Gas reserve "amber" light; does the intensity increase as you deplete the reserve?

[Speedfrog]

About 20.7 liters(~5.5 us gal.) with 5 liters(~1.3 us gal.) reserve according to the manual.

[PJPR01]

3 hours ago, p6x said:

I really hope I will never have to verify it “hand’s on”. 

This is why I am recording all my rides and refuels.

Knowledge before I venture inside Big Bend NP. Running out of fuel inside and needing to ask a bear to help me push.

P6X...it may be prudent to take a 1 or 2 liter fuel bottle with you when you do venture to Big Bend, just in case as a bit of extra reserve in case you find yourself in a pickle or the gas station in Marathon is out of gas!    

They also do make some relatively small Rotopax items that you could consider on this longer more remote section of the Grand Tour...would provide some comfort and extend the range a bit...you could even deliberately run out of gas just to see how far you really can go, knowing you have some reserve on the bike with you.

I use these 4-5 gallon ones for fuel and water on my Rover adventures for back country exploration.

https://rotopax.com/

They even have a section for "blemished items" at 50% off prices...well worth it!

https://rotopax.com/1-gallon-gasoline-blemished.html

 

[docc]

24 minutes ago, Speedfrog said:

About 20.7 liters(~5.5 us gal.) with 5 liters(~1.3 us gal.) reserve according to the manual.

So, 20.7 liter/ 5.5 US gallons total? Slightly less than the earlier tank, then. I suppose the increased length is rather narrow and does not make up for capacity lost to the internal pump/filter.

[p6x]

2 hours ago, Speedfrog said:

About 20.7 liters(~5.5 us gal.) with 5 liters(~1.3 us gal.) reserve according to the manual.

That’s what the downloaded operator manual says for me too. It also seems to tally with my amber light showings.

[docc]

2 hours ago, p6x said:

That’s what the downloaded operator manual says for me too. It also seems to tally with my amber light showings.

Are we saying 5.5 stated US gallon  total for the later tank compared to 5.8 stated US gallon for the early tank?

[Lucky Phil]

I'm quite amused by all this forensic interpretation of long or short internal or external fuel tank capacities verses an ITALIAN owners manual specification. That of course together with the almost universal degree of tank swelling these tanks suffer on Ethanol fuels and whatever happens dimensionally to a 20 year old nylon fuel tank as it ages. 

The only way to really know what the "useable fuel" is for a particular bike is to set the bike on a stand upright and drain the fuel out via the fuel tap until it stops running then close it off and add the measured quantity to bring it up to the full level (whatever that is as everyone has a different assessment of what "full" actually is at the petrol pump)

Ciao

[docc]

12 minutes ago, Lucky Phil said:

I'm quite amused by all this forensic interpretation of long or short internal or external fuel tank capacities verses an ITALIAN owners manual specification. That of course together with the almost universal degree of tank swelling these tanks suffer on Ethanol fuels and whatever happens dimensionally to a 20 year old nylon fuel tank as it ages. 

The only way to really know what the "useable fuel" is for a particular bike is to set the bike on a stand upright and drain the fuel out via the fuel tap until it stops running then close it off and add the measured quantity to bring it up to the full level (whatever that is as everyone has a different assessment of what "full" actually is at the petrol pump)

Ciao

Agreed. Avert the eyes of the squeamish and hide the women and children . . .

[ @czakky knew I was waiting for this moment to pounce . . . ]

[footgoose]

Early tank off bike and sealed up, but no lid. I poured 22.4 liter of water as accurately as I could measure, up to the bottom of the nylon collar, not touching it. Given the inevitable swelling, this supports the 5.8 gal capacity.

[docc]

9 minutes ago, footgoose said:

Early tank off bike and sealed up, but no lid. I poured 22.4 liter of water as accurately as I could measure, up to the bottom of the nylon collar, not touching it. Given the inevitable swelling, this supports the 5.8 gal capacity.

Yes, indeed the early "chin pad" tank will "hold" 5.8 US gallons. It just will not deliver it all through the left side fuel tap having trapped about 3/4 US gallon in the right side tank "saddle."

 More than once to my chagrin.

[p6x]

On 5/24/2022 at 11:33 AM, Kiwi_Roy said:

I changed all the lamps in mine to LED type, they are much easier to see in bright sunlight. The LEDs should outlast the bike so I glued them in place and soldered the wires direct to the lamp, no lamp holder to give trouble. For the low fuel light I kept one of the incandescent lamps in parallel, this biases the thermistor in the low fuel sensor.

As for the trapped fuel on the RH side, I took the pressure relief/return fitting out of the tank and modified it with an internal pipe bent at the top end. The returning fuel is now shot over the hump to the LH side, it still traps fuel on the Right but if you lean the bike right over to the left it has a better chance of staying where the pump can get at it.

(I know longer own this bike so don't ask for a picture)

How easy/difficult is it to get to those four lamps in the dashboard?

If you do not leave an incandescent lamp for the low fuel light, do you need to install a resistor to keep the system working as intended? besides, there is some water trapped behind the orange reflector. I need to get to it, drain and seal.

[docc]

18 minutes ago, p6x said:

How easy/difficult is it to get to those four lamps in the dashboard?

If you do not leave an incandescent lamp for the low fuel light, do you need to install a resistor to keep the system working as intended? besides, there is some water trapped behind the orange reflector. I need to get to it, drain and seal.

The "lens" that provides the color and icon above the bulb(s) is easy to access as those three hex fasteners on the mounting bezel between the instruments.

The incandescent bulbs, themselves, can be extracted from their socket with a suitable gripping tool ("hemostat") without having to access and remove the sockets. These little incandescent bulbs will zinc plate the inside of the glass globe over time and get dark. They will brighten with fresh replacements even if the bulb is not blown out.

Others will have to answer the LED replacement questions.

[po18guy]

T5 LEDs are plug-n-play. The caveat is that many of them are really low-end products. But, the OEM bulbs may have welded themselves into the now hard=-as-granite rubber sockets. Heat was the enemy and bikes originally equipped with LEDs will not have this problem in the future.

[Kiwi_Roy]

You can actually get access to a significant portion of the fuel on the Right hand side of the tank.

The fuel is delivered to the pump from the left hand side of the tank but it returns it to the Right Hand side.

I took the return fitting out and extended it up with a 45 at the top side so it would throw the fuel over to the Left Hand side. In theory if the tank is low and you tilt it over to the Left it should take a while to migrate back to the Right.

[docc]

26 minutes ago, Kiwi_Roy said:

You can actually get access to a significant portion of the fuel on the Right hand side of the tank.

The fuel is delivered to the pump from the left hand side of the tank but it returns it to the Right Hand side.

I took the return fitting out and extended it up with a 45 at the top side so it would throw the fuel over to the Left Hand side. In theory if the tank is low and you tilt it over to the Left it should take a while to migrate back to the Right.

I recall your re-plumbing this fuel trap. IIRC, you did this internally inside the tank?

[ScottMc]

I just got back from filling it up for the first time really looking at the numbers and got 41.5 mpg.  Which from reading what you are saying seems about average.  Good to know.