Ran out of gas today... reserve didnt work???

jpw · June 12, 2004, 10:33:48 PM

Going up hill, lost all power, so i coasted to a intersection, tried to start it back up, wouldnt fire.... so i flip the reserve switch to reserve. I crank on it for while but no fire.... i flip the level to prime and it started but as soon as i got to the other side of the intersection it die..

I then called my mom to bring me some gas

I got sick of waiting and was playing with the reserve lever back and forth to prim and reserve, ii also tipped the bike side to side to maybe get some gas down the lines, ( i could still see a little bit in the tank) I did this untilll the batterry was almost dead, turning over reall slow.... I was on a hill so i tried rolling it down the hill.... started but died right away, Pushed the bike back up to the top of the hill and waited for mom....

Dumped the gas in... rolled the bike down the hill ( batt was dead cause of me cranking so muchn) and took right off...

I wanna know if anyone else would know why the reserve would not work?

yamahonkawazuki · June 12, 2004, 11:55:22 PM

the gs tank can appear to have plenty, but be alomst empty

June 13, 2004, 12:17:11 AM

just an idea - are you sure you have the reserve/on around the right way? You can run the bike on reserve and it just keeps filling the reserve part of the tank with the normal tank. At least this is my understanding... maybe I can be corrected if I am wrong.

For example if you switch to reserve and go get gas and forget to switch back onto the "on" then when you run out of gas and switch it around to what you think is reserve it is actually "on" then you will have no gas left at all...

hope that makes sense and its a simple thing to miss....

Stay Safe

Kerry · June 13, 2004, 12:23:24 AM

Seeing as how your bike has been taken totally apart before (I saw the frame-being-painted pic on the eBay auction), I'm betting that the ON and RES fuel lines were switched at the gas tank when the bike was reassembled.

Check out my Fuel Hose Routing page for the correct routing.

HINT: Just about EVERY diagram of the GS500 fuel system (except for the one at the bottom of that page) consistently shows the fuel-tank-mounted-petcock rotated 180 degrees from reality. Most people don't realize that, so when they reattach the fuel hoses they do it backwards. This is true of diagrams in the Haynes and Clymer manuals, the fiche on the BikeBandit and Ron Ayers sites, you name it.

For a painfully involved examination of this topic, see the thread Out of gas, no reserve? and the follow-up thread Tank Petcock Test Results - Which is Res?

Here is another of several related threads: Im not an idiot but i ran out of gas today

PS - I don't include links in my posts lightly. If you haven't clicked on them ... please DO!

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

tt_four · June 13, 2004, 12:40:39 AM

what size tank does the 91 gs have? 2gallon? and how far can you get before it dies on you? haven't run out since i got the bike, but my other bike has a gas light, and even with that i've ran out of gas, but the gs i don't have a clue, i just make sure it doesn't go more than 100milesbefore it gets refilled

Kerry · June 13, 2004, 12:46:53 AM

The "party line" is that the '91 model year has a 4.5-gallon tank (4.0 if a California model), with one of those gallons being the REServe. See the Suzuki GS500E model history page.

I get 55-60 mpg on my '99, and when I let it go all the way to REServe my trip meter shows somewhere between 170-185 miles. I guess my REServe is closer to a gallon and a half.

This assumes that I remember to reset my trip meter when I fill up....

70 Cam Guy · June 13, 2004, 10:33:38 AM

Quote from: tt_fourwhat size tank does the 91 gs have? 2gallon? and how far can you get before it dies on you? haven't run out since i got the bike, but my other bike has a gas light, and even with that i've ran out of gas, but the gs i don't have a clue, i just make sure it doesn't go more than 100milesbefore it gets refilled

I have a '90. Depending on my enthusiasm, I can go anywhere from 130-150ish miles before switching to reserve. There's no light but you'll know when you need to switch because you'll loose all power and hitting the gas hard nearly kills the engine. It really sucks when it happens on an onramp (only happened once but it sucks)

jpw · June 13, 2004, 11:58:32 AM

I have a clymer manual for it... I checked the lines they seems to be on correct way.... ill have to check it again maybe...

WHat is the inlet on tank next to the on off valve on the tank for?.... Its like welded right into the tank and is not connected to the on of valce.

Quote from: KerrySeeing as how your bike has been taken totally apart before (I saw the frame-being-painted pic on the eBay auction), I'm betting that the ON and RES fuel lines were switched at the gas tank when the bike was reassembled.

Check out my Fuel Hose Routing page for the correct routing.

HINT: Just about EVERY diagram of the GS500 fuel system (except for the one at the bottom of that page) consistently shows the fuel-tank-mounted-petcock rotated 180 degrees from reality. Most people don't realize that, so when they reattach the fuel hoses they do it backwards. This is true of diagrams in the Haynes and Clymer manuals, the fiche on the BikeBandit and Ron Ayers sites, you name it.

For a painfully involved examination of this topic, see the thread Out of gas, no reserve? and the follow-up thread Tank Petcock Test Results - Which is Res?

Here is another of several related threads: Im not an idiot but i ran out of gas today

PS - I don't include links in my posts lightly. If you haven't clicked on them ... please DO!

Kerry · June 13, 2004, 12:15:53 PM

Wouldn't you know it? The text I added to the diagram from the Clymer link above states the case exactly wrong.

What I should have said was:

The hoses that attach to the tank-mounted petock are shown in their correct, final POSITIONs, but are matched to the incorrect OUTLETs because the petcock is shown BACKWARDS.[/list:u]I'll have to rescan the diagram and remake that "slide" when I get home again. Sigh....

EDIT: Fixed the annotation on the Clymer diagram.

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

jpw · June 13, 2004, 05:05:39 PM

Quote from: KerryWouldn't you know it? The text I added to the diagram from the Clymer link above states the case exactly wrong.

What I should have said was:
The hoses that attach to the tank-mounted petock are shown in their correct, final POSITIONs, but are matched to the incorrect OUTLETs because the petcock is shown BACKWARDS.[/list:u]I'll have to rescan the diagram and remake that "slide" when I get home again. Sigh....

I notice in the book they had the valve on the tank flipped around in the book, is this what your talking about?

well the way hooked it up was i looked in the book and saw which hose when to the longer inlet on the valve and looked to see where that hose went on the reserve valve and connected it their.... did the same with the other hose from the tank..

Kerry · June 13, 2004, 05:40:35 PM

Quote from: jpwI notice in the book they had the valve on the tank flipped around in the book, is this what your talking about?

Right.

Quote from: jpwwell the way hooked it up was i looked in the book and saw which hose when to the longer inlet on the valve and looked to see where that hose went on the reserve valve and connected it their.... did the same with the other hose from the tank..

I must confess that your description has me a little confused as to how your hoses ended up. The final word (for pre-2001, non-California models) is this diagram:

If your ON and RES hoses are "crossed over" and connected to the wrong outlets then your out-of-gas experience makes sense to me. Otherwise ... :dunno:

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

oldsport · June 13, 2004, 10:00:56 PM

Hi JPW,
I had the same thing happen to me. No reserve.

Advice. Listen to Kerry. I didn't and it cost me a $3.00 donation to gstwins.com to settle up.

To make a long story short, the hoses were switched at some point in the past.

After several extensive scientific tests involving several gas cans, I decided that he's correct and the long tube exiting the tank marked with an 'R' at it's base is the reserve hose. Just ignore all the various pictures and go with that.

OS

jpw · June 13, 2004, 10:05:05 PM

Im pretty sure thats the way their hooked up( in the picture) but ill check again...

Ed89 · June 13, 2004, 10:26:53 PM

Another possibility is that the plastic "filter" inside of the tank (the one mounted above the tank-mounted petcock on Kerry's diagram) may have been switched.

Cheers,
e.

Kerry · June 14, 2004, 12:06:23 AM

As far as I know, it's all a single part. At least, there's only one part number for both pieces. (See the Ron Ayers diagram.) The O-ring gasket is a separate part, of course.

I would be interested to know if anyone has actually tried to pull the screen off of the petcock base. That would be good info to have....

But the point is that most people, even those who have pulled the hoses from the tank-mounted petcock, have never really seen the filter inside the tank. With good reason ... who cares, right? You shouldn't HAVE to!

This isn't the greatest picture, but it was taken from the right side of my bike. The filter is facing forward, and the long (RES) outlet underneath is facing forward, too. I have never removed the petcock/filter from the fuel tank:

So! When all you can see is the outlet tubes sticking out below the tank, and some of the diagrams show the RIGHT hoses headed towards the WRONG outlet tubes, it's easy to goof it up, through no fault of your own.

I can feel an expansion of my Fuel Hose Routing page coming on....

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

Kerry · June 14, 2004, 12:22:10 AM

Quote from: oldsportthe long tube exiting the tank marked with an 'R' at it's base is the reserve hose. Just ignore all the various pictures and go with that.

Yeah, but you gotta know which inlet on the frame-mounted petcock is the RES inlet, right?

Ergo the need for diagrams, and the one I posted above labels the hose.

ashman · June 14, 2004, 10:31:37 AM

depending on how much you were rushing. did you switch it over then let it sit for a few min. IF you just rushed and started cranking it a few times then switched it to prime nd tried a few then switched to something else, maybe you didnt have enuff patience.

1st time i ran out I first thought i broke it, then thought back to MSF and duhhh! outta gas. when it gets to the point where it just dies on you there isnt any fuel left in that line. So i switched nd tried again, nothing. then i said ehh, give it 5 min. POOF i was on my way.

-ash

jpw · June 14, 2004, 04:42:44 PM

Well i think i found the problem, the long and short tubes were switch around on the tank valve, so the hoses were switch around, ill see what happens with then hoses on the right way..... :lol:

Kerry · June 14, 2004, 04:53:49 PM

Hmmm. So are you saying that the long tube is in the FRONT (correct, but "switched around" according to the Clymer/Haynes/BikeBandit/Ron Ayers diagrams), or that the long tube is in the REAR?

Because if the long tube is in the REAR you will not be able to turn off the tank-mouned petcock without either removing it from the tank or coming up with a fancy right-angle blade of some kind...!

jpw · June 14, 2004, 06:57:01 PM

Quote from: KerryHmmm. So are you saying that the long tube is in the FRONT (correct, but "switched around" according to the Clymer/Haynes/BikeBandit/Ron Ayers diagrams), or that the long tube is in the REAR?

Because if the long tube is in the REAR you will not be able to turn off the tank-mouned petcock without either removing it from the tank or coming up with a fancy right-angle blade of some kind...!

Umm i dont remeber which one tube was longer... but i looked in the book for the reserve line to frame petcock, and look for the R on the tank petcock and connect the hose.....

I dont why which tube being in front or back would matter to turn the tank valve off with the tank on, it seems almost impossible to me.... i always took the tank off and shut off the valve then remove those hose

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Ran out of gas today... reserve didnt work???