GAS Reserve Inaccurate/ starts at 13 miles?

[Longhaulpaul]

Hello, as I have only 3,000 miles on the bike, I am quite the S-10 novice.
I have had a peculiar thing happen to me twice now, and I ran out of gas because of it once. Last Friday I drove home from work when the reserve started flashing, but only showing about 12-15 miles on the reserve odometer when I parked it.
I went for a ride Sunday and within 5 miles the bike started sputtering, and I noticed the reserve odometer showing 48 miles! I ran out of gas.
Now, I have some short term memory issues, so I was pissed but mostly at myself for not remembering I was so far into the reserve.
Fast-forward to last night. I parked the bike with the last quarter still showing and 160 miles since last fill up. Within three miles from my home this morning, I saw the flashing E and the Fuel ODO was already showing 13 miles. So it appears my reserve ODO does not always start at zero? I have ridden a few tanks while the system appeared to work normally, this seems to be happening when I park the bike.
There is no fuel leak, and no, I do not leave it running overnight!

Any Ideas, thoughts or is this common?

 

[klunsford]

It is possessed and rides itself at night, you are sleep riding or your wife is riding it when you aren't. I would take a notebook and right the mileage down when you get off at night and check it again the next morning. If the mileage is still changing on it's own, I would take it to the dealer to get checked out.

 

[terrysig]

10K on the clock. routinely ride it to empty getting 48 - 52 on reserve and behaves as expected.

note when i refill from 52 miles on reserve there is always reduced fill capacity i.e. gas still in the tank.

 

[MidlifeMotor]

Or you could stop running the tank so low.

Seriously, the only reading I think is right on the panel is the time of day. Everything else is "ish".

 

[Obrianmcc]

Or you could stop running the tank so low.

Seriously, the only reading I think is right on the panel is the time of day. Everything else is "ish".

.... ::026::

The reserve light means get your butt to a station and fill up..... not keep on riding?

 

[scott123007]

Do you have teenage kids living with you that have smiles on their faces in the morning?

 

[528Hz]

Have you tried zeroing out the F mileage so that next time it starts at 0?

 

[Longhaulpaul]

I said I was a novice, not an idiot!
I'll check on the teenager though.
I just find it odd the reserve odometer adds miles when the bike is parked while in reserve mode. I understand the fuel guage reading may be different on the side stand, but should recalibrate when riding. I'm only getting about 160 miles till reserve. I've gone 40 in reserve and still only took 5.5 gal. The best so far was 180 before blinky. It was still in the 30's here in the AM until yesterday, so I hope that may be some of the issue.
I'm only 150 lbs and don't usually wear sox.

I hope it gets better over time, and the 6 gal fuel cell from EAZcycle prolly will help a little as well.

 

[snakebitten]

Welcome to the board Longhaul!

I already like your sense of humor. You're needed around here.

Don't have any answers for you, but I do notice that if I park it on the sidestand when it's getting down to the last non-reserve bar, the next moring it will start off with the reserve light blinking immediately. If it was parked on the center-stand, (which is far more normal for me) then there is no false adjustment the next time I start it.

If I get that "false reserve", after it is back upright, it no longer thinks I'm on reserve. I always wondered if it reset back to 0 on it's own? Or did it keep calculating in the background. I keep forgetting to pay attention. But I'm curious if this is what's going on with yours? Your sidestand causing an early jump to the reserve clock starting to count miles. But then the bike being upright kicks you back to non-reserve clock, but reserve clock now getting an inaccurate head start for the next time you really do get low on fuel.

I think I just confused myself. Sorry if it doesn't make sense.

 

[Don in Lodi]

Welcome to the board Longhaul!

I already like your sense of humor. You're needed around here.

Don't have any answers for you, but I do notice that if I park it on the sidestand when it's getting down to the last non-reserve bar, the next moring it will start off with the reserve light blinking immediately. If it was parked on the center-stand, (which is far more normal for me) then there is no false adjustment the next time I start it.

If I get that "false reserve", after it is back upright, it no longer thinks I'm on reserve. I always wondered if it reset back to 0 on it's own? Or did it keep calculating in the background. I keep forgetting to pay attention. But I'm curious if this is what's going on with yours? Your sidestand causing an early jump to the reserve clock starting to count miles. But then the bike being upright kicks you back to non-reserve clock, but reserve clock now getting an inaccurate head start for the next time you really do get low on fuel.

I think I just confused myself. Sorry if it doesn't make sense.

That actually made sense ::025:: I too have seen those false side stand readings. Unless it resets to zero while in the background... does it take 15 miles to reset normally? Never watched it. Don't turn the key on till you're sitting on it? I usually take the hint though. I try not to park it empty. Screws with the morning lift off.

 

[EricV]

<cough> You do realize it counts the miles up, not down, right? It shows the miles you have ridden while in reserve, not the miles that you can ride before running out of gas.

Because of this, if you park on the side stand when in reserve, it will often come back out of reserve due to the float angle. At some point after you start out again, it realizes that you're in reserve, and goes back to the flashing reserve indicator and the, wait for it, already in progress, reserve counting up mileage. Which has, Doh!, increased since you last saw it, since your odo has also increased, since you have actually traveled more miles...

Make sense?

Every bike is slightly to majorly different in how much reserve is present, gallon wise. (liter wise for the metric boys and girls) Typically it's around 1.5 gallons, but some bikes have much less. I have a tad over a gallon when I hit reserve, and can't quite get that last .2 gallons w/o the bike stalling, though it will often re-start if level. I put in 5.8 gallons the other day and it stalled out coming down the off ramp. I pulled the clutch in and re-started and gently nursed it to the pumps on level ground. Momentum is your friend on these events.

Frankly, I knew I was cutting it close well before the stalling. I think I had 45 miles on reserve.

Many, many times I have seen other Yamaha FJRs do the following: Gas gauge reads 2 bars. Park the bike. Come back from lunch, key on, F*** me! Reserve is flashing! Ride a couple of miles, gas gauge is back to 2 bars. The Super Ten seems to be almost the opposite sometimes, in that you park it and it reads more gas than when you left it, then reverts to reserve flashing a couple of miles later.

One of my riding friends used to regularly freak out because he was on reserve when I was not. We would fill up and take the same amount of fuel. Turned out he had a 2.4 gallon reserve due to his float arm being tweaked during assembly. We pulled his fuel pump and tweaked the float arm a bit and he went to 1.5 gallon reserve and was a bit calmer after that.

When I drilled my tank for the bulkhead fitting to add a fuel cell, I deliberately tweaked the float arm a tad to give me a lower reserve since mine was greater than I wanted. Now it's about a real gallon of useable fuel before it stumbles. That means ~40 miles, depending on speed and conditions, For Me. But I also have 11 gallons of fuel on board if I fill both tanks.

 

[bruised]

if i fill within 5 miles of reserve flashing or about 175 miles i can usually only get 4.1 -to 4.3 gallons in

 

[EricV]

if i fill within 5 miles of reserve flashing or about 175 miles i can usually only get 4.1 -to 4.3 gallons in

Which means you have approx. 1.5 gallons of reserve fuel. Sooo, if you're averaging 42 mpg, you have about 60 miles once the reserve light starts flashing before you run dry. Best to not milk it too much past 50 miles...

 

[Longhaulpaul]

I'll be watching it more carefully.
I do know the second time I was not in reserve when I parked it or when I started it up the next morning. After just two miles, it was saying I had travelled 13 miles on reserve.

@Midlifemotor- Unfortunately my clock is off by an hour as well.

I think I have found a solution.
1) I will get gas every time the odometer has two zeros at the end.
2) I will use the clock as the ambient temp gauge
3) I will use the reserve fuel first
4) I will switch to liters to increase my range
5) I will use the temp gauge numbers to play Keno

Anyone find a good spot to hide away a V1?

PP

 

[Longhaulpaul]

I don't think it has to do with being on the sidestand. I just rode 45 miles with the stand down, and it never went to false reserve, there were substantial sparks though!



Does anyone else notice Getting less mileage per tank when You pay with cash?

"Ten bucks on pump 5 please"

 

[MidlifeMotor]

I'll be watching it more carefully.
I do know the second time I was not in reserve when I parked it or when I started it up the next morning. After just two miles, it was saying I had travelled 13 miles on reserve.

@Midlifemotor- Unfortunately my clock is off by an hour as well.

I think I have found a solution.
1) I will get gas every time the odometer has two zeros at the end.
2) I will use the clock as the ambient temp gauge
3) I will use the reserve fuel first
4) I will switch to liters to increase my range
5) I will use the temp gauge numbers to play Keno

Anyone find a good spot to hide away a V1?

PP

See, now you are learning the S10!! ::021::

 

[snakebitten]

if i fill within 5 miles of reserve flashing or about 175 miles i can usually only get 4.1 -to 4.3 gallons in

Whoever assembled your bike assembled mine too. Almost exactly the same behavior. Reserve around 170-175 miles. Holds 4.3 gallons. (without fighting that evil filler barrier)

 

[neilbarnwell]

Here's something from the owner's manual:

"To reset a tripmeter, select it by pushing the left button, and then push this button for at least one second while the display is flashing"

This much we know, but read on...

"If you do not reset the fuel reserve tripmeter manually, it resets itself automatically and the display returns to the prior mode after refuelling and travelling 5km (3mi)."

So if it's picking up a magical new bit of fuel after being on the sidestand (not uncommon for motorbikes to do things like that) then you probably won't realise three miles later that it resets itself and you've "lost" a few miles.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Welcome aboard and great post. I'd have to dig to find my owners manual in the file cabinet and don't remember reading that.
Thanks!

Here's something from the owner's manual:

"To reset a tripmeter, select it by pushing the left button, and then push this button for at least one second while the display is flashing"

This much we know, but read on...

"If you do not reset the fuel reserve tripmeter manually, it resets itself automatically and the display returns to the prior mode after refuelling and travelling 5km (3mi)."

So if it's picking up a magical new bit of fuel after being on the sidestand (not uncommon for motorbikes to do things like that) then you probably won't realise three miles later that it resets itself and you've "lost" a few miles.

 

[TheHelios]

I'll be watching it more carefully.
I do know the second time I was not in reserve when I parked it or when I started it up the next morning. After just two miles, it was saying I had travelled 13 miles on reserve.

@Midlifemotor- Unfortunately my clock is off by an hour as well.

I think I have found a solution.
1) I will get gas every time the odometer has two zeros at the end.
2) I will use the clock as the ambient temp gauge
3) I will use the reserve fuel first
4) I will switch to liters to increase my range
5) I will use the temp gauge numbers to play Keno

Anyone find a good spot to hide away a V1?

PP

Omfg, this is gold. I want to print this out and get it framed.

Whoever assembled your bike assembled mine too. Almost exactly the same behavior. Reserve around 170-175 miles. Holds 4.3 gallons. (without fighting that evil filler barrier)

Y'all are lucky. Mine starts showing reserve at 140-150 miles. I then proceed for 40 more miles, or until I feel like going to a gas station, and fill up ~5.2 gallons. Stupid bike, I love you.