Fuel gauge and trip meter F

[Shovelhead]

Bear with me, I've never owned a bike with an accurate gas gauge, in fact one my bikes doesn't even have a gauge.
I've always used the odometer for my gauge.

I assume the "F" trip meter stands for fuel and I'd think you may be able to monitor your reserve mileage via this F trip meter. That's assuming the F meter kicks in when the tank goes to reserve. Right? Wrong? Well this computer don't seem too smart to me.

This is what I've seen after running my first two tanks down to where the fuel gauge starts flashing and the F meter comes on the display.

I know I have more gas than to be on reserve. I think what happens is the computer senses low level and the distance to empty will read around 20 miles or so. This is at idle (poor mileage), when I take off and run for a mile or two the DTE # will get larger and the gauge will stop flashing. Then the F meter goes away. If you kill the engine, then restart, this process begins again.

Is this how it's supposed to operate? No big deal really just tryin to figger out how it works.

One other question, from a carburetor man... ;D
the fuel pump is in the tank right?
I've heard that it's a good idea to not run less than a 1/4 tank to keep the pump cool. Right, wrong?

Thanks

 

[Anywhere]

I love this bike but the Fuel thing drives me crazy. The reserve gauge comes on and when I go to fill it up, I have well over 2 gallons of gas left. I generally use the trip odometer, but I would hate to get stuck somewhere because the one time the gauge was accurate.

 

[Dogdaze]

I personally think the 'F' thing is a bit like the thermostat in the home, you feel it's colder than the temp readout, so you go to it an give it a little tap, as if that would make a difference, it is about as useful as chewing gum to solve an algebra equation (I stole that line), just do it the old fashioned way, fill up, run about 220-240 miles, then refill. It works for me, I stop looking at anything flashing that is not amber or red on the dash.

 

[martin_nj]

Yah if you want to be safe, just fill up when trip1 hits 200miles... if you don't care about running out go to 220-250 depending on body size/bike shape/throttle hand weight/etc

 

[Shovelhead]

Ok, as I suspected. Didn't take me long to decide that function could be eliminated from my "pay attention" to list. LOL.
No problem as resetting a trip meter ever fill up is already a habit for me.
One less high tech gizmo to look at is a good thing. LOL

This break in is KILLIN me, I want to RIDE this thing like I ride.

Same here on the gas left in the tank, got gas after work yesterday, DTE said 14 miles. On the center stand, it took 5 gallons. That don't equate.

that's funny about the house thermostat. My old lady lets the thermostat temp decide how hot or cold she is. With the A/C running and the thermostat reading 73, she says it's hot in here. If it's 60° outside and the thermostat reads 73, she says it's cold in here.

 

[Lutsie]

I think the "f" thing is effed. I've always used the trip meter on my bikes.

 

[Tombraider2]

Mine blinks around 185 miles, still about 1.75 gallons left so I just fill around 200 on the trip. One day I'll be brave and go 250 miles then fill up. After my fill up it says it will go 290ish ?

 

[Boondocker]

Lean angle affects the "F meter". Seems the fuel gauge is most accurate or reads higher when the bike is level. It reads lower when the bike is leaned over, at least leaned to the left as when parked on the side stand. I notice that my gauge will flash at around 180 miles if I start up from being parked on the side stand, but after a few minutes/miles of riding, it will register "2 bars" and stop flashing. Around 185, while riding, it will start flashing again. I generally fill up at 200 miles, very convenient since my round-trip commute is 40 miles/day. A fill up after 200 miles is usually 4.5 gallons. I don't trust that you can get 6 gallons out of a 6-gallon tank. Besides that, flashing things drive me crazy regardless of their color.

There is no reserve. That's a gravity-feed (carby) concept. I once ran out of gas on my '92 VMax. Then I figured out that the reserve switch was broken, so it was always on reserve. Ever since then, I have serious reservations about running out of gas.

 

[Langolier]

Yah if you want to be safe, just fill up when trip1 hits 200miles... if you don't care about running out go to 220-250 depending on body size/bike shape/throttle hand weight/etc

Ditto .......... I deemed the fuel gauge as useless after the second fill up.

 

[bigbob]

I actually use the F+ count up. Riding back from Romney with Steve, I used more gas on my 2014 with a new Tall OEM shield I picked up at Romney. Multiple times when the F count up started, we stopped at 30-35 miles (the first quick stop, where you can see the station before the exit) and I put in 5.2 to 5.6 gallons. Now that 5.6 was cutting it finer than I would like but we were running 75-80 (SL + 8 ) and had heavy head winds.

I trust it on both my Ténéré (f+30) and my Stratoliner (have run out at 22+) so it really works. You just have to decide how far you can go before you start walking!

 

[Calboy]

The other day it started flashing at about 150 miles on the odo, and it only took 3.6 gallons to fill up.
I don't know what to make of it in terms of reliability because it's always been off. There was a time when I suspected the gas tanks didn't hold 6.5 gallons!

 

[Don in Lodi]

The other day it started flashing at about 150 miles on the odo, and it only took 3.6 gallons to fill up.
I don't know what to make of it in terms of reliability because it's always been off. There was a time when I suspected the gas tanks didn't hold 6.5 gallons!

Spec sheet says 6.1 gallons, real world useable fuel is 5.8-5.9 gallons. Sometimes the count down will start flashing when on the side stand at start up at a lower mileage, then after riding a ways it will reset to one bar higher and stop flashing. I've gone well into reserve, 40 + miles, and put 5.7 gallons in. I put over 5 gallons in on a pretty regular basis; get to 200 miles, put gas in.
Calboy, you got almost 42mpg out of that fill up, you can reach 200 easily.

 

[EricV]

This must be a Gen II thing. On '12 Super Tens, the F gauge starts flashing when you go into reserve and counts up, as in the miles traveled while in reserve. It's useful if you know how many miles you can get in reserve before empty, and under what speeds and conditions. Good stuff for any rider to know.

Miles before empty is a cruel joke on any vehicle. Never, ever believe the computer, it lacks the ability of the human brain to recognize all the variables and make a reasoned decision based upon them.

About the reserve quantity. Most Super Tenere's have between 1.5 and 2 gallons of reserve. This amount is determined by only one thing, and it's not the computer. It's all about the float arm attached to the fuel pump. This float arm is just a float on a wire arm. It's real fun to tuck that into the fuel tank during assembly, or if you remove your fuel pump for other reasons and re-install it later, (which I've done a couple of times). In the process of doing this, it's not uncommon for the float arm to be bent a little. This impacts when the reserve light comes on and the F value starts counting. DTE is a fixed value based upon the perfect reserve amount and possibly altered by the variable of what your computer believes your average fuel economy has been.

When I first got my Super Ten, the reserve light would come on when I had 1.6 gallons left. I felt this was a excessively large margin of reserve. When I had the fuel pump out, I tweaked the float arm to give me a smaller reserve. Now I have a reserve of closer to 1 gallon. That gives me ~50 miles of reserve, depending on conditions and speeds.

I have gotten 62 miles on reserve before altering the float arm, and filled up with 5.8 gallons. I have had the bike stall at 163 miles during spirited riding at higher speeds in windy conditions too, which is the lowest miles per tank I've ever gotten. IIRC , I got 5.9 gallons in the tank that day, but I don't remember for sure. More normally, I see over 200 w/o issue or a little into reserve. (we have legal 80 mph speed limits here and 75 in neighboring states, which mostly means 80 mph speeds anyway.

Now, with the altered float arm, I give myself 40 miles in reserve before I start to get nervous. I have filled with 5.9 gallons and not had the bike stall out. (no idea how close I was, could have been feet or miles) I honestly don't know if the pump can get the last .1 or .2 gallons of fuel to the engine.

And yes, as others have noted, angle plays a part with the reserve light. Park the bike on the side stand and go eat lunch. Come back, it's on reserve, but a mile or so later it goes back to 1 bar and you're no longer in reserve because the float arm is now reading your fuel level while upright, not while leaned over.

 

[Calboy]

Some people fill the gas tank from the right and some from the left, as you sit on the bike.
I wonder if that can cause any problems because the gas goes into the tank with a lot of pressure and there's a possibility that over time it could actually bend the float arm.
When I had my BMW RT1100, three of them, there was a discussion about that.
What is the position of the float arm in the gas tank? Is it more to the right, more to the left , or just about in the middle?

 

[Calboy]

Spec sheet says 6.1 gallons, real world useable fuel is 5.8-5.9 gallons. Sometimes the count down will start flashing when on the side stand at start up at a lower mileage, then after riding a ways it will reset to one bar higher and stop flashing. I've gone well into reserve, 40 + miles, and put 5.7 gallons in. I put over 5 gallons in on a pretty regular basis; get to 200 miles, put gas in.
Calboy, you got almost 42mpg out of that fill up, you can reach 200 easily.

Don thanks for the reply. Talking about gas mileage, the computer is stuck on 38.8 mpg, no more, no less! I will carry a gallon of gas with me and see how many miles I can actually get on a full tank before running out.

 

[EricV]

Some people fill the gas tank from the right and some from the left, as you sit on the bike.
I wonder if that can cause any problems because the gas goes into the tank with a lot of pressure and there's a possibility that over time it could actually bend the float arm.
When I had my BMW RT1100, three of them, there was a discussion about that.
What is the position of the float arm in the gas tank? Is it more to the right, more to the left , or just about in the middle?

You can stop worrying about bending the float arm by putting gas in the tank. Not going to happen. It takes more pressure than that, AND it moves up and down, spraying gas, even at high pressure, is just going to move the float arm w/in it's normal range, not bend it. Zero Chance. I say this as someone that has physically bent the float arm for my desired results. Unlike 99% of the people you will talk to, I actually know how much force is required.

I don't recall the orientation of the float arm, the tank was upside down at the time, and it's been a while. That said, if you look inside the tank, you will see mostly the metal underside of the hump over the air filter. I don't believe you can spray gas directly on the float arm. I do know that on the side stand, it's dropping lower, mimicing lower fuel level, but it could easily be in the center with the design of our tanks.