Fuel gauge sensor

[thomo57]

I went out last weekend. I was deliberately running some dodgy fuel low. I managed to ride for 5 miles after the --- showed on the display. I then got 16.75 litres in to my 16.45 litre tank.

How far has anyone else manged after the ---?

Just how much fuel can you get in these? I'm guessing that BMW don't fill up to the brim when quoting figures.

I've managed to get 14 miles past ---- when I was caught short up in the highlands, mind you, I knew it was going to be a close thing, so dropped the speed down to 45mph when the fuel warning light came up.

Pleased to say I've never had to push the bugger yet

 

[colint]

Unless my friends 2 month old GS800 is faulty the countdown range has been deleted from the trip computer. Its probably BMWs way of silencing critics who complain about running out of fuel with 5 miles still showing. The fuel gauge is still the full or empty indicator so its back to using the trip and fuelling at 225 miles max.

Mine is a 2013 model and when the fuel light comes on it counts up at the side of the fuel bars how many miles you have done since the fuel light came on a**e about face but if you work on the principle that you have 40 miles of reserve it works for me but I also set trip 1 every time I fill up as a safeguard its not that much of a chore

 

[Dean]

As far as I understand it's not advicable to run it dry as this will damage the catalyst convertor.

well myth or no myth, My cat has been removed, but it still purrs nicely, might be the akropovic can

good news is from fuel light on I know (roughly) how many miles I have before.....

 

[SuperTed]

So can some-one explain why the range on my '08 800GS is lying to me.
Filled up on Thursday evening, run up to BMF Show at Peterborough and back to Romford, one trip to work in central London and the light came on at 214 miles with the read-out telling me I had 46 miles to dry.
Filled up at first petrol station and put 14.72 litres in. Which works out to 14.7 miles per litre. Since this is mostly the run to Peterborough it's pretty good - but...even if you take the 17 litres I've put in the tank on a couple of occasions there is no way I had 46 miles.
By my reckoning I had about half that at the most. So I wouldn't have made it home.
When I purchased the bike I was impressed by the gauges accuracy, but not any more.
So is there a fault that can be fixed or have I simple got to live with it?

 

[thomo57]

SuperTed, best way to check the accuracy of your gauge and countdown, is to strap a 5 litre can to your rack and run the bugger dry!
On my 800, I've been down to zero on the countdown and got about another 24 miles, before filling up. Never ran out yet
Mind you I always squeeze in as much as I can & fill it up too the top of the filler neck

 

[v8legend]

So can some-one explain why the range on my '08 800GS is lying to me.

Filled up on Thursday evening, the light came on at 214 miles with the read-out telling me I had 46 miles to dry. Filled up at first petrol station and put 14.72 litres in. Which works out to 14.7 miles per litre, but...even if you take the 17 litres I've put in the tank on a couple of occasions there is no way I had 46 miles.

So is there a fault that can be fixed or have I simple got to live with it?

It's fair to say they're not all the same, different software?. I've been about 5 miles on from when the countdown changes to ---, and got 16.75 litres in. You've managed 17. 46 miles on just over 2 litres of fuel is about 90mpg, it does that easily at about 45mph, so maybe it wasn't lying.

 

[SuperTed]

Commuting Fill-up

So following from the 'helpful' comments after my last post I filled up again tonight after a weeks commuting.
Low fuel light on at 178-ish (when I noticed it), fill up at next petrol station.
According to the trip meter 179.7 miles done with 42 on the range readout.
Put £20 in it; it wasn't going to take any more; which is 14.94 liters.
This works out at 54.66 mpg, or 12.03 miles per liter. So if I kept going it would have run out (assuming I could actually get 17 liters in) at 204.5 - 25 miles later, and definitely NOT 42!
I have previously done the 'strap a 5 liter can on and run it dry' bit when on a run out and it went 37 miles from low fuel light on to stopped - and still showed 8 miles range. Now I'm not complaining about the mpg - it's a big jump better than my old 1150GS - but I just dare not trust the range gauge when commuting.