How much fuel left in tank when light comes on?

[big paw]

Just wondering how many miles or kilometers you can go once your fuel light comes on on the dash for the Vaquero? I have a 20 liter tank which is 5.3 gallons and when my light came on I filled the tank. It took 15.5 liters. That means I should still have close to 1/4 of a tank left. Does this sound right?

[smokey]

Originally Posted by big paw

Just wondering how many miles or kilometers you can go once your fuel light comes on on the dash for the Vaquero? I have a 20 liter tank which is 5.3 gallons and when my light came on I filled the tank. It took 15.5 liters. That means I should still have close to 1/4 of a tank left. Does this sound right?

When the light comes on on the Voyager, I have about 60kms left, I start to drive a little more conservatively at that point.

[HwyRider]

You have 1 US gallon left. If you get 40 mpg then that's the ball park that you have left. I wouldn't push it that far.

[big paw]

Awesome. Thanks for the reply guys. That is a big help.

[Old Bear]

Originally Posted by HwyRider

You have 1 US gallon left. If you get 40 mpg then that's the ball park that you have left. I wouldn't push it that far.

+1 ! When the light comes on, switch your odometer to one of the trip meters and clear it. At least then you have some kind of indicator of how far you have remaining.

[ringadingh]

I almost always run about thirty miles after the light comes on, Ive pushed it to over forty a couple times in a pinch, and only ever ran out once.

[jase64]

when my light comes on i have 1.4 gallons left.

[Jared]

It depends on the bike. I rode with three other Nomads for 5500 miles earlier this month. It was an on going joke at how different our fuel gauges and light read, while we traveled the same roads, at the same speeds and always pumped similar amount of gas.

[fish]

I ran out once

[R_W_B]

I have a habit of setting a trip meter to zero when the fuel light comes on my Nomad (1700). I think my tank holds the same as yours. I once found myself on a lone stretch of road when the tank light started. I set it to zero as usual, I had my wife on the back and when I finally came to a gas store it had 38 miles on the trip meter.

I always fill up with the bike leaning on the side stand so I can get more gas into the tank. I looked at the pump ticket and it said I put 4.8 gals in. So either the tank won't hold the 5.3 gals or I still had 0.7 gals in the tank after 38 miles. I average 40mpg on the gauge readout riding two up.

I would say on normal flat road highway you could count on 40 miles. But I never depend on that. I just got caught on a long wooded stretch that day.

[big paw]

Setting the Trip meter is a great idea. Thanks for the posts.

[tonik]

Originally Posted by R_W_B

I always fill up with the bike leaning on the side stand so I can get more gas into the tank. I looked at the pump ticket and it said I put 4.8 gals in. So either the tank won't hold the 5.3 gals or I still had 0.7 gals in the tank after 38 miles.

Overfilling on the side stand will get you .3 more in the tank. I have checked it a couple of times. So you had about .4 left in the tank. Now, how much of that is usable before it drops below the pickup I don't know. But I would say you were about done at 40 miles.

[R_W_B]

Oh thanks I got the math wrong. I put in 4.8 gals, so 5.3 OEM capacity minus 4.8 = 0.5 (not 0.7). I don't know whether OEM figures capacity with a side stand fill up or not. And yes that was pushing it too close at 38 miles, that's the first time I've got caught that low on a lone stretch of road. But it made it with no sputters.

[napom]

when do you reset the odometer, the first time the light comes on and FUEL starts flashing, or after finally settling in once it bounced back and forth 5 or 6 times between indicating a range of 65 miles one second and then flashing FUEL the next?

[R_W_B]

Originally Posted by napom

when do you reset the odometer, the first time the light comes on and FUEL starts flashing, or after finally settling in once it bounced back and forth 5 or 6 times between indicating a range of 65 miles one second and then flashing FUEL the next?

I've done it both ways. When I fuel up I set both trip meters to zero. When the fuel light comes on I set one of them back to zero. When the readout starts flashing, sometimes I will set the other one to zero. The most I've ever ridden after it was flashing was 9 miles. I always reset one when the light comes on, but I don't always reset when it flashes. I started doing the flash reset once just out of curiosity. When the display starts flashing it's a switch hassle to really get any kind of status then, usually I've already found a gas store by then.

I started doing the light on reset mainly since my Nomad does not show any further decrement of the Bar line after the last one. I.e. you never see any depiction of how much more empty you are past 1/5 of a tank. When the light comes on theoretically going by the OEM capacity you would have 1.06 gals left (5.3 gal / 5 bar divisions = 1.06).So it just kinda lets me know how far I am venturing into that last flashing bar in my hunt for gas.