I have a '97 Kawasaki Concours with about 39,000 miles on it. Recently purchased, one previous owner (I won’t go into details as I’m sure you’re all sick of me talking about it by now ).
The prior owner had told me that the fuel guage was “off” before I bought it, but I think perhaps it’s more off than he realized. The tank’s capacity is supposed to be, I believe, 7 or 7.5 gallons. But I’ve been noticing that I’ve only been going about 100-130 miles on a tank before the needle gets to the “E” mark.
On the last tank, I made a point of paying attention. I reset the tripometer and got about 125 miles before the needle hit “E” again. But when I went to the gas station, I only got in 4.2 gallons of gas before it was full (and I mean spilling-over-the-top full). I wasn’t on the bike at the time, so there was room for maybe a couple of tenths more factoring in the tilt.
So I’m just wondering if this means the fuel guage is way off, meaning I actually have many more miles of riding I could get out of a tank? (By my calculations, if you figure 30mpg and a 7 gallon tank, I should be able to go at least another 75 miles.) Is there a better way to test just how far I can actually go on a tank other than actually purposely running it out of gas? Is it possible that something is keeping me from putting a whole 7 gallons in the tank? What else am I not thinking of?
Wow! You have a fuel guage? I’m jealous. I have to open the cap and look in to decide if I need to fuel up.
Doesn’t your petcock have a reserve setting? If you really wanted to see what your max range is you could ride it in the normal setting until it runs out then switch over to reserve and go find gas.
You cannot rely on bike fuel gauges, the vast majority are rubbish.
Fill your tank to the brim, and reset your trip meter, ride until you get to reserve, and make a mental note, you will know roughly how much you get to a tankful, it can vary if you give it big licks on the right hand but it should give an idea.
I think you can only use a gas gauge if your bike uses a fuel injection system, which doesn’t require a petcock. My Kawasaki Vulcan has fuel injection, a gas gauge, and no petcock. Confused the heck out of me after I just got done training on a bike that had one, I can tell you.
FTR, Asimovian, I noticed mine read low as well. When I filled the tank nearly to the brim, it read less than 2/3 full. I went in to talk to the dealership and they said all the Vulcans are like that, so maybe your bike is the same way. They offered to fix it during my maintenance check-up, so you might be able to get a mechanic to tweak yours too. Otherwise, I agree with casdave; rely on your trip meter. I have to do that for my car, which has a broken fuel gauge. When it gets near 300 miles, it’s time to refuel.
ETA: They did say the fuel light was more or less accurate. If your bike has a light, you may be able to use that the way justrob suggests using the reserve switch on the petcock. When the light comes on, that’s when you need to fuel up. The trip meter’s less of a gamble, though.
I have a gas gauge on my Kawasaki ZZR, and it has a petcock.
Most of the bases have already been covered here, but I’ll add that I’ve heard Kawasaki’s gas gauges are notoriously worse than most bike gauges, which seems to be anecdotally true in the thread so far. Like has been said, ride it till you run out, switch to reserve, note the mileage. Also, even though the tank is 7 gallons, that’s probably the capacity if you were to fill it up to the tip top, which is not advisable. Also, your reserve might be up to 1.5 or so gallons, that makes a big difference.
Most reserves are .9 of a gallon. Or so says my friend who’s family ownes a dealership. He has been working on and selling bikes his whole life. (that’s my weak cite, but it’s all I got.)
You might try an aviation technique for monitoring gas by making yourself a tank stick. Using an 1/8" wooden rod you start with an empty tank and fill it a gallon at a time and cut a notch in the stick as you go. And I’d think a motorcycle would get better than 30 mpg but you have a honkin big bike.
Wow, finally a question that I know I can answer. I’ve got a 2000 Connie with 100K+ on her so I’ve filled up quite a lot.
The Connie’s tank can hold right around 7.5 gallons, that doesn’t mean that you can use it all, but I’ve used over 7 a number of times. The Connie’s gauge is known to be off, it can be fixed, but it almost always works out so once you get used to it then you know how much further you can go.
Mine tends to do about the same as yours, however, it doesn’t need to be switched to reserve until around 220 miles and the needle is pointing well under the E. My suggestion is to fill it up, then ride until you hit reserve, notice where the gauge is then fill up. You should still have at least 1.5 gallons left so don’t worry about running out of gas. After a few fill ups you’ll get a better idea. I don’t really use the gauge unless I’m going to be on the road all day though, I usually reset the trip meter in the speedo to use for gas and the other meter to use as my over all distance.
I don’t know exactly how to fix it, though I do know that people have bent the float in the tank. I’ve also heard of people cutting the reserve tub to have it so they go further without switching to reserve, but then of course it makes the reserve smaller.
If you have any other questions on the Connie let me know as I do a lot of my own maintenance.
ETA: You should be able to get 40mpg+. I tend to be able to go between 210-250 on a tank of gas before I hit reserve. As I said though I tend to average right around 220 on just over 5.5 gallons of gas.
OK, sounds like I’m just being paranoid, then. I’m about to get a lot more free time starting at the end of the day, so I’ll be able to properly experiment with this. I appreciate all the help, and I’ll report back down the line – additional comments are still welcome here, of course!
If you’re not getting at least close to 40mpg then something is probably wrong with the bike. I can’t think of anyone that doesn’t get around that mark unless they are really moving. The carbs are easy to drain as well and that can help out. Otherwise people on the Connie lists swear by the Techron stuff.
The only reason I’m pointing this out is because it could make sense as written, but** EtH** meant to type tube. The way it works is you’ve got a tube that sits higher in the tank that the carbs usually draw from, and a tube that sits lower in the tank that is used when reserve is set. This is what EtH means when he says you can cut the reserve tube to make the opening lower in the tank.
You forgot the important part: Switching back from reserve after you got gas. Hearing the splutter of an engine needing fuel and reaching for the petcock only to realize that it was* already* on reserve can ruin an entire afternoon.
Good idea, but most motorcyle tanks have a hump in the middle to clear the top frame tube…so in some you can’t poke a stick down to the bottom from the filler neck.
Another thing I have seen is to tee in a piece of clear fuel tubing between the tank and the carb, and run it up along side the tank, the top having a plug with a pinhole vent in it. (The pinhole damps the motion, prevents spewing of gas in a hard stop, etc) Allows checking the level without removing the cap at all. Basically a sight glass.
Well that would have been an important part to forget if I didn’t need to close the petcock every time I get off the bike. OK, maybe not every time. If I leave it idling or am only going to be gone a few minutes I can leave it open. If I’m gone any real amount of time gas will leak through the carburators onto the ground. :eek: The joys of riding a 33 year old motorcycle. Of course I could get collectors plates if I wanted.
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