Question on fuel light

Sunfire · Post by **Sunfire** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 3:58 pm

Yesterday I was browsing the manual and it says that when the AMBER fuel warning light goes on, there will be about 1.5 gal in the tank. Well, the warning light came on at 110 miles, but instead of being AMBER, it's GREEN and comes on, then goes off, etc.

Is this just a warning that the tank is low, and later it will come on AMBER when it does enter the reserve? I calculated and the bike is averaging 42mpg, which I'm happy with.

Thanks,

Rog(UK) - Yorkshire Dales · Sat Sep 15, 2007 4:28 pm

Hi Sunfire,

Whatever colour you get (and you only get one whether it be amber or green - mine's green) is only a rough guide that you have around thirty or forty miles left in the tank.

If you put the bike on its side-stand at the 120 mile mark, when you come back to it, it will (in error) show a low warning light which will then go off if you swish the fuel in the tank.

To me, the brightness of the warning light is such that I would not notice when it comes on, so I basically disregard it and fill up at the 140/150 mile mark.

Just regard the warning light as being a guide to how much fuel you have in the tank and RELIGIUOSLY zero your odometer every time you refuel.

Ride safely,

Rog

Sunfire · Post by **Sunfire** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 7:31 pm

Thanks for your reply. I tried my luck today and rode it until I reached 147 miles, then I couldn't take it anymore and stopped at a gas station. Well, my mpg dropped to 35.3mpg... I guess that is what happens when riding city streets like I was riding my Buell!

BTW, it took 4.16 gal to fill the tank up to the bottom ring. Now I know that I can go at least to 150 miles before filling "her" up.

Thanks for the help.

Paul

m@rco · Post by **m@rco** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 7:49 pm

Sunfire,

My Rockster has a GREEN light as well. The manual mentions AMBER... Please note that the light does not change to AMBER. I know for sure; I've run out of gas

In general, when driving in the city area, I notice that my bike is getting low on fuel because during acceleration, the bike will stutter. Time to get gas.

Anyways, should you ever run out of gas. Tilt the bike all the way to the right (do not to drop it), and some remaining fuel will flow to the fuel intake area. That should give you at least another 2 miles to go.

City driving is really bad for milage. My record low is around 32 mpg... Touring on curved roads at speeds below 60 mph gives you milage upto 44 mpg

Maitre · Post by **Maitre** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 9:39 pm

That light is a joke. Mine is on steadily for the past 2000 miles. Asked the dealer to fix it and they "forgot" to do it.

After all these minor glitches and the major fuel leak that recurs every year or so, I am ready for a Harley Softail Custom.

Moto

m@rco · Post by **m@rco** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 3:33 am

Maitre, sounds like you need a new dealership rather than a new bike

DocBlasto · Post by **DocBlasto** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 2:47 pm

Has anyone actually ran their Rockster til empty? Mine comes on green pretty reliably at 1.5 gallons. At 2 gallons, it'll be on while the bike is on the sidestand, but once you right the bike and rev the engine, it'll go away.

UNFORTUNATELY, that tiny little green LED has proven to be damn near invisible under normal riding conditions. I can't count the number of spooky moments I've had during superslab burns where I'll look down for the first time in 15 minutes, see the light, and wonder "How long has THAT been on?"

Now I know that if I gas up right after the light comes on, I'll only put 4 gallons in. This means that theoretically I should have between 50 and 70 miles left in Reserve, depending on how hard I've been flogging it.

I've had that light come on as early as 120 miles (during city riding) or as late as 165 (touring).

A 2-stage fuel light would be amazing... say, green at 1.5 gallons and amber at 0.5.

Or how about a damn fuel gauge? Seriously, my Kawasaki ZRX1200 had one, and so did the late-80's EX-500.

Post by **boxermania** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:24 am

When my R was new, without any mods I ran consistently 190 miles before the light, amber in my case, would come on and filled with about 4.1 to 4.2 gallons for ~ 46 mpg.

The manual indicates that when the light comes on you should have ~ 1.5 gallons reserve, what they don't tell you is that because of the tank design (the bottom of the tank is creased and rises towards the rear creating two cavities for the fuel, with the pump drawing from the right cavity) you can't access the whole amount. So in reality you do have about 20+ miles to get fuel, that is if the float is operating properly.

The one salvation is that if you do run out of fuel, just get off the bike and lean it as much as possible to the right, without dropping the bike, to transfer some fuel from the left side to the right side of the tank and you can get a few miles running.......

There have been reported instances where the reserve light has come on prematurely due to improper adjustment, however if the light comes on and you fill with 4+ gallons it is just about right......if you are getting poor mileage look at engine tune.