[V-Fred]

After replacement of the defective fuel cell module part, my fuel gage reading has changed. With the old unit my reserve was reached at 100-110 miles on the trip odometer. Now it is reached at approximately 70 miles on the odometer. It now hits reserve with approximately 2 gallons left in the tank (out of supposedly 3.7 gallons), where previously 1 gallon remained when reserve was reached.

The dealer has taken the unit out and reinspected. The float moves smoothly on the rod, but obviously the indicator on the rod that the sensor on the float reads is now sitting higher in the tank than previously. They are stumped.

Has anyone else had this occur after the recall? If so has anyone's dealer solved the problem? I prefer not to have the light on for 40 miles longer than necessary. The paranoia of running out of gas is bad enough with this bike without a overly pessimistic fuel gage.

Fred

 

[Jav]

I'm not sure what the problem is, but it may be helpful to tell you that my new '03 has always had the low fuel light come on at about 75 miles after fill-up. And I have not received a re-call letter. I don't know if I just haven't gotten it yet (bought the bike in November), or if my bike does not need the recall because it already has the other part.

 

[Michael333]

In general I think the gas gauge on the V-Rod sucks anyway. On the average I get 100-105 at the empty point. Recently I showed that I had burned a quarter of a tank with 8.5 mi on the odometer??? It fluctuates a lot. There have been other posts to that affect. As to whether it's coincidental the the flange swap..... it will be interesting to see as people have the change done.

 

[2ToneAnniversary]

I have a New 03 as well and just did my first fill-up. At 1/8 tank showing on gauge after driving, break-in, 131 miles I was only able to get 2.8 gallons in. I literaly topped it off up to the neck with the bike sitting level. I was very surprised to find that I still had approx 1 gallon left.

BTW -not sure if my bike has the recall MOD done.

 

[Michael333]

2Tone -- The tank capactiy is in fact 3.7 -- one gallon is held in reserve to cool the pump. You can run it dry, but you risk burning up the pump if you do it too much.

 

[morey000]

I've had the Fuel Flange recall done and it made no difference in my fuel guage reading.

I've taken mine down to a needle width below the E, and was only able to squeeze in 3.2 gallons.

Another had posted some time ago that he ran it dry, and was only able to top off 3.5 gallons.

My light goes on at just under a 1/4 tank. Does this mean the point where there is 1 gallon left?

So how can I ever use that last half gallon, if there's no way to know how much is there. Is there really a half gallon below E? With such a short range, I'd like to be able to use it all.

 

[V-Fred]

morey000: see posts above you on cooling the pump. Your gage works as it should, and mine used to. Fillups at 2.7 gallons when you are just into the reserve on the gage.

Fred

 

[Zeeman]

Just got my bike back from the recall last week and am having the same problem. As has been stated already...the guage measurement has always sucked. Probably not going to be fixed without a recall. I guess we're just going to have to get used to "mindreading" the guage and knowing what is "normal" fuel usage for our bike. The best way is to simply run in to E (w/o going dry) and then filling it up and doing the math. I do a lot of night riding so what annoys me the most is the damn low fuel light!

Zeeman

 

[dereck]

I know I can go at least another 15 miles once the needle hits E. I reset the trip meter with each fill up and start looking for a gas station around 110 miles.

Back fired on me once. I got caught is a super small town where none of the gas staions carried 91 octane. Had to put 0.5 gallon of 89 in to get me to the next town.

 

[Greg687]

Mine got messed up after the "fix". Fuel economy seems to be the same, so I am still just going to watch the miles instead of the guage.

 

[V-Fred]

Max:

There must be a simple solution to this. Max, put your very capable talents to this problem and see if you can come up with it.
I have faith in you.

Fred

 

[Max]

V-Fred it is already on my list of things to do. I want to take the tank unit and measure it's output in ohms and see if it is possible to add a resistor that will still allow the meter to read full and have it give a more reliable low fuel light and empty reading. I know I can bet the empty tank to read correct the trick will be having it still read full with the resistor in place. Gm has come back and done this for years to correct gage and meter problems that were discovered after release rather then replacing the units.

Max

 

[Daniii]

Remember folks, your gas mileage may go way down when its very cold. Mine only gets 30 mpg when its 40F, almost 40 when warm out.

 

[V-Fred]

Max: Glad to here you are already on this. You rock Max. The dealer told me that he will call HD tech today, but I doubt that they will admit to squat.
Fred

 

[Vinny]

Remember folks, your gas mileage may go way down when its very cold. Mine only gets 30 mpg when its 40F, almost 40 when warm out.

This is true

 

[2ToneAnniversary]

I think the big issue here is just knowing a certain points on the gauge, 1/2 - 1/4 - 1/8 - E, we have a reasonable idea of how much gas is actualy left in the tank. This helps you when your next gas station is "X" miles away and you have to figure in your head if you can make it safely or not!

 

[V-Fred]

I feel strongly that on a bike costing nearly $20,000, we should not have to suffer a gage that is grossly incorrect, in addition to a tank that has onlyl 3.7 gallons of fuel and a range of no more than 130 miles or so. Why should we have to stare at a damn low fuel light with half a tank of gas left???:soapbox:

 

[HawgDoc]

michael... v-fred.... and the rest,

the pump does NOT stay under a gallon of fuel for cooling purposes....

the pick up point of fuel is at the lowest point of the whole assembly... a filter 'sack' is first, attached directly to the bottom of the pump, then fuel travels out the top of the pump thru a flex hose to the pressure-side 'can' filter, then up thru a hose to the top 'flange'.

the suction filter (sack) is nearly at the very bottom of the fuel cell.

if i were a forum guru, i have a pic i could show you. There is one in another thread where they were discussing the (leak) location involved in the flange recall. (maybe someone can tell me how to insert pics or diagrams, as i have many actual disassembled component pics that could be useful.)

 

[Cali-V]

When I jumped on the bike this after noon, the fuel gauge needle was just above the red, I read this to be a 1/4 tank.

As I hit the freeway on-ramp I saw a friend on his Monster, I caught him and we began a very aggressive run. After about 3 min the fuel light came on, my plan was to stop for gas an exit or two down the freeway... I must admit sometimes a crisp twist of the throttle can back sit the best of well laid plans.
Anyways, we ran hard, and after about 18 miles my fuel gauge was very close to empty, and I noticed a slight diminished responsiveness with the right hand control. Not being able to call for a rolling service, I pulled up for gas. I really didn’t want to run out of gas and push the bike, so the "diminished responsiveness" may have been psychological.

At the 76 station I got 2.8 gals of their best.

I have a 03 with the upgraded fuel flange.

So here’s the deal the tank is very close to 3.7 gallons yielding at least 120 miles of pure pleasure or 32.43 mpg.
The main tank is around 2.725 gallons, measured at 0.68125 gallons per 1/4 main tank, and the fuel reserve is 0.975 gallons.

The “low fuel light” comes on just after the needle enters the red zone… 1/4 main tank = 0.68125 gallons in the main tank plus a reserve of 0.975 gallons, yielding a range of 22.09 miles from the main tank and no more than 31.62 miles from the reserve tank.

If the “low fuel light” comes on just after the needle enters the red zone and the system was configured without a reserve tank… 1/4 main tank = 0.925 gallons in the main tank plus a reserve of 0.00 gallons, yielding a range of 29.99 miles from the main tank and no miles from the reserve tank.

So;
Given best conditions, e.g. warm day @ 60-65mph, with the current calibration when the “low fuel light” comes on I’m going to have to fuel-up in about 50 miles or 45 minutes…
In town no problem… rural areas possible

Given best conditions, e.g. warm day @ 60-65mph, with a calibration which dose not include a reserve, when the “low fuel light” comes on I’m going to have to fuel-up in just under 30 miles or 33 minutes…
In town most likely no problem… rural areas probably problematic

Because of the limited range and opportunities for high rates of fuel consumption, fuel management on our bike should not be taken casually, but we all at times do… I think the current calibration has a built-in fun factor, which provides a beneficial margin of safety.

 

[fire201]

Well here goes sense I am new. MY 2002 guage @180 miles shows reserve after 7 miles on a fill up. Sometimes it works. The reserve light is very anoying. I am using trip meter now. No work has been performed on the bike. So far my son's 2003 has no problem @ over 1000 mi Thanks