[LarryinSeattle]

I am a guy who drives on the top half of my gas tank in my truck. It doesn't cost any more to do so.

However, my Goldwing gas gauge is not honest. I only have 6.2 gallons of fuel to use. When my gauge is on the red.... on the bottom side of red..... I still have a gallon of fuel to use. Why do I have to guess how much of the last 20% of the fuel that I have left.

Or am I missing something? I am not good at letting things run out of gas. How far beyond the red does the gauge go? I see when it is full....it is over the red some. Is that the same on the empty side?

Help me. This produces anxiety that I feel is unnecessary.

 

[detdrbuzzard]

my 1500 wing has the same problem with the fuel guage but i worry more when the fuel light comes on cause big bikes like ours don't go far on a gallon ofgas

 

[LarryinSeattle]

my 1500 wing has the same problem with the fuel guage but i worry more when the fuel light comes on cause big bikes like ours don't go far on a gallon ofgas

My Interstate does not have a fuel light. I am flying blind. I carried a quart fuel bottle when on this trip. At one fuel stop.... I put on 5.75 gallons of gas.... so I still had .5 gallon. 17 miles at best. The quart would have added another 7 miles or so. Better than pushing it.

 

[detdrbuzzard]

you might have to do something as simple as clean the connector on the tank to actually removing the sending unit and readjusting the float

 

[LarryinSeattle]

you might have to do something as simple as clean the connector on the tank to actually removing the sending unit and readjusting the float

I was ready to try tying a nut on a string and leave it hanging in the tank top.

 

[Two Wheel Wing]

I think mine hits E when there is about 1.5 gallons left. Have not had the low fuel light come on yet...

 

[GWTrike]

I am a guy who drives on the top half of my gas tank in my truck. It doesn't cost any more to do so.

However, my Goldwing gas gauge is not honest. I only have 6.2 gallons of fuel to use. When my gauge is on the red.... on the bottom side of red..... I still have a gallon of fuel to use. Why do I have to guess how much of the last 20% of the fuel that I have left.

Or am I missing something? I am not good at letting things run out of gas. How far beyond the red does the gauge go? I see when it is full....it is over the red some. Is that the same on the empty side?

Help me. This produces anxiety that I feel is unnecessary.

I haven't met a motorcycle gas gauge that is honest. My GL1500 goes down to half before 100mi, but I typically get 200+ off a tank. My Harley, otoh, stays up at 3/4 or more up to 100miles after which it drops like a rock since I only get 180-200mi on a tank. My Ford F150 stays up near full for the first 100mi and then drops like a rock since I only get 300mi to the tank.

I have heard it said - a motorcycle gas gauge can be accurate on a full tank or a low tank, but not both.

 

[fossil92]

Said this before;

I put a 1 gallon container in my 1500. Rode, rode some more, kept riding, light came on (I know you don't have one Larry so eliminate this step), rode further, & finally after I got tired of looking at the light, I fueled up. That was right around 225 miles. Took out the 1 gallon container. Stopped looking at the fuel guage & drove by mileage. Usually 210 miles -2 up.

Case closed. Drive by your mileage & leave your anxiety behind.

 

[detdrbuzzard]

when the gauge on my 1500 is on " e " there is about two gallons in the tank. i've only seen the low fuel light on once and i don't ever want to see it on again while i'm riding. if you think a 1500 wing is bad then you haven't been on a 1200 aspencade with the digital guages . the fuel guage shows in bars, the more bars the more fuel, so how many gallons are in the tank when two bars are showing, i don't know

 

[LarryinSeattle]

Said this before;

I put a 1 gallon container in my 1500. Rode, rode some more, kept riding, light came on (I know you don't have one Larry so eliminate this step), rode further, & finally after I got tired of looking at the light, I fueled up. That was right around 225 miles. Took out the 1 gallon container. Stopped looking at the fuel guage & drove by mileage. Usually 210 miles -2 up.

Case closed. Drive by your mileage & leave your anxiety behind.

Good suggestion, except my mileage goes up and down according to the temperature outside and how fast I make the thing go. I get 40 - 42 in the summer, riding reasonably, but when in the cold.... like we had on our trip and 80 mph speed limits.... I got 29 to 31.

Does the gas gauge go as far on the empty side as it goes on the full side? If so, I am good with that. I just don't have the fuel light.

I always park my bike with a full tank to keep condensation down. Even if I go on a 50 mile ride, in the winter, I stop and top off the tank.

I might fill two of those quart fuel containers and carry them and see how far that gauge goes down before my next big trip.

I mentioned this as this was the only source of anxiety that I had on the entire trip. The towns get spread apart down in that part of the country and it would have been nice to know for sure what was there.

The bike just performed flawlessly and was always ready to go when I was.

 

[joe in calif]

You have a 6.2 gallon tank, when the gauge hits the red mark pull into a station and fill it up, You will know how much gas is left and figure about 40 MPG and you will know how far you can go. No more guessing. You should fill it up at different spots on your gauge so you know at all time how much fuel you have left at any point on your gauge.

 

[LarryinSeattle]

You have a 6.2 gallon tank, when the gauge hits the red mark pull into a station and fill it up, You will know how much gas is left and figure about 40 MPG and you will know how far you can go. No more guessing. You should fill it up at different spots on your gauge so you know at all time how much fuel you have left at any point on your gauge.

Another excellent suggestion.

I guess I could say that after putting 17,000 miles on a 17 year old motorcycle and the only thing I can find to complain about is the gas gauge is inaccurate...... means that it deserves more praise than anything else.

 

[Ron Robertson]

Sounds like your fuel gauge is like every 1500 gauge I've ever seen. I ride the wing like the car/pick-up, on the top half and by my Butt. I need a brake every couple of hours anyway so if I got to stop for a Butt brake why not get fuel also. If I'm ride in an area I'm not familiar with I start looking for fuel at half tank for sure. Part of me enjoying the ride is to eliminate the worry so I try to fill up before I have to worry.

 

[budoka]

All excellent suggestions for you Larry. I can't even remember what the range or mileage was on my 1500 in any conditions or load factors. I do know when I had it triked the mileage went waaaaay south, like 30 % down. When travelling on long rides or trips, I start looking for filling stations near the halfway mark and I watch the road signs and GPS for distance to's.
And if you think your guage plays tricks on you, fly an airplane. Most of us bug-smasher pilots carry a dip stick, that's how accurate our guages are

 

[detdrbuzzard]

if the guage on my 1500 is at the half a tank mark then it will take about two gallons to fill it up

 

[trourke]

I always reset my tripodometer and when I get around 200 miles I know to start looking for fuel.

 

[LarryinSeattle]

I always reset my tripodometer and when I get around 200 miles I know to start looking for fuel.

The problem with that is out west, it can be 75 miles to the next station.

I am used to having a gas station at every exit along the freeways here in the Northwest.

On a recent trip to the southwest, we were heading west from El Paso on highway 9 in New Mexico. Columbus, Nm didn't have a gas station, but we were under the impression that Rodeo, NM would. We passed a gas station at Animious, NM and I signaled to Steve to go back for gas. We gassed up at 4.00 a gallon and I took 5.25. When we got to Rodeo, NM, there was no station, but a very nice cafe. The next station was 50 miles away....... the one we almost passed up.

My gps has 2009 data on it. Punch in gas and it shows a station 20 miles up the road. You get there and there are boards on the windows.

In those situations, it would have been nice to know exactly how much fuel was in the tank. The gas gauge shows nothing.... you know it could be a 1.5 gallons or nothing.

The quart of fuel in my fuel container gave me some relief from the stress....... but it didn't eliminate the worry.

 

[EFINREF]

Said this before;

I put a 1 gallon container in my 1500. Rode, rode some more, kept riding, light came on (I know you don't have one Larry so eliminate this step), rode further, & finally after I got tired of looking at the light, I fueled up. That was right around 225 miles. Took out the 1 gallon container. Stopped looking at the fuel guage & drove by mileage. Usually 210 miles -2 up.

Case closed. Drive by your mileage & leave your anxiety behind.

Its a pretty neat safety measure....Kinda like when I put my alarm clock 10 minutes ahead

 

[fossil92]

The problem with that is out west, it can be 75 miles to the next station.

I am used to having a gas station at every exit along the freeways here in the Northwest.

Larry no disrespect here but You are dwelling on this too much in this Ole Fossil's opinion. As you, out here in Pa. we have 2-3 gas stations every couple miles.

My little lady & I rode through the S.W. last year as you did this year. There were many roads where we rode 70-100 miles without seeing anyone. You shouldn't have the anxiety at all. Drive by your mileage. Even if you are getting 29-31 mpg you are still going to cover aprox 150 miles.

Simple thing that we did was when we saw a fuel station & had covered at least 75-100 miles we fueled up. We lost very little time because we wouldn't even get off the bike. Doing that if the fuel stations are 150 miles apart you will still be covered.

As I said no disrespect meant just trying to put things in perspective. We had no issues and covered over 9,000+ miles.

Forget about the gauge, ride by mileage & go back to enjoying the ride.

 

[fossil92]

Kinda like when I put my alarm clock 10 minutes ahead

HA Ref you & I have something else in common, although all my clocks are 20 minutes ahead.