dies at 210 miles... old topic, with a twist

[cummuterguy]

ok, i've read what posts i can find on this topic, and have tried the 'low tech' answers (mainly, leave it in 'prime') I also pulled my lines, checked them for blockage, checked both petcocks for proper operation, even used a hand-held vacuum pump and checked the diaphram of the frame mount petcock, in the process learning exactly how the frame mount petcock works. (prime and reserve are the same line, only difference is prime works without vacuum to the petcock diaphram)

I thought i had it figured out, run in "on" until it starts to sputter, then switch to "prime" to get the rest of the gas in the tank.... that was my theory..... no dice.... i still run out of gas, and do so with over a gallon still in the tank... (bike gets 62 mpg... checked several times) so basically i'm using 3ish gallons out of an over 4 gallon tank...

has anybody come up with a solution that allows the use of the reserve tank in the proper way? I'm getting really tired of sitting on the side of the road, out of gas... whilse I still have gas in the friggin tank!!!!!

I know i can just refuel more often, but some mornings, I have the choice of refuelling or driving at less than warp speed to work... i generally choose the "lets not get a ticket today" option, and have ended up being REALLY late to work because of that....

any help here would be greatly appreciated

[Kerry]

You've done so much research that I hate to even suggest that your fuel lines might be crossed at the tank-mounted petcock ... but that's what it sounds like.

Using the PRI setting I have used up to 4.369 gallons in the 4.5 gallon tank on my '99.  See:

http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=69152#69152
and
http://www.bbburma.net/Trips/Canada_2003/Scans/Day3_Receipt_Belt_Fuel.jpg

All I can suggest is that you trace the two main hoses again, and make sure they line up as described on my Fuel Hose Routing page.  Unless you have a 2001+ model, in which case we still need some more research.....

Hey, oldsport!  You gave us feedback about which tube is which on the tank-mounted petcock, but I still need to know:  Are the ON and RES hoses labeled correctly in this Ron Ayers diagram?

EDIT: Changed link from sisna.com to bbburma.net

[Anonymous]

Why aren't you going from ON to RES?  You should be turning your lever from down 180 degrees to up.  I don't know if ON and PRI come out of the same area or if PRI comes out of the bottom like RES does.  If you can't fix it you'll just have to gas up at 200 miles.  Personally I leave mine on RES all the time and just gas up early at about 200 miles.

[cummuterguy]

thanks kerry! I'm going to print up those pictures and take them with me to work this time (last time, i looked at them the night before and went from memory, althugh I did mark every thing as to where it came off and put it all back in the same place) but it occurs to me that maybe someone else has messed with them previous to me, as the bike is 4 years old and had 8k miles when i got it... who knows? anyway, as always you are Johnny-on-the spot with the killer reference materials, greatly appreciated!

[perfdrug]

i thought i replied to your old topic, but i'll reply to this one too.
my bike was 8 years old, 14k miles on it.

the hoses weren't exactly backwards... they were entirely incorrect. from the tank, the on hose was the only correct hoes. the res hose went to the carb outlet of the lower petcock. the carb inlet was connected to the res inlet on the lower petcock. somehow the bike still ran in reserve just fine.

make sure your vaccum hose is connected. mine wasn't the first time i tried to fix the problem and i thought the lower petcock was clogged (i'm an idiot, i know).

remember, on the tank petcock, there's an R which marks correctly the reserve line's outlet.