Mileage tanked not sure why!

[Toogoofy317]

I was riding my bike yesterday and was going around 65 and it just died. Was not very happy being I was just coming home from the hospital after a nasty bout of dehydration. You must drink water and gatorade excessively in Florida while on a bike I learned. Anyhow, I only had 115 miles on the trip meter usually I get 190 before I have to switch to reserve so it took me a couple of minutes to figure it out ( and NO I didn't drop the bike on my ankle like the last time I ran out of gas). Long story short I switched it to reserve and got to a gas station. The bike took $13.51 to fill up at $3.51 a gallon. Which is 3.84 gallons. The bike did sit some but was run about once a week for about a half hour each time. So, what is going on! If I'm going to only get 28mpg I may as well drive my convertible!

Any help would be appreciated and sorry for rambling.

Mary S

[ben2go]

If it's been hot you lost some thru evaporation.I'd look for leaks around the tank petcock.I chase this one for weeks.Did you just do some carb work recently?Maybe a leak around one of the fuel lines.If she's running good.I'd say there's a small leak some where.

[Toogoofy317]

Yeah, we've been hitting close to 90 down here and very little humidity. It has been mostly in the garage due to an ankle injury. But, I did get it out once a week. I've not done any carb work on it. In March I had the 7,000 mile service done on it and this is the second tank of gas since then. I've only put about 300 miles on it since then. Will, look for leaks. He is running ok honestly it has felt a little different since the service sometimes during mid-range it seems it's hard to explain but it feels like I'm letting off the throttle when I'm not. Didn't notice it much but beginning to wonder what the stealership actually did for a service that would have cost $305 but I had the maintainance plan. They did "accidentally" disconnect my rear blinkers and didn't tell me. Didn't find out 'till a friend informed me they weren't working after I almost got hit making a turn!

Thanks,

mary s

[bucks1605]

Yeah, we've been hitting close to 90 down here and very little humidity. It has been mostly in the garage due to an ankle injury. But, I did get it out once a week. I've not done any carb work on it. In March I had the 7,000 mile service done on it and this is the second tank of gas since then. I've only put about 300 miles on it since then. Will, look for leaks. He is running ok honestly it has felt a little different since the service sometimes during mid-range it seems it's hard to explain but it feels like I'm letting off the throttle when I'm not. Didn't notice it much but beginning to wonder what the stealership actually did for a service that would have cost $305 but I had the maintainance plan. They did "accidentally" disconnect my rear blinkers and didn't tell me. Didn't find out 'till a friend informed me they weren't working after I almost got hit making a turn!

Thanks,

mary s

If it was me I would have wanted to get hit, just a little bit, so I could sue their asses off.

[Toogoofy317]

Didn't know they weren't working until after the near miss! But, yeah the devil in me probably would have let them touch into me just enough to go "oh, my neck uhhmmm 'busa" might cure it!

Yeah, let's just say I'm a little upset now that I've already paid for the five year maintainace plan seeing the quality work they did! What was the icing on the cake is that I had an appointment at 0900 and I didn't get it until after 1600. My friend had to drop me off at noon which is when it was supposed to be done. Then they had the guts to come out and tell me my back brake needed replacing immediately and they would do it for $90! I called my friend asked him what I should do "buy the brake pads" They were $35 at the stealership and it took ten minutes with him slowing down to show me how to do it! so yeah I'm

Mary S.

[beRto]

I was riding my bike yesterday and was going around 65 and it just died. Was not very happy being I was just coming home from the hospital after a nasty bout of dehydration. You must drink water and gatorade excessively in Florida while on a bike I learned. Anyhow, I only had 115 miles on the trip meter usually I get 190 before I have to switch to reserve so it took me a couple of minutes to figure it out ( and NO I didn't drop the bike on my ankle like the last time I ran out of gas). Long story short I switched it to reserve and got to a gas station. The bike took $13.51 to fill up at $3.51 a gallon. Which is 3.84 gallons. The bike did sit some but was run about once a week for about a half hour each time. So, what is going on! If I'm going to only get 28mpg I may as well drive my convertible!

Any help would be appreciated and sorry for rambling.

Mary S

I wouldn't worry yet. You've said yourself that the bike was left idling for what amounts to several hours. I'd say that it's not fair to take an mpg estimate on this tank. Track it closely over the next tank and see if you still have the same problem.

...They did "accidentally" disconnect my rear blinkers and didn't tell me. Didn't find out 'till a friend informed me they weren't working after I almost got hit making a turn!

Pre-ride safety check!!! 

[Toogoofy317]

It didn't Idle I rode it for about a half an hour every week. Sorry if I mis-stated. I filled up the tank yesterday and am back to riding what I normally would. So, hopefully the gas mileage will return. I just love how the bike spurters once and immediately dies! Sucks on a busy road!

yeah, you're right about the pre-ride inspect I was angry and just wanted to get the heck out of there!

Thanks,

Mary S

[qwertydude]

It still means a lot of warming up, the bike is far from efficient when it's still warming up. Try and give it another tank.

[Toogoofy317]

Will do thanks for the insight. Will report what i get on this tank.

A friend of mine was telling me that since many of the gas stations have uped the ethanol levels that his bike has lost milage as well. Could this be a contributing factor where I filled up yesterday the pump said they used 10% ehtanol.

Just curious,

Mary S.

[surf.seppo]

Mate, I feel you. I commute on my GS a lot. Little commutes. Really little. And I was wondering why I was getting sub40 mpg. I was worried till I hit the highway and started seeing up around 55-60 miles to the gal. Also, are you filling to the same amount every time? The GS tank seems hard to get to the exact same place every time, and with only 4 or 5 gallon capacity, even .25 to .5 off will throw the fuel estimates. Let me know tho, I'm curios.

(Didn't see the ethanol post while I was typing. Yeah, that'll hit you a bit. I noticed about a 10% mileage loss between non-eth and eth pumps).

[pbureau69]

I found that most of the time when my mileage (MPG) goes down;  I check gap in plug/clean plugs and change air filter/check air filter, and almost systematically everytime its the OEM paper filter that is just full of crap. I havre since change to a K&N Air filter and this work so much better than the non-breathing paper filter.

I am talking a visible change oif MPG from 55-58 to a 50-52 MPG.

[ben2go]

I found that most of the time when my mileage (MPG) goes down;  I check gap in plug/clean plugs and change air filter/check air filter, and almost systematically everytime its the OEM paper filter that is just full of crap. I havre since change to a K&N Air filter and this work so much better than the non-breathing paper filter.

I am talking a visible change oif MPG from 55-58 to a 50-52 MPG.

I'll have to agree with the zuki brand air filter.I replaced mine after 2000 miles last year and it was black inside.It started out being bright white.

The ethnol thing pisses me off.The low grade fuel at my station will not run in my bike because of it.They dump the remaining 87 into the 89 tanks,so it causes stumbling and hesitation.I generally use 93 from my station.The only reason they get away with mixing fuels,is they refuel the tanks at 2 am and the manager isn't present to over see the off loading.They do the same thing with truck diesel.They'll dump the remaining off road diesel into the premium diesel tanks.Then the truckers and farms complain that their trucks fuel system gets gummed up.