Reserve is not working. Any ideas?

[Budrick320]

I have a slight disturbance. My reserve doesn't seem to work. I know some people usually have to flip it on around 190 miles or so. I have gotten as much as 263 miles without having it start lugging. I don't go too far after 240 miles before I fill up not wanting to risk running out of gas.

I have used reserve and I know what it feels like. The one time I have used reserve was on my first tank when I felt it starting to jerk. I have never taken off the tank or done anything with the petcocks so it wouldn't be my fault.
The times the bike was messed with at all was at the first inspection at the 600 mile mark and another time a few hundred miles later when my air filter was getting gas in it and the bike was leaking gas out the hose on the side. They took the carbs and cleaned them. After that reserve never seemed to work again. Maybe they didn't put the hoses back on right?? I don't know. I was thinking about taking it in because it is still under warranty but if it is something I can fix quickly why bother taking it in.

Any ideas would be helpful. thanx

[NightRyder]

Yeah, might as well check that the hoses are hooked up right.

From the left side of the bike:

The right tube from the tank goes down and into the left side of the valve. This is the normal flow.

The left tube on the tank goes down around under and back up to the right side of the valve. This side has a 90 degree bend on the valve. (goes out left, then down)


Or it could be, you just have lots of mpg. Does the reserve work when you switch to it? Or does it not flow gas at all? The tanks hold 5-5.2 gallons, including a .9 reserve. So.. yea.

[Budrick320]

Thanks for the description, I will check the hoses within the next few days. Yes the reserve does work because the time I got 263 miles, I had it on reserve for the past 15 or so miles not wanting to run out of gas. And I had it on for the next 50 miles on the next tank I filled up after that. I forgot to put it back on ON. So Yes it does work.

Another thing...I thought the .9 reserve was included in the 5.3 gallon tank?? That be a total of 6 gallons if it was separate.

[Alphamazing]

The tanks hold 5-5.2 gallons, including a .9 reserve. So.. yea.

Yeah. 5.3 gallon including the .9 reserve.

5.3 - .9 = 4.4 gallons for the big portion.

[Budrick320]

I am looking at my reciept showing 4.253 gallons pumped. If the big portion is 4.4, maybe I haven't even hit reserve territory yet. But, I still got to check the hoses...

[Alphamazing]

I am looking at my reciept showing 4.253 gallons pumped. If the big portion is 4.4, maybe I haven't even hit reserve territory yet. But, I still got to check the hoses...

Never hurts. Plus, it teaches you about your bike. You learn stuff. One thing I've learned while messing with my carbs is that taking the tank off is annoying as hell. Some bikes have this cool feature where you unbolt the tank at the front and it ROTATES backwards. Makes it a lot easier. I really wish the GS had that feature.

[Eklipse]

My tubes were on wrong for a while after I painted my bike. I ran out of gas twice. Luckily I was within a couple miles of a service station, so I nursed it there, shaking gas into the carbs when it died and coasting another few hundred meters...

Then one day I hooked them up right. But yeah it sucks not to have a reserve, definitely get that looked at.

To this day I'm still not sure which way the hoses go on, I had to do it by trial and error since I have an 04 and I didn't really find a diagram for it except on bikebandit.com. But I just wanted to tell you that it sucks to run out of gas.