So it seems my reserve isn't working right?

[tzzzel]

Hi everyone,

In my 8 months of owning my GS500f, gas mileage has been so good that I just haven't been able to get to reserve. I've gone as far as 180 miles before playing safe and filling gas. Well, I only filled up a half tank last time and started running out at about 115 miles. I was starting up and leaving, but the thing would not go. Prime didn't work... didn't seem to do anything. Reserve didnt work either. Only when I hit the choke, did the engine seem alive. But after a while, it died as well. Ended up pushing my bike about 1.5 blocks to a nearby Chevron. When I looked into the tank, it was pretty much a slather of gas in there + bare tank.

So my question is this: why would my reserve not work? Could it be a small gas leak? Could it the regular fuel hole position is lower than the reserve? Or maybe I need to turn the thing on the reverse side, the gold plated thing?

[Suzuki Stevo]

Your hoses may be inverted at the tank or fuel chicken, if the "ON" hose is connected to the Reserve fitting on the tank...you get No Reserve.
Or the tank fitting/screen is in backwards?
Lotsa places for fail on this one.

[Watcher]

Stevo is probably on to something, other than that all I can think of is maybe you are reading the petcock wrong?  I've dealt with petcocks/valves where in one case the handle points in the direction of the flow and others where a needle opposite the handle points in the direction of the flow.  Perhaps you had it on reserve the whole time?


My GS500 does not have a petcock, it was like that when I bought it.  The previous owner bypassed it by putting a line on the reserve barb off the tank and sending it directly into the carbs and then plugging the standard barb and the vacuum hole.  There is an in-line ball-valve to turn the fuel off.

At first I wanted to replace the petcock for the original, but after discovering the cost I was a little dissuaded.  Overall, though, I don't find not having a reserve a detriment.  I filled her up, ran her dry, noted the mileage, and now I just keep an eye on the odo and play it safe.
IIRC I can get to about 160 (15t sprocket sucks for mileage), but around 120 I fill up.

[robfriedenberger]

Humm I'm going to say swapped on and reserved hoses, it's easy to do....you only have to run out of gas once because of this to remember that!


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[yappahgo]

My petcock was assembled wrong when I got the bike. Try opening it up. Mine is a '99, so our petcocks are different (I believe?) but that could absolutely cause reserve to work wrong.

[tzzzel]

Wow, thank you for the diagram. Actually, I did take off the gas tank a bunch of times last year. I color coordinated the 2 tubes with colored zip ties, but I very well could've mixed them up and that would also explain the bone-dry gas tank. Will perform an audit of my gas tank tubes this week and hopefully that's it.

Thanks so much!

[Golly]

Mmm I may have the same issue...when I cleaned my tank out and put the screen back in it may be back to front hence when in on main it conks out after some time...switch to reserve and it kicks back in runs fine....may have the tank hose connections ass about. Tank is full so help hahaha

Sent from The Shire

[dinkydonuts]

Your hoses may be inverted at the tank or fuel chicken, if the "ON" hose is connected to the Reserve fitting on the tank...you get No Reserve.
Or the tank fitting/screen is in backwards?
Lotsa places for fail on this one.

Isn't this diagram incorrect? Those lines from the tank to the petcock should actually cross. The front most tap on the tank goes to the front most tap on the petcock and the reserve is the remaining connection.

[GS4me]

Isn't this diagram incorrect? Those lines from the tank to the petcock should actually cross. The front most tap on the tank goes to the front most tap on the petcock and the reserve is the remaining connection.

I was thinking the same thing.  I'll have to check mine.  I know they have never been removed.

[BockinBboy]

...and cue gsJack to explain...  The manual has an incorrect hose routing for a particular year set... some of the diagrams found on the forum show the corrected version... I really can't remember which is which without looking for one of gsJack's fuel routing posts.

- Bboy

I did find a thread he replied to with the corrected diagrams, but its hosted via gs500.net and that site has been taken down within the last week or so...

[gsJack]

I couldn't remember either and had to dig into it again to refresh my memory.  Done, this diagram is the gospel put together years ago with help from other members the hoses for all years are correct in this 3 panel drawing made from parts fiche drawings with necessary corrections.



The parts fiches for 89-02 show the frame petcocks as seen from the left side and with FWD indicated to the left correctly but picture the tank petcock as seen from the right side with the shutoff screw slot showing but all hoses are labeled and connected correctly.  They still have caused a lot of confusion over the years and have never been corrected.

The parts fiches for 04-09 F models have the tank petcock turned as seen from the left side same as the frame petcock and I took this and superimposed it on the older year fiche drawings fixing the hoses to remain connected correctly and all is well there now. 

When they turned the tank petcock around for the 04-09 fiches they didn't fix the hoses or labeling right and they are now wrong in the fiche drawings, they do not cross and are correct and labeled correct in my 3 panel drawing.

I've put this drawing back up on Photobucket along with a few others so far but there are many to go to finish making the ones lost with the loss of Addy's GSNET.COM available again.

[HPP8140]

So I recently bought a 2002 GS. Attached is the petcock setup.

According to the diagrams in this thread, the ON and Out to carbs hoses are switched.  I have ridden 180 miles with petcock in ON/down position. Is it possible the internals have been modified? How in the world is my bike working like this?

To eliminate the guess work, I will probably swap petcocks with my 95. I like it better.

Pros:
1. Easier to turn in regards to resistance
2. Turns clockwise: ON > Res > Pri. Versus the 2002 Gs petcock turns anti-clockwise: ON > Pri  > Res

[attachment deleted by admin]

[bombsquad83]

So I recently bought a 2002 GS. Attached is the petcock setup.

According to the diagrams in this thread, the ON and Out to carbs hoses are switched.  I have ridden 180 miles with petcock in ON/down position. Is it possible the internals have been modified? How in the world is my bike working like this?

To eliminate the guess work, I will probably swap petcocks with my 95. I like it better.

Pros:
1. Easier to turn in regards to resistance
2. Turns clockwise: ON > Res > Pri. Versus the 2002 Gs petcock turns anti-clockwise: ON > Pri  > Res

If I'm thinking about this correctly, your petcock would still work in this configuration (ON and OUT switched) without modification.  The only difference would be that the reserve setting would not require vacuum for fuel to flow, therefore putting you at higher risk for fuel overflow if you leave the bike on RES while parked.

[gsJack]

I have a 02 that I've put 100k miles on and it always goes to about 240 miles before hitting reserve in the summer, only 190-200 miles at times in the winter.

The diagrams I posted above are correct, the 01-02 models are the only ones where the hoses cross between the tank and frame petcock.

Possibly the 02 petcock feels tighter to turn because it has less wear than your 95.  I put 80k miles on a 97 GS before I got the 02 and it didn't take long to get use to the difference, in either case I just turned it a quarter turn to get more gas to get to a station.                                       

[gsJack]

PS: Don't forget your 02 has a larger 5.3 gal tank than the 95's 4.5 gal.

[HPP8140]

So I recently bought a 2002 GS. Attached is the petcock setup.

According to the diagrams in this thread, the ON and Out to carbs hoses are switched.  I have ridden 180 miles with petcock in ON/down position. Is it possible the internals have been modified? How in the world is my bike working like this?

To eliminate the guess work, I will probably swap petcocks with my 95. I like it better.

Pros:
1. Easier to turn in regards to resistance
2. Turns clockwise: ON > Res > Pri. Versus the 2002 Gs petcock turns anti-clockwise: ON > Pri  > Res

If I'm thinking about this correctly, your petcock would still work in this configuration (ON and OUT switched) without modification.  The only difference would be that the reserve setting would not require vacuum for fuel to flow, therefore putting you at higher risk for fuel overflow if you leave the bike on RES while parked.

Well, this info. takes some of the guesswork out of the equation. Guess I'll just swap ON and OUT hoses then.

[HPP8140]

PS: Don't forget your 02 has a larger 5.3 gal tank than the 95's 4.5 gal.

Yes, mileage was one of the reasons why I wanted to try the 2002. So far, I'm liking the improvements...small things like :

1. Moving the petcock mount, now it doesn't get in the way of removing the airbox.
2. No need to remove tail fairings to remove the tank bolts
3. float height remains stable
4. throttle feels more tractable with extra return cable
5. I find myself sittiing in higher gears and not needing to rev as high due to extra torque, but miss the top end sound of the 95
6. rubber frame cover at front of tank is screwed in, so it doesn't fall off when glue wears off

[HPP8140]

I have a 02 that I've put 100k miles on and it always goes to about 240 miles before hitting reserve in the summer, only 190-200 miles at times in the winter.

The diagrams I posted above are correct, the 01-02 models are the only ones where the hoses cross between the tank and frame petcock.

Possibly the 02 petcock feels tighter to turn because it has less wear than your 95.  I put 80k miles on a 97 GS before I got the 02 and it didn't take long to get use to the difference, in either case I just turned it a quarter turn to get more gas to get to a station.                                       

Man I'm loving the 02. Got 235 before hitting reserve.

I was used to checking the oil after every ride and topping  the oil < 100 miles on my 95 after 50k. The oil level on the 02 is still between the dipstick marks after 600mi. It only has 15k on it though.

[Suzuki Stevo]

Isn't this diagram incorrect? Those lines from the tank to the petcock should actually cross. The front most tap on the tank goes to the front most tap on the petcock and the reserve is the remaining connection.

I was thinking the same thing.  I'll have to check mine.  I know they have never been removed.

The image I posted is the corrected image, with the tank/screen/fitting oriented so the ON/Off valve is accessed from under the right side with the tank with a long screwdriver while the tank is lifted, the rear hose on the chicken goes to front fitting on tank.

Stevo

[HPP8140]

I also noticed, the petcock on my 2002 is clearly labeled, not sure how previous owner got it wrong, the images posted are correct.