Fuel gauge is all crazy.

[Odinist]

I noticed it Friday first. I was leaving the diner me and my brother had ridden to, and even though I had plenty of gas in the tank, it read completely empty, like it wasn't getting signal. About 10 miles down the road, we stopped for a bit to see some friends, and when I started the bike, the gauge started reading again.

Last night, my fuel gauge was showing that I was at about 1/8th or so of a tank. I stopped to get gas, and could only put 2.3 gallons in (so I had almost half a tank). Figuring that up, with the amount of miles I'd ridden since my last fill up, I was getting right about 40MPG (w00t).

I read through the thing about adjusting the little floaty deal inside the tank, which I'll most likely do soon, but I'm thinking that since it showed a completely empty tank back on Friday, that maybe it's something else, like a weird connection that's jacked up? Any ideas?

 

[1978GS1000custom]

pull the tank and check the ground at the sender. while the tank is off clean all the electrical plugs going to and from the sender. those gas gauges and senders are pretty darn bullet proof. its gotta be something in the wiring. any other electrical devises seem goofy or just the fuel gauge?

 

[doctorgonzo]

Could be connection, but could also be the float sticking.

 

[Odinist]

Just the fuel gauge. Everything else electrical on the bike works great.

 

[Baatfam]

Until I got my first street legal GS, I never had a bike with a gas gauge...pretty weird...

Dang fancy pants, overly complicated machines....

 

[frosty5011]

Although it's probably not the problem, since you say everything else works fine.......this will also happen if the battery gets too low.

It was the first sign I had on my 850L that the R/R had gone out. I was out on a longer trip and you could literally watch the gas gauge go down while riding, until it got to the point where the engine would not run anymore.

 

[Odinist]

Although it's probably not the problem, since you say everything else works fine.......this will also happen if the battery gets too low.

It was the first sign I had on my 850L that the R/R had gone out. I was out on a longer trip and you could literally watch the gas gauge go down while riding, until it got to the point where the engine would not run anymore.

Yeah, blinkers blink correctly, headlight lights up fine (it's dim though, but I can tell that's because it's old since it doesn't get brighter when I rev), horn works, starts first time every time. Brand new stator and battery.