Primary/Reserve tanks

[OHspartan]

In other exciting news, my bike stalled on me in the middle of the road this morning! It was acting funny, so I pulled in the clutch and it stalled. I tried a quick restart while coasting with no luck. I pulled safely into a parking lot, switched to reserve, and with a little help from the throttle she started back up. So I have a three parter... 1- How much fuel is in the reserve? 2- How low can the primary be and still have problems? 3- Is it normal for it to start a little hard when switching from PRI to RES? (I assume yes because it basically let the carbs run dry)
Once I got to work I switched back to PRI to see if it would start, and it started right up. It's not quite light here yet, so I can't tell how much gas is visible in the tank- I only know that I can see some.

[lucifer_mr2]

1-About 4 to 5 litres, pretty much a quarter of the tank.
2-ON is normal riding
 -PRI is prime, it bypasses the vacuum and just pours fuel into the carbs.
 -RES is reserve
3-Pretty much right. From ON to RES it can take a bit to start it, that is why PRI bypasses the vacuum.

Edit: Make sure you put your tap back to ON, leaving it in RES or PRI isn't good. Leaving mine in RES made me get 460km on a tank.

[OHspartan]

Oops, every time I typed PRI in the original post I meant ON. (My mind was thinking PRImary and got confused)
So how low can the visible gas be and still run just fine on ON? I don't know the physical layout of the tank, where the pickup is, or how the ON/Reserve sections are separated.

[pave_spectre]

The main and reserve sections are seperated purely by the height of the fuel pickup. Leave it on reserve and it will run from a full tank all the way to empty, there is no actual physical seperation.

How high the the gas can be for on will vary from bike to bike.
If you need to look in the tank and try and guess how much longer you can ride before reserve, you should probably just fill it up and stop worrying.

[OHspartan]

Touche.
Just trying to get acquainted, my first fill up will be today. I hope the dealer was lying about 'filling it up' because I only got 170 miles out of the ON portion of the tank.

[pave_spectre]

170 miles does seem a touch low. I generally get around 200 miles plus or minus a few depending on how I feel like riding, before I need to switch to reserve.

[Toogoofy317]

Wow, I never get 170 miles on the ON position. 158 at most Flick is a hungry beastie I guess 

Mary

[ben2go]

On a bike with a 5 gallon tank,02+ IIRC,you should get around 220 miles before going to reserve.Less with higher revs.

[steezin_and_wheezin]

i ran out of gas at ~160 miles(before RES) on my first tank(PO obviously didn't "fill it up")

i got ~190 miles(before RES) out of her on my last fill up, but could've managed a few more. i was heading into the mountains and didn't want to risk it

[OHspartan]

I'm looking forward to seeing how much gas goes back in, especially the next fill up when I am responsible for two in a row. From the sounds of it, it'll take quite a bit less than the stated capacity.

[ben2go]

I'm looking forward to seeing how much gas goes back in, especially the next fill up when I am responsible for two in a row. From the sounds of it, it'll take quite a bit less than the stated capacity.

My bike has a big tank on it and I have gotten almost 5.5 gallons in there.Remember that Suzuki expects it's riders to leave some head(air space) above the fuel to prevent slosh out at the tank cap while riding.I pack my tank until it runs out.I should note that my tank was completely dry when i filled it up.

[Worm]

I have gotten around 190 miles before RES, the couple of times I have used the reserve. I typically fill'er up before I get there though. When filling up, I put the bike on the center stand and fill until the fuel hit the bottom of the neck inside the tank.

[skirecs]

switch to prime for a second, then go to reserve, that will refill the line from the petcock and the bowls before vacuum is applied

[vinny]

Whats wrong with my suzi then.. i only seem to get 120-150 miles per tank.. Would getting the carbs tuned/re-set up help? (97 gs500e)

[mike__R]

Whats wrong with my suzi then.. i only seem to get 120-150 miles per tank.. Would getting the carbs tuned/re-set up help? (97 gs500e)

My guess is they are talking about the next generation tanks ('01 and up) which are larger.  My "E" gets about the same as yours and I don't think it's an issue.  Just smaller capacity is all.

[adidasguy]

I decided to fill up today because the trip meter reached 160 miles. 2.8 gallons.
Generally I get around 55 to 60 mph highway and about 50 with stop & go city driving.
Remember reserve is about the last gallon in the tank (spec says 3.7 quarts for older tanks, 1.1 gal for newer ones '01 and up).
A tank is a little over 5.3 gallons for the newer ones (5.0 for CA), 4.5 for the older tanks (again slightly less for California models - go figure?)

(And for those that have wondered, today I printed and comb bound the Suzuki service manual. There is a chapter on the emissions control for CA models and that is the extra tube with the bend under the fuel tank - it goes to a canister under the battery along with an extra hose from the carbs or airbox. I forget which.)

[ben2go]

Whats wrong with my suzi then.. i only seem to get 120-150 miles per tank.. Would getting the carbs tuned/re-set up help? (97 gs500e)

My guess is they are talking about the next generation tanks ('01 and up) which are larger.  My "E" gets about the same as yours and I don't think it's an issue.  Just smaller capacity is all.

Yes.The older,or first gen E models have a 3 to 3.5 gallon tank.Most people switch to the bigger tank for range and looks.Mine was a bolt on affair.I have an 89 with an 04 tank.

[adidasguy]

Whats wrong with my suzi then.. i only seem to get 120-150 miles per tank.. Would getting the carbs tuned/re-set up help? (97 gs500e)

Whats wrong with my suzi then.. i only seem to get 120-150 miles per tank.. Would getting the carbs tuned/re-set up help? (97 gs500e)

My guess is they are talking about the next generation tanks ('01 and up) which are larger.  My "E" gets about the same as yours and I don't think it's an issue.  Just smaller capacity is all.

Yes.The older,or first gen E models have a 3 to 3.5 gallon tank.Most people switch to the bigger tank for range and looks.Mine was a bolt on affair.I have an 89 with an 04 tank.

My guess is they are talking about the next generation tanks ('01 and up) which are larger.  My "E" gets about the same as yours and I don't think it's an issue.  Just smaller capacity is all.

Yes.The older,or first gen E models have a 3 to 3.5 gallon tank.Most people switch to the bigger tank for range and looks.Mine was a bolt on affair.I have an 89 with an 04 tank.

Not 3 or 3.5 but it is 4.5 gallons for the older tanks with 3.7 quarts (or about 1 gallon) being the amount of the reserve. So you would have 3.5 gallons BEFORE you would have to switch to reserve. Remember full tank is 4.5 gallons on the 1989-2000 models (again, slightly less on California models. 4.1 gallons I think rather than 4.5)