R1150 GS adventure true useable fuel tank volume

ajcarr44@aol.co.uk · Oct 4, 2021

Hi guys, I am travelling home from Spain today back to the UK and we are wondering how many litres of useable fuel are in the tank? Every time we have filled up we are hitting around 25 litres with the fuel light showing and no bars, many thanks, Ashley

alanbmwgs · Oct 4, 2021

I think you should have 20 litres of useable fuel, on my 1150 Gs , touring 2up I got between 180 and 200 miles before the warning light came on. Hope this helps. Safe journey. :beerjug:

Davey B · Oct 4, 2021

It looks like you've answered your own question with the 'Every time we have filled up we are hitting around 25 litres with the fuel light showing and no bars'. Surely all you need to do is look at how many miles you've been getting for your 25 litres and ensure you refuel within that mileage window? If its 250 miles, look for fuel at 220 and avoid the stress of watching that last bar disappear ?

Mad Hatter · Oct 4, 2021

Davey B said:
It looks like you've answered your own question with the 'Every time we have filled up we are hitting around 25 litres with the fuel light showing and no bars'. Surely all you need to do is look at how many miles you've been getting for your 25 litres and ensure you refuel within that mileage window? If its 250 miles, look for fuel at 220 and avoid the stress of watching that last bar disappear ?

I have the same experience on my GSA, light on and no bars left at 250 miles and when I fill up it only takes 25 litres. I reckon there will be another 4 or 5 usable litres left in the tank and if necessary I reckon on being able to stretch it to 300 miles before running out

Packer · Oct 4, 2021

The 1150 GSA has a link pipe between the tank lobes so you should be able to use almost all the fuel. Mad Hatters post looks right to me.

Don't run it too low in the UK due to some serrvice stations having no fuel because of insufficient number tanker drivers.

Steptoe · Oct 4, 2021

Packer said:
The 1150 GSA has a link pipe between the tank lobes so you should be able to use almost all the fuel. Mad Hatters post looks right to me.

.

Not quiet true. Even with the link pipe, if you do run out by tipping the bike over onto the right hand cylinder (and i do mean tipping it over onto the R/H side, not just leaning it over), you'll get another 10 miles...

Also how much fuel you can get in depends on if you've done the filler modification of drilling a small hole in the internal section, which allows nearly another 2 litres of fuel into the expansion area at the top of the tank. But remember if you have that you only brim it and ride off staright away, don't park up or garage the bike because you'll get fuel pissing out of the overflow after 10 minutes as it warms up and expands.
I get 250-270 before my fuel light comes on, depending on how you ride.

Most i've put in (i've the fuel filler mod) after getting caught out in france was just over 29 litres.

Blowzorn is the one to ask, he'll be able to tell you how much a tank takes down to the last cc. I remember him running out in Spain and having to tip his bike over for the extra 10 miles

And once in Morocco back in 2007 when all lorry drivers were on strike and the garages were running out of fuel (luckily mostly diesel) and a group of us had to toodle along to save fuel which involved a couple of "tip overs".

Paul Young · Oct 4, 2021

Steptoe said:
I get 250-270 before my fuel light comes on, depending on how you ride.

Most i've put in (i've the fuel filler mod) after getting caught out in france was just over 29 litres.

I’ve had the same 250-300 miles experience, but can also blow an entire tank in just 165 miles… It depends on how rev-happy you are. I ran out as I rolled into the forecourt and brimmed it with 33litres (filler modified years ago, as per Steptoe).

Steptoe · Oct 4, 2021

Paul Young said:
I’ve had the same 250-300 miles experience, but can also blow an entire tank in just 165 miles… . It depends on how rev-happy you are

Conversely, talking of 'revs', again in Morocco when riding my 1150 along with the C90's on the TITS ride i got 360 miles and still had four bars showing on the fuel guage. I've got the very high 6th gear and only filled up because i was getting fed up waiting for 8 C90's to fill up each time they went into a garage for petrol

Udders · Oct 4, 2021

What’s this fuel filler mod you speak of then? :nenau

That seems to have passed me by! :blast

AndyB_11 · Oct 4, 2021

As a wild guess I suspect it’ll be drilling a hole at the top of the filler tube to allow air out and fuel in.

Riceburner · Oct 4, 2021

Steptoe said:
Not quiet true. Even with the link pipe, if you do run out by tipping the bike over onto the right hand cylinder (and i do mean tipping it over onto the R/H side, not just leaning it over), you'll get another 10 miles...

Also how much fuel you can get in depends on if you've done the filler modification of drilling a small hole in the internal section, which allows nearly another 2 litres of fuel into the expansion area at the top of the tank. But remember if you have that you only brim it and ride off staright away, don't park up or garage the bike because you'll get fuel pissing out of the overflow after 10 minutes as it warms up and expands.
I get 250-270 before my fuel light comes on, depending on how you ride.

Most i've put in (i've the fuel filler mod) after getting caught out in france was just over 29 litres.

Blowzorn is the one to ask, he'll be able to tell you how much a tank takes down to the last cc. I remember him running out in Spain and having to tip his bike over for the extra 10 miles

And once in Morocco back in 2007 when all lorry drivers were on strike and the garages were running out of fuel (luckily mostly diesel) and a group of us had to toodle along to save fuel which involved a couple of "tip overs".

Just to second this: I've done the 'tip-over' once or twice on Rocksters, and also found that the 'filler-neck-mod' adds about a litre and a half to the tank (ish).

I've also recently found, now that 'regular' fuel is E10 (mostly), that the higher 98 octane fuels (Esso Supreme etc) give a sufficiently higher performance difference to offset the extra cost of the purchase. IE, I'm getting a similar (or better) cost per mile with the expensive fuel than the cheap fuel. (This is highly anecdotal, I haven't done huge mileages to compare).

Riceburner · Oct 4, 2021

AndyB_11 said:
As a wild guess I suspect it’ll be drilling a hole at the top of the filler tube to allow air out and fuel in.

yes - but you need 2 or 3 holes, around the neck to make it work well.

AndyB_11 · Oct 4, 2021

Riceburner said:
yes - but you need 2 or 3 holes, around the neck to make it work well.

I thought that’d be the answer, I’ve drilled a few petrol tanks to make it easier to brim them.

Udders · Oct 4, 2021

Is that drilling straight down where the other small hole is or horizontally?

NeilDD · Oct 4, 2021

Udders said:
Is that drilling straight down where the other small hole is or horizontally?

NO

It's usually 5 or 6mm diam holes drilled radially in the brass coloured part of the filler neck.
Come down to Sth Cambs Sat and I'll do it while you wait

Steptoe · Oct 4, 2021

AndyB_11 said:
I thought that’d be the answer, I’ve drilled a few petrol tanks to make it easier to brim them.

Don’t just drill it blind. The filler neck has the water drain pipe running around the neck inside the tank. Nick that and the water from the drain hole will drain straight into your tank……. Undo the 6 bolts holding the filler cap and neck in place, pull out the neck and rest it on the tank so you can see where to drill. You can’t remove it completely as there are pipes attached. Obviously stick a rag into the filler hole as you don’t want swarf getting into the tank or a spark from drilling igniting the petrol fumes… it’s taken me longer to type than to do the job.

Paul Young · Oct 4, 2021

2 mods I’ve done to the filler cap:
- the hole to allow fuel into the upper part of the tank
- spin the filler cap around 180° to make it easier to put the fuel nozzle in

(Please forgive the state of it, it’s a 22y/o bike…

)

Udders · Oct 4, 2021

Steptoe said:
Don’t just drill it blind. The filler neck has the water drain pipe running around the neck inside the tank. Nick that and the water from the drain hole will drain straight into your tank……. Undo the 6 bolts holding the filler cap and neck in place, pull out the neck and rest it on the tank so you can see where to drill. You can’t remove it completely as there are pipes attached. Obviously stick a rag into the filler hole as you don’t want swarf getting into the tank or a spark from drilling igniting the petrol fumes… it’s taken me longer to type than to do the job.

Ah, great tip there. Thanks. :thumb2

I’ll have a go at the weekend. The spinning it around makes sense too. :thumb2

Riceburner · Oct 5, 2021

Udders said:
Ah, great tip there. Thanks.
I’ll have a go at the weekend. The spinning it around makes sense too.

What Steptoe said.

Here's my attempts:

edit: weirdly - the only photo I seem to have is from a K1200R that I did the mod to.

Ian J Hartley · Oct 5, 2021

Riceburner said:
What Steptoe said.

Here's my attempts:

edit: weirdly - the only photo I seem to have is from a K1200R that I did the mod to.

Fecking hell, you only need one hole. You don’t need a colander…….

R1150 GS adventure true useable fuel tank volume

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