Fuel warning is paranoid

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andyc

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Just finished first 1000 miles on the 1200GS. Still delighted with the bike.
One niggle is the fuel warning system, which was obviously programmed by Marvin the Paranoid Android. No bars showing on the fuel gauge + 2 miles showing on 'Range' = 16.1 litres to get the fuel level half way up the filler neck. Seems like I'll have to use the trip meter to determine fill-up time - just like I used to on MZs 25 years ago. Progress is a wonderful thing.
 
This interesting and worrying. I took the 1200 on test for half a day when they were first launched. Ended up running out of juice and stuck in the middle of nowhere in the pissing rain. Gauge was showing two bars. Dealer rescued me and apologised said BMW were experiencing problems with fuel gauges/electrics. You'd think they'd have sorted it by now!
When I chop my 1100 in I wanted to move up to the 1200 as they are 30kg's lighter than the 1150 but I'm having second thoughts now with tales like this and others I've read here.
 
My bike (June '05) has the logarithmic style guage. Full for ages then plummets like a stone.

I guess that's what the trip meter is for :rolleyes:

Otherwise the bike is tip top. Go for it daleslad! :thumb

Kai
 
Paranoia is infectious

Ive done 33,000 miles on my gs when my guage reads 2 miles I can usually get approx 20 ltrs in.
The distance remaining is of course based on the bikes consumption on average over the last few miles making it less trustworthy over the early miles
after a stop or if you suddenly change from, say motorways to small roads.
In general it is a useful tool but the golden rule (with gps /auto systems etc)
is always have a fallback.
This is my first post on uk gs'er I have never had a problem that stopped me
reaching my destination the bike has been mostly spot on.
Ride the arse off it and you won't have time to worry.
The amount of angst on this forum suggests none of you have ever done high
mileage on a DUCATI Now they are, how would you put it:mad: :mad: :mad: :spitfire :spitfire :spitfire
Anyway all in all R1200GS :bounce1 :bounce1 :bounce1 :bounce1 :bounce1
 
I was about to post on this very subject then saw the thread.

My problem is that I've just had the clock changed from 12 hour reading to 24hour reading. Before this change was made the gauge was made up of around 6 or 7 equally sized bars and the fuel light was spot on. Since the change the gauge now has one large block with around 3 or 4 smaller blocks in the lower half and is a country mile off for example I filled up yesterday with 16 miles left to go and only got 16 litres in when previously at this level I'd have got 19 litres in.

I'm going to give the dealers a call tomorrow and see if they can sort it out. I'll let you know the results.

Dave
 
When I had my 1200GS-A new, the guage would suddenly drop from 3 parts full to empty in about 2 miles....!! Eventually it just stopped working altogether. BMW changed the sensor in the tamk and have since had no problems and it`s fairly accurate although I do use the trip meter as a back up.

Filled up yesterday with 35 miles available and put 34.12 litres in a 33 litres tank.......:blast

Brilliant bike and the fuel guage should spoil the fun. Just use the trip meter as a back up:thumb2
 
a fuel gauge with a countdown on it is always going to be a bit vague on a bike as teh tank itself is moving all over the place, - and as was indicated above, - you want to try the gauge ona Ducati, - my Multistrada orange light would come on with about 50 miles to go!!
 
My 6 week old gs has not yet needed a fill of more than 14.5 litres despite showing almost empty (for two fills I ran it empty as I wanted to take the tank off) Next job is to do the filler mod.
 
daleslad said:
This interesting and worrying. I took the 1200 on test for half a day when they were first launched. Ended up running out of juice and stuck in the middle of nowhere in the pissing rain. Gauge was showing two bars. Dealer rescued me and apologised said BMW were experiencing problems with fuel gauges/electrics. You'd think they'd have sorted it by now!
When I chop my 1100 in I wanted to move up to the 1200 as they are 30kg's lighter than the 1150 but I'm having second thoughts now with tales like this and others I've read here.
Click to expand...
Daleslad - don't let pessimistic electrons put you off. The 1200GS is fab. Go for it. AndyC (once a HullLad)
 
I've gotta 1200GS and the first thing I did was to remove the little rubber bung that goes down the filler cap to facilitate easy filling. It also allowed me to really fill it up to the top (well almost!).

Whenever I refuel I always reset one of the trips, that way I don't have to totally rely on the accuracy of the fuel gauge.

I guess my gauge is like most peoples, nothing happens until I've done about 110 miles then it's suddenly half empty!

Without giving too much consideration to my style of riding (motorways + fast A roads), I can generally get about 220 miles before I need to fill up.
 
Never take any notice of mine;I just fill up every 200 - 230 miles since I got used to the fact that the guage AND the warning (60 miles till you run out) don't mean feck all in the real world!
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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