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Fuel Gauge last 2 blue squares !!!


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Still don't like the fuel gauge. Goes 120 miles showing FULL all the way, then drops all the way to half full at about 140 miles then at 150 miles a quarter

full ?????  When the empty soon warning last square and petrol pump start flashing how many miles have you got left, as I always fill up straight away frightened I will run out of fuel.  Most of my other bikes did not have a fuel gauge so no worries just rode them until the warning light came on , knowing I had 30 miles left in the tank..

Cheers Edgar Jessop. 

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With the sophistication of a TFT screen and the data organisation that the options seem to offer it is bizarre there is not a Distance Remaining option, rather than it counting the Distance Travelled since the warning came on.

Could it be that if the system calculated a Distance to Empty , presumably based on the Average Consumption and people ran out before that ---- they are afraid of litigation !!

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20 minutes ago, edgarjessop12 said:

When the empty soon warning last square and petrol pump start flashing how many miles have you got left, 

The furthest I have gone is just over 20 miles. 

Fuel.jpg

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***2015 Candy Red FJ-09***

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I've got a 2015 FJ-09 and  it drops to half at about 100 miles.  I generally figure about 20 miles per bar (4 bars) and that has worked for me.  Then when the bar is gone, and the dash starts flashing, there's about 20 miles left and I consider this the "Reserve" portion.

I got 22 miles out of it in the flashing empty section once and put 4.5 gallons in when I got to the station, so I must have been on absolute fumes.  I generally get approximately 200 miles per tank with an average of 44.4 mpg on the display, so it's pretty accurate for my riding habits while daily commuting.

 

EDit:  Noticed I wandered into the GT forum section from the homepage area.  I wonder if the fuel calculations on the GT version are different.  It would be interesting to see/compare the behavior from others.

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20 miles sounds right for a max distance once it's flashing orange

Personally, I avoid running a tank (on any bike) that low on a regular basis, as over time water&sediment will build up in the tank....

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Most people assume a gas guage functions nicely like automotive with the nice rectangular linear shaped tanks vs the odd geometric shapes of motorcycles... 

Start using the trip meter as your gas gauge... I only pay attention to the gas guage when the little menu screen goes into Reserve Mode... 

The more you ride the bike doing normal stuff you will get a good idea on how far a tank last... 

Avg seems to be 160-180miles before it starts flashing it's bar...

What the display shows for MPG or whatnot is not important when you know 180miles is the time to start looking for gas under normal circumstances...

 

Edited by norcal616
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What norcal616 said. None of my last several bikes had a linear gauge. For many years now use one of the trip meters to track fuel and on any new to me bike make sure to run it till lights start to flash or whatever so I know how much is really in the tank when that happens. Usually that matches the manual. After awhile it's habit. 

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There is a little computer in there. It is trivial for the program to have a small calibration table adjust for the odd fuel container shape.

I consider this about the most annoying thing about the motorcycle (after fixing the foot peg crowding problem), because it asserts itself with every ride. It's also impossible to upgrade.

Yes, one can work around it. Not bad for a "most annoying thing".

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I am still not brave enough to run it down too low.  I was just on highway cruise and at 300 km still had two bars showing but decided to fill up becuase of limited opportunities to fill up after that point.  Bike took 14 litres, so with 4 litres left at the rate I was going, I'm thinking there would be 80+ km (~50 miles left).

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12 hours ago, Larz said:

 

Personally, I avoid running a tank (on any bike) that low on a regular basis, as over time water&sediment will build up in the tank....

I never understood this comment, isn't the pump always taking suction from the same point as close to the bottom of the tank as possible?  I would have thought that if there was water and sediment in the tank, it would get sucked up like right now, not when the tank is near empty.

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2 hours ago, runnerhiker said:

I never understood this comment, isn't the pump always taking suction from the same point as close to the bottom of the tank as possible?  I would have thought that if there was water and sediment in the tank, it would get sucked up like right now, not when the tank is near empty.

Yep! Very common misconception. Mist bikes and cars have the fuel pick up sitting on the bottom of the tank. It was different when they had fuel taps.

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1 hour ago, runnerhiker said:

I never understood this comment, isn't the pump always taking suction from the same point as close to the bottom of the tank as possible?  I would have thought that if there was water and sediment in the tank, it would get sucked up like right now, not when the tank is near empty.

well, yeah, kinda, but every motorcycle I've owned previously did indeed build up water and sediment in the bottom of the tank over time; automobiles do as well- don't know why the FJ/Tracer would be any different. Mainly happens from condensation and crappy fuel I would guess...

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6 hours ago, Buggy Nate said:

Yep! Very common misconception. Mist bikes and cars have the fuel pick up sitting on the bottom of the tank. It was different when they had fuel taps.

Maybe nowadays you are right; maybe Yamahas and other modern motorcycles don't accumulate moisture in the tank because of fuel pumps, as opposed to gravity feeds? Or maybe my two cruisers, both fuel injected with fuel pumps, an '06 Kawa Vulcan and a 2011 HD Dyna were anomalies or had oddly shaped tanks. My Kawa got so bad at 50k they used a special sponge to absorb most of the water sitting in the bottom of the tank. And Harley actually puts it in print in the owners manual: avoid running the bike when the low fuel warning comes on- equipment damage can result. At 80 k my Dyna has gotten so bad I need to pull the tank and purge it- if I run it down to the last gallon the bike runs like shite, every time, so there must be something down in there....oh and I've heard guys with Kawa Concourses talk about it- fuel injected with fuel pumps, oddly shaped tank I guess. Should note that both my cruisers lived in Northern Idaho, inevitably sitting for a portion of each Winter- full tanks with "Heet" of course.

Edited by Larz
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It's the cheeks🥴man: the Cheeks of the gas tank on many motorcycles sit down below the tap on both sides

That's what let's it happen on my Dyna, on those Connie's and from what I can see on the FJ/Tracer gas tank , it can happen there, too, as the tank has very deep cheeks. And I believe the tap for the gas line on the Tracer is not at the lowest point of the tank when level.

So I believe the mis-conception is that moisture and sediment can't build-up or be a problem down the road in a modern motorcycle🤔 

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