Instant Fuel Gage

[Turk]

Instant fuel Gage is always on when I'm riding. Gage show btw 2.5 lt/100km to 12lt/100km on normal riding. Yesterday we went north for mounting road riding and I notice that Gage started to go btw low of 15lt/100km to 40 lt/100km. And on our first fuel stop I got almost 40% more fuel then my body who was riding a GS. (Before the ride we fueled it together)
any ideas why would that happen?

 

[KSH]

Was it running rich at the time?
There could have been a sensor in safe mode "rich"

 

[Turk]

I don't know ..can it be activated without knowing?

 

[KSH]

I'm no expert, my understanding on emissions is there are some sensors that monitor "+" "neutral" "-" as long as the sensor moves between at least two of the settings it will not trip a check engine light.

 

[Koinz]

Instant fuel Gage is always on when I'm riding. Gage show btw 2.5 lt/100km to 12lt/100km on normal riding. Yesterday we went north for mounting road riding and I notice that Gage started to go btw low of 15lt/100km to 40 lt/100km. And on our first fuel stop I got almost 40% more fuel then my body who was riding a GS. (Before the ride we fueled it together)
any ideas why would that happen?

Do you think altitude had anything to do with it ? Did the instant fuel gauge return to normal after your ride in the mountains?

 

[Kevhunts]

Turk,

Did your fuel economy change when your altitiude changed? You say "mountain riding"....how much had your elevation changed when you noticed the fuel change?
or
Are you indicating your fuel economy got worse riding off-road as compared to riding on pavement? I would think that should be expected.

Did you change "D-modes" from T to S while off-road? I would expect that to effect fuel economy too.

 

[rem]

40 l/100 km roughly translates to about 6 miles to the gallon. That's really poor. I didn't even think a bike could get that poor mileage. Something's gotta be wrong. Is there any chance you could have a leak somewhere? At that rate of consumption, that's about all I can think of. You can get some strange values in the instantaneous usage mode, especially if you're climbing and torquing but 40 is pretty outrageous. R

 

[Turk]

Well we were at around 1700m and not off rd. Elevation change was around 700 to 900 meters. It did come back to normal after we returned.
I don't know if it was the altitude or sensor fault..

 

[Koinz]

Hey Turk, Were you going to take the bike in for a check regarding this anomoly?

 

[Turk]

There are not trained technician at the dealer so I won't take it.

 

[KSH]

One other thought I had on this, If I get some water in my fuel on my DR650 it kills the fuel mileage. The bike runs fine just the mileage tanks..

The first time it happened to me I started to remove parts to clean my carb. When I pulled the tank I found the water.
Drained the tank and bowl and mileage went back to normal.

 

[Turk]

Re: Instant Fuel Gauge

One other thought I had on this, If I get some water in my fuel on my DR650 it kills the fuel mileage. The bike runs fine just the mileage tanks..

The first time it happened to me I started to remove parts to clean my carb. When I pulled the tank I found the water.
Drained the tank and bowl and mileage went back to normal.

it's happening again and it did start right after I filled up the thank. it might be the bad gas or water mixed in to it...as you said the engine runs fine but the mileage sucks..

 

[Korsair]

Somewhat related.... But my fuel gage reads empty when I have 2 more gallons left in the tank...
And sometimes it reads 3/4 of a tank after I filled it up .
Then while I'm riding the next morning, the gage will go up to full out of nowhere...like 15 miles into my commute.

 

[Sierra1]

1) Somewhat related.... But my fuel gage reads empty when I have 2 more gallons left in the tank...
2) And sometimes it reads 3/4 of a tank after I filled it up .
3) Then while I'm riding the next morning, the gage will go up to full out of nowhere...like 15 miles into my commute.

1) The gauge is notoriously pessimistic. Mine will start flashing the last block at 180-ish miles. I usually refill at 200-ish, and put 5 gallons in.
2) I have never seen that.
3) Mine does that all the time. Well show more miles in my range anyway. As the heat from the engine warms/expands the fuel, the computer "sees" more fuel.

I pay more attention to my odometer than the gauge. Even side stand v. center stand makes a huge difference in gauge reading. I usually lose my first block at 75mi. after fill up.

 

[Korsair]

1) The gauge is notoriously pessimistic. Mine will start flashing the last block at 180-ish miles. I usually refill at 200-ish, and put 5 gallons in.
2) I have never seen that.
3) Mine does that all the time. Well show more miles in my range anyway. As the heat from the engine warms/expands the fuel, the computer "sees" more fuel.

I pay more attention to my odometer than the gauge. Even side stand v. center stand makes a huge difference in gauge reading. I usually lose my first block at 75mi. after fill up.

Same here. I've only owned one other bike that had a fuel gage. I do the odometer thing.