Bast*rd Fuel gauge let me down again !!

[technotony007]

Gents ,
today i had the embarrasing epic again of my fuel gauge reading half full and then the bike cut out on me , in the middle of nowhere . i had to call green flag to rescue me. The annoying thing is , that last year i set off early morning to dundee , from south shields with 3/4 of a tank. 20 miles outside dundee on the most baron stretch if the A90 she died. luckily i had bmw rescue cover and the bike was picked and taken to the dealers , then the driver was a descent chap and dropped me off at where is was supposed to be.
Imagine the embarrassment of 20 years odd of biking , and then dealer told me the issue was " lack of petrol "... but the gauge still read half full.
they changed the sender unit in the tank under warranty , but i am not confident this wont happen again , unless i start reading the trip meter as a gauge.

shocking i feel from a £14K bike . ( 2010 TC adventure)

Is there any mods , or upgrade anyone knows that might correct this , or is it a another dealer visit.

regards

Tony

 

[walrus]

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=334653

 

[harry]

Hate to say it but it's your own fault! It's hard to believe in 20 odd years of riding you haven't either zeroed a trip or made a mental note of the miles when putting fuel in!

The clue is possibly in your user name

 

[Big Nick]

Quite a few bike fuel guages in my experience have been dodgy

As above, its worthwhile zeroing your trip each fill up as a fail safe

 

[tanneman]

Welcome to the club. I believe that if the bike is a post Sept 2010 it has a proper float in the tank. In the mean time keep booking it in at BMW whenever it needs a fuel strip.

 

[Boxerboy55]

. . . Imagine the embarrassment of 20 years odd of biking , and then dealer told me the issue was " lack of petrol " . . .

Sorry 007, but you're gonna get the piss ripped out of you in this place for that kind of schoolboy error.

You maybe didn't grow up with a mechanical fuel tap that was swung from main to reserve when the bike spluttered. Nobody, but nobody relies on the stupid fuel gauges that are fitted to bikes. Even though it is the 21st century and a techno geek may be right to expect nothing less in these days of blue teeth and wi fi and computer controlled everything. But a bike is a simple thing that needs a simple approach and few of us riding in the UK, especially those GSA riders equipped with a built in fuel bowser, will rarely be more than 50 miles from a top up of high octane go juice. Zero trip, fill with fuel, ride it, fill it, zero trip, ride it, etc.

No offence, but you were a silly billy

And thanks for the chuckle.

 

[cookie]

You maybe didn't grow up with a mechanical fuel tap that was swung from main to reserve when the bike spluttered. Nobody, but nobody relies on the stupid fuel gauges that are fitted to bikes.

had 2 GSAs, nearly 40K miles and never zero the trip on refuelling.

fuel gauge has always been fine. must have been lucky

 

[Mav]

had 2 GSAs, nearly 40K miles and never zero the trip on refuelling.

fuel gauge has always been fine. must have been lucky

Same here... But still reset the trip every time

 

[TLSgazza]

I ran mine low last week for the service, on the way home it was telling me I had 24 miles range left, thought is best fill up, 33.58 litres later, Bugger must have been close to running out myself, I wonder if I could have got another 24 miles on what little fuel must have been in the tank.
Ps: I had reset the trip as well and had done just over 300 miles since last fill up.

 

[Sgt Bilco]

Boxerboy has hit the nail on the head I think. It's a simple process to double check everything and I know you shouldn't have to, but this is real life.

I always use the trip as well as the guage although my guage is very accurate. When it says 1 mile to go........it means it

There are 2 trip meters so no excuses for not using one of them

 

[Nutty]

Good to see there's still some classic 1200 owners keeping this section going

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Boxerboy has hit the nail on the head I think. It's a simple process to double check everything and I know you shouldn't have to, but this is real life.

I always use the trip as well as the guage although my guage is very accurate. When it says 1 mile to go........it means it

There are 2 trip meters so no excuses for not using one of them

+1
Simple is best................when you've grown up using trip meters (before fuel gauges were ever used on bikes) - you tend to find them comforting to avoid a long push

Running out of fuel, on an Adv is ludicrous.................the recovery man, should have made you push it 200yds as pennance - you'd never run out out again, if he did

 

[Ex TSi Fly]

Good to see there's still some classic 1200 owners keeping this section going

Your time will come Glasshopper, your time will come.

 

[Roberto]

Good to see there's still some classic 1200 owners keeping this section going

Running out of fuel, on an Adv is ludicrous.............

Oh do be fair old chap, there's only about 400 miles to a tank

 

[North]

Not to flog a dead horse, but I ride a lot on Forest Service Roads and Logging Roads. Sometimes I have to pack extra fuel. Anyways, I go by my trip meter. Running out of gas sucks.

 

[cookie]

i was brought up on bikes with reserve positions on the taps and still own three with of them. i think a reserve is a good idea and wish current bikes had such a thing.

having said that...

my current (11) GSA has a float sensor, appears accurate, and hasn't let me down. yet. using the trip is just one more faff, and there's no guarantee i'd notice it anyway. i suppose it's a belt and braces approach, but not something i've ever bothered with

my previous GSA (07) was run down to single figures a couple of times too. i don't know if those bikes had the dreaded fuel strip sensor, but it never gave any trouble anyway.

 

[doctorsmudge]

Techno, I feel for you. Everyone is giving you a hard time for not having a bike with a reserve tap, for not zeroing the trip. FFS, we live in a world of supposed technological breakthroughs every day.
I think the fuel guage thing is a common fault, my neighbour had it on his RT as well, left him high and dry in the middle of nowhere. I think one cure is to take the sensor out of the tank and leave it in the airing cupboard or something. It somehow sticks when the fuel tank has been left half full for a prolonged amount of time......I think anyway.
The point is we seem to be missing the point. You shouldn't need to reset the trip, we dont need fuel taps anymore. Progress, remember, the whole point of technology is to improve and save time and effort. Its just YET ANOTHER common fault on modern BM's. As I mentioned in another thread, 10K on my GSA and the ESA shock has failed. It just shouldn't be happening, like all the other inherent faults with these bikes. Just make the bloody things more reliable instead of spending millions on developing new models of the same bike.
We all want the latest whizz bangs on our bikes but half the time they dont bloody work or only last a little while.

 

[Sgt Bilco]

Running out of fuel, on an Adv is ludicrous.................the recovery man, should have made you push it 200yds as pennance - you'd never run out out again, if he did

It makes no difference how big your tank is. A big tank can give a false sense of security as you think it will last for ever!! On my US trips, guys with ADV's get closer to minimum than standard GS's and they are a little sheepish when they have to ask how far the next fuel stop is.

Saying that, some people don't care if they run out as they know a fuel tanker is close by

 

[Ali-bear]

Most modern bikes have the digital equivalent of a reserve - a yellow light comes on to warn you there's only a few litres left. Some (eps. tourers) take it a stage further by adding a fancy level gauge. Mine worked fine and accurately for five years then started playing up. I only ran dry on it twice before I realized I have to use the trip meter again like in the old days. First time it ran dry was right opposite a petrol station, second time wasn't.

 

[(RIP) Johno23]

Techno,I can't be arsed reading all the posts but you probably didn't need to call out any recovery. when you run out, just shake the bike back and fore and you will get at least 10 miles out of it, which gets you to a station usually. I know this as Iv'e done it.................... twice no probsBoth times I was just being a lazy cnut trying to get home without refueling
Shook the bike and got home both times Even when there working there not very accurate.No excuse for not using the trip.