J
Jack Klarich
Guest
LOL Good answer
Fuel low light coming on too soon
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LOL Good answer
man in black
Member
Harley claims in their brochures that the fuel gage accuracy problem has been fixed in the 2010 models, but my 2010 heritage has been in to have the fuel tank float replaced already at 500 miles. The gauge would drop in the first 50 miles after fillup from full to the red zone and stay there for the next 150 miles. I had that replaced right before winter and just started riding it this season so still don't know for sure yet but so far it don't look good.
Hoople
Account Removed
You were correct. Today I rode the bike into the reserve range to see what it would do. Strangely, once the speedo indicator toggled from 10 to 9 miles, the display just showed "Lo" instead of mileage. I never remember seeing that before because I have driven it into single digits in the past. Anyway I was about 3 miles from the house when it toggled from 10 miles to "Lo" so I am guessing I was at 6 or 7 miles when pulling into the garage.
Keeping the bike upright, I wired the fuel pump to empty the remains into a jug. I was able to pull 1.2 gallons when the pump hit vapors. I poured the 1.2 back in the bike and it took an additional 3.6 gallons almost to the drop to make a complete fill. I am really surprised those numbers add up to the quoted 4.8 in the manual because I figured there would be some fuel in the tank that the pick up sock could not reach.
So it seems my error is due to a float setting adjustment. At least I know I have over a gallon of fuel once I see "Lo".
So to answer the OP's original posted question which was.. "does is constitute a problem other than an annoyance." I would say for me it was not a problem and is just an annoyance.
Jonas
Junior Member
Interesting, thanks for posting the results.
Jdsmitty10
Active Member
when my light comes on and i fill up, it only takes about 3-3.5 gallons to fill it. and i think my tank is just under 5 gallons the the deuce... doesn't seem right to me..
My new 2009 1200L seems to come on early.
I had dreams of going 200 miles on a tank of gas, oh what luxury over the 100 miles on the Daytona, when my fuel light came on at 100 miles on the new bike. It took a little over 2 gallons.
I have a 4.5 gallon tank, so that is about 2 gallons left, having the fuel light come on at 1/2 a tank is sort of worthless.
I am not sure if the dealer had filled the tank up to the top when I picked it up, plus the MPG will likely go up after break in....
So, I will do what I always do, reset the trip meter on filling up, and looking for gas at about 150 or 175 miles?
The gas must slosh around a lot in the tank, I wonder how the low fuel light is triggered, it gets below a point and trips the light which stays on?
I am sure they don't want the light going on and off all the time, so there must be some sort of averaging, or latching setup.
Results might be much different for steady hiway riding, where the fuel might not slosh around much....you might get much lower before the light comes on.
Brett
I had dreams of going 200 miles on a tank of gas, oh what luxury over the 100 miles on the Daytona, when my fuel light came on at 100 miles on the new bike. It took a little over 2 gallons.
I have a 4.5 gallon tank, so that is about 2 gallons left, having the fuel light come on at 1/2 a tank is sort of worthless.
I am not sure if the dealer had filled the tank up to the top when I picked it up, plus the MPG will likely go up after break in....
So, I will do what I always do, reset the trip meter on filling up, and looking for gas at about 150 or 175 miles?
The gas must slosh around a lot in the tank, I wonder how the low fuel light is triggered, it gets below a point and trips the light which stays on?
I am sure they don't want the light going on and off all the time, so there must be some sort of averaging, or latching setup.
Results might be much different for steady hiway riding, where the fuel might not slosh around much....you might get much lower before the light comes on.
Brett
i have an 07 883l only had it about a month so not really sure what it will do milage wise, guess i need to get a jug with some gas and find out myselff but i know around 80-100 miles the gas light comes on and stays on. anyone know around what the miles/ gallon should be for a stock 883l it has the 3.3 gallon tank on it
Getting the accuracy of the fuel RESERVE to small 10-25 miles is not necessarily good. We all know that fuel mileage varies quite a bit between 32-45 mpg per tank full depending on the mix of city and freeway driving...about 20% variance. Getting down to the last gallon means reserve of 32-45 miles is close enough in my book, been on long rides where I saw signs "--next gas 32 miles" in my mind...:s
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Admiral Nelson
Banned
Guys we all know gas gauges (on whatever marque of bike) lie like a woman's watch and should never be trusted. I hate pushing so I always use the trip meter.
Hoople
Account Removed
Never owned one or even asked an owner but I would bet that the gas gauge on a Honda Gold Wing is very accurate down to the last few ounces. Just basing that on 1/2 dozen metric cages I owned from the past.
Metric manufactures take gauge accuracy very seriously from what I have experienced. Americans install a gauge and say "here's your gauge, now you figure it out".
Any previous owners of GW's that honestly know how accurate the gas gauge was. (ran the bike to pushing it)