Fuel Starvation Issue

[reek]

Long time lurker, first time poster.  I've been having issues with my 1990 GS500e not running properly unless the tank is completely full.  I've spent a lot of time on this site and others trying to come up with solutions.  I tried to clean the gas cap vent, stripped the two phillips head screws, and thus bought a whole new cap.  I've washed the gas tank out, cleaned out the in-tank filter, and replaced the fuel lines from the tank to the petcock.  After doing all this, i threw some gas in and took off yesterday. Road for about two hours with a big grin on my face until I shut down again. The grin quickly faded. I opened the gas cap, closed it, started it up in reserve, and gingerly made my way a mile or so to my cousins house.  I plan on doing the Honda petcock swap, but before I do that and possibly continue chasing my tail, does anyone else have any other suggestions? 

[jacob_ns]

Did the bike start in reserve after opening the gas cap? Was the bike responsive? Did the tank "hiss" when you opened it?

[RossLH]

For future reference, the reason you stripped the screws is because they are JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) screws, not Phillips. Pick up some JIS bits and you'll probably never have that problem again. The same applies to just about every Japanese car and bike.

[reek]

Ross - good to know.

Jacob - I didn't notice a hiss, which leads me to believe the vent isn't blocked. The bike did start on reserve.

[craigs449]

If you rode the bike for two hours and then it shut off............you then switched to reserve and she started right up?/////////you ran out of fuel! I get 160-175 miles outta my 01 tank before i hit reserve...

[jestercinti]

It looks like you have enough gas but you don't.

I have seen this many times. The fuel tank tapers and you THINK you have more than you actually do.

Just something to keep in mind.

[mister]

Reek,

Before  Working any more on your bike, first make sure it is really your bike and not short of gas. Do this....

1. Fill her up
2. Reset the trip meter
3. ride until you hit reserve and take note of the trip meter distance
4. Find gas station and fill up.
5. Flip back to On and reset trip meter.
6. Ride until you hit reserve.
7. Take not of trip meter distance and go tank up.
8. Flip back to on, reset trip meter and ride off.

The two readings you got give you a rough idea of you range Before you hit your one gallon reserve. Work out the fuel economy and then how far you can get on half a gallon. Add that distance to your lowest trip meter reading and you have a rough idea on your range while still having gas in the tank.

ALSO, when you fill up, do not shove the entire nozzle into the tank. Instead, hold it so the tip of the nozzle can be seen and does Not go past the filler sleeve. Fill until it starts to come up the sleeve. Be sure to slow down the fill as you get close. Then, make sure you are at this level but giving a soft squirt to see if it starts to come up the sleeve again. For this experiment, take this as your tank being full and then ride off until you hit reserve.

Get back to us with how far you get before the bike hits reserve.

Michael

[adidasguy]

#5071

Interesting what happened in the bike cave this weekend. We were taking the tank off of bluesmudge's bike. Time to turn off the tank petcock. I saw it was not fully on.
"Did you know your fuel was not fully on?", I asked.
"Well", he said, "I have noticed some fuel starvation when hitting full throttle on the highway."
When the tank went back on, we made sure the fuel was fully on.

[reek]

If I simply ran out of gas, then I feel like a complete idiot. i really don't think i drove that far (def. not 100 miles, maybe 50 at the most!). I hit the city and tooled around, and drove to my cousin's house about 20 miles south.  If that's the case, maybe I am grossly overestimating my range on the bike. either way, thanks for the input!

*adidasguy - i will check the tank's petcock to make sure i opened it all the way, just in case.
*mister - i will certainly have to do that and figure out exactly what kind of mileage i'm getting.

[mister]

Another reason to know your mileage is, it can indicate a problem.

E.g. If your riding style does not change and you always put in 3 gallons at 200 miles (made these numbers up for example only) and suddenly you notice yo are putting in 3 gallons at 150 miles, then Something has happened to change the fuel economy.

Michael

[reek]

i'm thinking you guys are absolutely correct, and i was so used to other things on the bike going wrong that i didn't think of the simplest thing. when i put gas in the tank, i filled it with a 2.5 gallon gas can. some of that leaked out at a cracked fuel line until i turned the tank petcock off and replaced the fuel line. so i had maybe 2 gallons in the 4.5 gallon tank. no surprise that i burnt that joyriding. lesson learned.