Range misbehaving?

Wegby

Wegby

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Hi

Something odd happened with the range display on my way home from work on Friday....

With 50-odd miles indicated on the Range display setting, the fuel light came on early (usually waits until there are less than 40 miles in the tank), then in the space of about 3 miles, the indicated range dropped from about 50 to 20. :eek:

I then filled up with about 25 litres (suggesting I still had about 50 miles left, but since then, I've noticed that the indicated range seems much more fickle this week, as when I'm doing motorway speeds under throttle, then coasting when there's more traffic about, the indicated range left appears to recalculate much more than it was previously doing, where it will drop by 4-5 miles in one mile doing 70(ish) under throttle, but then gives that back when things start to slow down a bit.

It looks like the overall tank range seems roughly consistent with what I've been getting over the last 3 years / 90,000 miles, but seems bizarre that It's starting to calculate the remaining range on a much more frequent basis.

Anyone got any ideas why this might be? Is the fuel sensor about to die and in need of replacement?

I'm not particularly worried about this, but would be interested to learn if anyone else has encountered something similar, and whether they bothered to fix it.

Ta. Guy
 
Do a search there are loads of threads surpassed only by oil and tyres :thumb
 
Mine does it all the time once the fuel light goes on, I just thought it was like that to give you more incentive to get fuel :D

very worrying though watching your range disappear especially if your away.

I had my fuel strip replaced a few years ago that didn't change it, If there is a fix for this I'd like to know it.
 
It's a 2012 GSA (I knew I'd forgotten to mention something...).

Had a quick chat with Brian from BGM last night; the fuel strip is a possibility and he'll take a look next time it's in for a service (in about 3k). A reset sounds a good idea too (Thanks JJH).

Filled up this morning having done 245-ish miles from a full tank; range was registering about 45 and the fuel light hadn't come on.

Range is still wandering as it has done so far this week, but the range should be close to the fuel light coming on by Friday, so anticipate a Saturday am jaunt with a (full) fuel can in the top-box to see whether there are any scavenging issues.

Cheers all - Guy
 
Wegby said:
It's a 2012 GSA (I knew I'd forgotten to mention something...).

Had a quick chat with Brian from BGM last night; the fuel strip is a possibility and he'll take a look next time it's in for a service (in about 3k). A reset sounds a good idea too (Thanks JJH).

Filled up this morning having done 245-ish miles from a full tank; range was registering about 45 and the fuel light hadn't come on.

Range is still wandering as it has done so far this week, but the range should be close to the fuel light coming on by Friday, so anticipate a Saturday am jaunt with a (full) fuel can in the top-box to see whether there are any scavenging issues.

Cheers all - Guy
Click to expand...

You also failed to mention here how many litres you put in for said 45 miles range remaining, that will give you an idea of how much range you really had left.
If you only put in say 25 litres you possibly still had 70-90 still in the tank, if you put in say 29 litres the range is near correct.
 
I will be following this as my 08 gsa doing the exact same thing.
 
The Later Mk1 (up to 08), Mk2 (08 and 09) and some early Mk3s had the hideous fuel strip. If you have that, you can spend hours reading endless threads on what to do about it. The best fix is an adaptor box and level gauge float. Later bikes (and early Mk1s) had a float so any problems could be wear in the float potentiometer tracks or dirty contacts.
 
Thanks again, all.

Mine's a late 2012 model (62 plate that's done about 111k; I've done 94k on it since May 2015 :D), so I expect it's got the float, rather than strip, so will get Brian to check the connectivity, etc., as well as the fuel pump / return mechanism, as over the weekend it ran out of fuel having done 262 miles from full (I intentionally ran it down and had a fuel can in the back that was almost full). On filling up, I 'only' got 32 litres into the tank and can, so it seems as though something isn't as it should be.
 
Whilst I haven't got a GSA, I can't say I ever rely on these readouts; surely they are a guide only. I just use the trip reading & look for a fill up at 180-200 on my F650GS, Super10 & FJR. The estimates they provide on both our cars a similarly works of fantasy.

Given the shape of the GSA fuel cell, I can well understand the fuel light being a tad eccentric. Shame we left the old reserve tap behind; too last century.
 
Wegby said:
Thanks again, all.

Mine's a late 2012 model (62 plate that's done about 111k; I've done 94k on it since May 2015 :D), so I expect it's got the float, rather than strip, so will get Brian to check the connectivity, etc., as well as the fuel pump / return mechanism, as over the weekend it ran out of fuel having done 262 miles from full (I intentionally ran it down and had a fuel can in the back that was almost full). On filling up, I 'only' got 32 litres into the tank and can, so it seems as though something isn't as it should be.
Click to expand...

262 miles on a full tank isnt right unless you rag it every where :D Did you fill it on the side stand?

If im ever going away i fill mine on centre stand and carefully brim it to the cap then zero the trip.

I've had 350 out of a tank on a few occasions although i start thinking about looking for fuel around 300 ish.
 
I can get anything between 280 and 460 miles to a tankful depending upon what kind of riding and roads I'm on. This makes the trip meter a little useless though I do reset it every time I fill up. My current fuel strip has been working fine for 18 months now. This is the 7th I've had in the 10 and a half years I've owned my 06 GSA. 265 miles does seem a little low for a GSA.
 
If the fuel pressure is low due to a worn pump ( It should be 4 bar on a 2012 bike) the MPG will read low on the dash, although it will be normal when calculated and the transfer pump on a GSA will not work.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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