Im not an idiot but i ran out of gas today

[johncam4]

on the way to my class i ran out of gas, it sucked watching people pass while i pushed up a hill.  Every one though my bike broke down....i get to explain it was just a stupid mistake. :guns:

[pantablo]

I bet you wont make that mistake again!
If you did...well, then you would be an idiot...or is only after it happens the third time?

[AR5ENAL]

you're not an idiot...well, you might be, but at least you're in good company. :mrgreen:  that happened to me twice (i had no odometer at the time).  then, i got an internal sense of how far my bike could go without needing gas.

[Kerry]

Please forgive me if the following sounds condescending; I'm not sure how many of the "Out of Gas" type threads you have read, so I don't want to assume any particular level of experience on your part.

Are you familiar with the operation of the ON / RES /PRI petcock?  You didn't mention which position the petcock was on when you ran out of gas.  If it was still in the ON position, you could have switched the petcock to REServe and easily made it to a gas station.  If you ran out of gas in the REServe position, you may still have been able to ride a few more miles using the PRIme position.

See the old thread gas problem.. for sure for details on a "down to fumes" experience I had while on a long trip last year.

[Michael]

Yes, you are!    But then, most of us have been at least once.  :dunno:  At least the GS is light to push.  :lol:

[perfdrug]

i ran mine to death just this weekend. i was luckily about a 5 min walk from home. hopped in my cage, got some gas at the station in a jug, and filled er up.

i have a '96, and my ON position doesn't work, so i always have to ride reserve. how many miles should i expect to get?
i'm gonna drain and clean the tank in the next couple weekends, but i'm really busy, and, aside from running out of gas, it's not that much of a pain to always run in RES.

[seamax]

I just did the same the other day while heading to work. At first I was lik 'oh sh!t', thinking I had a mechanical problem. Switch my baby to 'reserve' and cruised a couple more miles to the gas station.

It is deceiving because even after it was out of gas and I was  on reserve, the gas tank looks like it had a gallon or gallon and a half left of gas in it.

[scratch]

Don't feel bad. I've done it three times trying to guage my range.

[djplumking]

I did it driving home from the lot. Then dropped it trying to figure out where the damn switch was.

[MarkusN]

It is deceiving because even after it was out of gas and I was  on reserve, the gas tank looks like it had a gallon or gallon and a half left of gas in it.

Oh, it has.

I ran a test about a week ago. Packe d a small can of gas in my trusty tank bag and ran her unel she gave up. I have to switch to Reserve after 230 km usually, can fill in about 11 l at that time. This time I squeezed 308 km out of the tank, took 16 l to fill up again.

[octane]

Don't feel bad - happened to me last weekend. I have no speedo on the bike - hence no odometer. The bike must use a bit more gas with the jet kit and pod too because I swear I should have had some range left. Then again...I have no odometer and I've been throttle happy since I did the new mods. And for those who will say - "Put it in reserve dumbass", it wasn't picking anything up - reserve coughed me down the road for about another mile, not far enough to exit.

Anyhow, the worst part of the whole thing is that I ran out of gas on an interstate, 2 miles from a bike rally. How many bikers do you think stopped to help me? ONE! Most rode by and looked at me - not even a wave - both hogs and sport bikes. A few of the hardcore H-D guys flipped me off too. That was especially nice. But the one biker that did stop was on a chopper. I had alreaddy called my bro on my cell to bring gas, so I was ok - but it frustrated me that probably 80 bikes passed me in the 40 minutes I was waiting and onlly one stopped. A carload of dudes in a Cavalier stopped to give me a ride  too.

And as long as we're on the stop and help a biker in need rant - a few years ago I was riding around upstate NY in July and I've never met so many nice bikers in one place. Several times when I had pulled over on the shoulder to check a map or something, guys would stop to make sure I was ok.

[Kerry]

for those who will say - "Put it in reserve [...]", it wasn't picking anything up - reserve coughed me down the road for about another mile, not far enough to exit.

Now THIS is the kind of situation that interests me.

1)What model year?

2)Are you SURE the ON and RES hoses aren't switched at the fuel tank petcock?

3) I guess it's too late now to switch to PRI and lean the bike to the left (while stopped) to drain more fuel out, but I would love to know how well that (would have) worked for you.

4) Did you push at all, or did the cell phone force you into inactivity?  (Just kidding!  :mrgreen: )

[MarkusN]

3) I guess it's too late now to switch to PRI and lean the bike to the left (while stopped) to drain more fuel out, but I would love to know how well that (would have) worked for you.

I always wonder how PRI supposedly should get you farther than RES, as it's taken from the same hose. I see the need to switch to PRI once it's died, but as long as the motor is running, RES should give you the same range.

I ask because when I did my test I conterbalanced to lean the bike to the left when I felt the fist surges of fuel running out (there was a gas station a few hundred meters ahead, I'd rather have used that than to revert to the gas can I brought along) but to no avail. Of course you can conterbalance only this much, but when the bike stood and I leaned her over real good on PRI I still couldn't get it to start again.

Of course the whole thing happened on a incline of about 5%. This might have contributet to the pickup falling dry as well.

[octane]

for those who will say - "Put it in reserve [...]", it wasn't picking anything up - reserve coughed me down the road for about another mile, not far enough to exit.

Now THIS is the kind of situation that interests me.

1)What model year?

2)Are you SURE the ON and RES hoses aren't switched at the fuel tank petcock?

3) I guess it's too late now to switch to PRI and lean the bike to the left (while stopped) to drain more fuel out, but I would love to know how well that (would have) worked for you.

4) Did you push at all, or did the cell phone force you into inactivity?  (Just kidding!  :mrgreen: )

It's a '93 with a '91 tank and '96 or '97 petcock. Hoses are correct - at least according to my Haynes manual. Prime didn't do much for me, I could get the bike to fire, but at any rpm above idle it'd cough and die. I pushed for about 1/4 mile, but it was 95 degrees, I was wearing all my gear, and the next exit was still about 1/2 mile away - with the closest gas station about another 1/2 mile from the exit! Lots of pushing in the heat!

[Kerry]

It's a '93 with a '91 tank and '96 or '97 petcock. Hoses are correct - at least according to my Haynes manual.

I looked in my '89-'97 Haynes manual, and this is the only fuel system diagram I found:



The problem with this diagram (besides items 3-6 which only appear on California models) is that the "main fuel chicken" (item 2) is shown BACKWARDS.  Just like in the BikeBandit diagrams.  NOTE: The hoses are shown attached to the correct outlet tubes, but the front outlet tube should be in the back, and vice versa.

Here is a photo taken (obviously) from the right side of my '99, from which the "main fuel chicken" has never been removed.  See how the screen is facing FORWARD?


Here is a photo of my "main fuel chicken" from the front.  Notice the "R" stamped into the metal above the (LONGER) tube:



I'm just guessing here octane, but I'd say your hoses are attached backwards.  (Unless you mounted the "main fuel chicken" backwards like in the diagram, but then you would have had a Dickens of a time trying to turn the petcock to the vertical ON position.)  IF my guess is right, then when you ran out of fuel you were really OUT, and no hose configuration would have helped....

Here is an accurate diagram of the fuel system and hose routing, at least for 1989-2000, non-CA bikes.  (Still waiting to hear from oldsport about 2001+ bikes.)


EDIT: Changed links from sisna.com to bbburma.net

[Kerry]

I always wonder how PRI supposedly should get you farther than RES, as it's taken from the same hose. I see the need to switch to PRI once it's died, but as long as the motor is running, RES should give you the same range.

Yeah, but there IS a difference.  As you know, fuel flow on the RES setting is vacuum-controlled.  I don't claim to know exactly how the vacuum system works, since I haven't opened up my petcock - yet.

Still, if I can theorize for a sec, it makes sense to me that the hydraulic pressure from the weight of the fuel above (which is strictly a function of the depth, not the volume) assists the vacuum supplied by the left carburetor.  When the fuel level gets super low, couldn't the "assist" from the hydraulic pressure be insufficient to allow the petcock diaphragm to operate?  :dunno:

In the PRI position, there is no obstruction from the vacuum-actuated petcock diaphragm, and fuel should flow as long as there is a downward path.

[...]when the bike stood and I leaned her over real good on PRI I still couldn't get it to start again.

Of course the whole thing happened on a incline of about 5%. This might have contributet to the pickup falling dry as well.

When I recently drained my tank (using the 2-can method  :mrgreen: ) I found that when the fuel stopped flowing I could get a little more to come down the RES hose by either 1) tilting the tank to the left, or 2) tilting the tank forward and backward.

If you look at the 2nd picture in my previous post, this "tilt talk" may make more sense.  (The little "plateau" on the floor of the tank will prevent the tank from TOTALLY draining this way.)  And yes, a 5% incline just MAY have prevented the "lean-to-the-left trick" from working for you.  Maybe if you had leaned (a little) AND rocked the bike forward and back...?

[Kerry]

After spouting a bunch of research results on the GS500 fuel system, I discovered a day or two ago that _I_ was well on the way to running out of gas because of a stupid mistake.

On the 11th I emptied my fuel tank into a couple of gas cans to test a theory about the tank-mounted petcock.  After putting the bike back together I turned the frame-mounted petcock to the PRI position to make sure my carburetors were full.

A week later I passed the 200-mile mark on that tank of gas without switching to REServe.  I thought my recent valve clearance adjustment had performed a "gas mileage miracle".  Luckily, I did a visual insection of the petcock and found that it was still on PRIme - before I ran out of gas.

Whew!

[MarkusN]

A week later I passed the 200-mile mark on that tank of gas without switching to REServe.  I thought my recent valve clearance adjustment had performed a "gas mileage miracle".  Luckily, I did a visual insection of the petcock and found that it was still on PRIme - before I ran out of gas.

Whew!

Been there, done that.