at your trip meter. :yes:

 

[1550vt]

Most of us Harley riders like to do stuff the old fashion way. It's 1920's technology....a float on a bent piece of coat-hanger wire rubbing across a wire-wound resistor inside the tank. We got throttle-by-wire and smart engine management systems that will shut off a cylinder-or-two if it gets too hot at a stop-light, but we just have not gotten around to perfecting the fuel gauge yet.

 

[BlueTrinity]

"Accurate Fuel Guage"??? That is an Oxymoron!

The best I can tell you about mine is that if the needle is above the "F", I'm full and if its pointing at the red "E" I should have stopped for fuel back a few miles.

Everything in between is determined by the SWAG system of fuel measurement.

By the way, if my fuel light comes on, I can go another 23 miles. That one, I'm not guessing on.

 

[Greydog]

Believe it or not, mine is pretty accurate as long as it's on level ground. I generally run with the "Miles Remaining" punched in rather than the odometer reading. I always leave myself a safety margin between fill-ups just in case....:yes:

 

[BlueTrinity]

I generally run with the "Miles Remaining" punched in

Whutzat??? I don't got one of them.


By the way, I love that Aviversary Copper Trike you've built!:yes:

 

[Greydog]

Whutzat??? I don't got one of them.


By the way, I love that Aviversary Copper Trike you've built!:yes:

Thanx Blue...I sort of like it myself!! "Miles Remaining" can be selected with my odometer button. Selections are: Total Miles, Odometer A, Odometer B, or Miles Remaining in the tank.

 

[Lunchbox1983]

I always use the miles to go. It never fails in group rides when you ask about fuel stops people will respond that they have a 1/2 tank. SO how many miles is that???.

We train our riders to yell out how many miles they got left.