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Gas guage bit me again!

4K views 29 replies 18 participants last post by  Overkill 
#1 ·
I went for a ride the other day and the bike (07 KGT) ran great. I was coming to a stop light and the bike died like someone shut it off. I knew I was getting low on gas because I was trying to run all the old gas out of it before I filled up.

It was empty and the gauge said I had 1/4 of a tank left and 98 miles to go. I had gone 209 miles. I was lucky to be 30 feet from a gas station! The bike took 6.4 gallons which is listed as the "usable capacity" in the manual. There was not a drop of gas to be seen with my flash light. The manual then talks about 1.1 gallon "reserve". WTF is that. to my knowledge there is no way to access it.

I had this problem when I bought the bike and they fixed it. It was fine all last season but what ever the issue is, it is back.

I am told I am the first one (my dealer knows of) who has had the gauge fixed and had the problem come back. They pulled something out of the tank reset it and then updated the computer. I was wondering if anyone else has had the problem come back after having the fuel gauge reset?

I am not worried though I am lucky to have a great dealer (Second Wind in Merrimack NH)who does not try to deny any problems and they will dig until they find the right fix.

I did a search on this and read a few posts but no service update or defined fix that I could see. I thought this information might be helpful to someone.
 
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#2 ·
I haven't seen or heard of many of the gauges or the miles to empty reading that are very accurate on any of the GT's or RT's. I just use the trip meters. I know that the fuel gauge is a small thing, in the grander scheme, but damnit, I paid for it, and I want it to work correctly.
The 1.1 gallon reserve is "included" in the 6.3 total. It just means that the little yeller light comes on when there is approximately 1.1 gallons left. 209 miles seems kinda low for a full tank (33.17)mpg. Most of em get around 45.
 
#4 ·
DavidS said:
And this brings up the question to everyone: At what reading on your odo do you start really looking for gas?
I usually fill up between 225 - 250 miles on the trip meter. At that pont my reserve light comes on and I know that I have a gallon (give or take) left. If I'm going on a trip, I usually try to plan my gas stops ahead of time at 200 mile stops.
 
#6 ·
The Liquid Fix!

I was perusing a dealer's website and found the cure for this problem! :teeth


Regular use of BMW Fuel System Cleaner Plus can prevent fuel gauge malfunction caused by harmful sulfur components found in some fuels.


The bottle looks suspiciously like Chevron's Techron to me.
 
#8 ·
I never start lookig for fuel until the bike says zero km to go, well after the orange warning light comes on. At this time there is about 60km (37.5miles) to go before empty. I usually fill up after about 40km (25m) and put around 22.5l. It is supposed to hold 24l. I once put 24l in the tank and it was still running.

For commuting that includes lots of city riding I get 360km (225miles) for my 22l of fuel. When riding on the open road two up, I get around 350km till the computer tells me zero km to go, which takes about 20l to fill up.

This has been consistent for 13 months and 23000km (14000m) of riding.
 
#9 ·
After it was fixed the first time it was pretty accurate. I was waiting for the amber light to come on. I was tracking the miles on trip 2 but I got too trusting of the gauge. I think the reason for low mile count was that it was the tank of gas that was put in for the winter and there was some evaporation and several start and warm up periods on that tank of gas. It is no big deal but it was funny that I happened to be right in front of a gas station!
 
#10 ·
I haven't had that happe on my 08, but I wouldn't be surprised. The gas gauge isn't calbrated well at all, and distance till empty calculations are all over the map all the time. For example, I drove to work Friday and got there with 92 miles left. Got on it at lunch and rode 2 miles on surface streets, and when I got the the restaurant it showed 56 miles till empty. Rode 10 miles to the BMW shop after that and it bumped up to 72. Gas gauge was showing a little over a 1/4 tank to about 1/8 at various ponts throughtout this little adventure. I filled up as soon as I saw a station.
 
#11 ·
Sorry to hear that dude, this must be one of the only problems my GT doesnt have!!!!

I recently ran it right off the gauge and still had a few litres left when I rolled into the next town about 20 kilometers later
 
#12 ·
The fuel gauge and miles remaining on my 2007 KGT aren't perfect, they both drop faster when the fuel is near the bottom of the tank. Despite that behavior, it is surprising that you could run out of fuel with the gauge still showing some fuel left.

The following thread might be helpful - it has a spreadsheet showing fuel and mileage over a 9 month period.

http://www.k-bikes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13211
 
#16 ·
The gauge on my R Sport failed completely, and another friend with a GT had completely wrong readings which caused him to run out of gas. The dealer said it was due to a bad batch of sensors at the factory, and they have replaced several at the shop. Mine goes in on Thursday.
 
#17 ·
bonafidebob said:
My last bike had both a reserve switch and a fuel gauge. The fuel gage was decent, but not very linear or very accurate (kind of like the one on the GT.) The reserve switch was dead-on every time. :)
... until the day comes when you reach down and find out that something distracted you and you forgot to reset the the switch back to "normal" at the last fill-up. :yeow:
 
#18 ·
Been there

XMagnaRider said:
... until the day comes when you reach down and find out that something distracted you and you forgot to reset the the switch back to "normal" at the last fill-up. :yeow:
Oh ya, done that. Luckily (?) the GPZ had a sort of tall divide in the center of the tank, so I just leaned the bike waaaay over (oof) and had enough to get to a gas station.
 
#19 ·
I got my bike back today after having the dealer fix the fuel gauge. They replaced the sending unit. But it is not fixed. It is still stuck on full. I went 50 miles and it stayed on full (plus it wasnt full when I dropped it off) so I called them up and told them. They said fill it up and see if it resets. I did and it didn't reset. I filled it and went 75 more miles. Still on full. So I called them again. They have no idea. They have to send in a form to BMW and wait for a reply. Then when they get the reply they are putting me back at the end of the list to get it fixed again. Seems wrong to me. I already waited my turn, they didn't fix it. Opinions please!
 
#20 ·
Sometimes, you have to go a significant distance ( 100 plus miles) to see the guage register a change. Ride, after filling up, for a good distance (150). You will not run out of gas. If your guage doesn't register a difference, then you know for sure!
 
#21 ·
That was mentioned by the tech when I upgraded the software to 10.1 I believe, the fuel guage shows full for a while then all of a sudden it will show correct reading. I try to fillup around 200 miles, so no problem.

I'm from the old days when we were expected to have at least half a tank in our cars so we could evacuate at a moments notice. Of course that doesn't work anymore, unless you leave first.
 
#24 ·
Update

The guage still is not fixed. After the new fuel strip it would randomly decide it was completely full or completely empty. Nothing in between. The full doesn't bother me that much, but when it decides it is empty you get that flashing yellow light and that is distracting.

After talking with BMW, doing a test then submitting a question to BMW and waiting for their reply several times the dealer has determined that the new fuel stip they installed is bad and the next new one is on backorder. They tell me there are 180 of them on back order which suprised me because It doesn't seem to be that much of an issue here. Obviously they are having a lot of them go bad.

They say it has to come from Germany and they might see it tomorrow or not for weeks. No way to tell. The dealer said they would put it back together for me to ride for the weekend for me so that is good of them.
 
#25 ·
The O'le fuel gauge thing again. I think they should do away with it. Put an old cork float thingy and gauge on the fuel cap or something. They work better. ;)

I've never had mine be real accurate. Somewhat accurate, but not very. I just rely on the Odometer, and if I get real anal I'll set the GPS just to see. Even then I don't know which one is correct. I tend to believe my GPS more than the bike computer. It's not uncommon for the two to be off by more than 10 miles or so on a tankful. Bike will say 200 miles, gps will say 212 or something. 5% or more? On one tank? :wtf:

Of coarse mileage will vary too but normally I just don't go more than 200 miles before I fill it up no matter what the computer is telling me. Sometimes it's blinking, sometimes it's not. All depends on how hard I road that tank. I've had time when my mileage sucked because the last tank was 90 mph + the whole way. Then it might start blinking at 175 miles, and by 200 I'd be on fumes.

Last weekend though 2 up and normal sane riding at 235 miles it hit 0 miles left. Pulled in for fuel and all the tank shaking in the world would only allow me to put in 5.1 gallons. Other times I've hit 0 or single digits left and only had 1/2 a gallon or less left in the tank. This tells me two things....

1: The gauge is highly inaccurate and should not be relied upon as the sole source of info.

2: Most of the time I ride WAY too fast! :D
 
#26 ·
I always do at least 40km after it tells me I have zero to go and it never takes more than 22.5l out of 24. For my normal commute I get 360km out of a tank (22.5l) and the light starts blinking about 270km. In gentle country riding two up (120kph) the light won't blink until about 300km.
 
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