I picked up my '01 F4i last night and rode it home. I read the owner's manual cover to cover last night and believe I know how the fuel gauge is supposed to work. Just for my clarification, the 4 bars come on as you get to the reserve than the bars go out 1 at a time as you continue riding until just the "res" is flashing when you are truly damn-near empty?

This morning I went out for a ride (a bit less than 2 hours) and all was well until I neared the end. At a stoplight I noticed the 4 fuel bars had appeared. Knowing I had something like 30+ miles left in the tank, I figured I would ride home and fill up later today. I rode on for another 1.5 miles (MAX!) pulled up to a light and as I took off, the bike died on me. Tried to restart it and nothing. Luckily I was facing the gas station and rolled the bike in there.

I put in less than 2 gallons of gas (1.74g) and the bike fired back up and all seems well again. Has anyone else experienced this where technically the bike should have still had 2+ gallons in there and yet the reserve comes on and the bike dies?

Any help or insight would be great. Thanks!

 

My reserve comes on and I add a little over 3 gallons to get to the little cross bar in the tank.

You do understand the whole 'reserve' fuel bar thing so I am wondering if your bike has been apart and the fuel pick up situation in different than it should be. Other than that it could be a completely different problem and totally coincidental.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

You only got 1.5 miles out of the reserve? You should at least be getting 20..

 

I really do wonder. The seller told me that he doesnt like the bike to get to the reserve bars, I assumed because it allows for sediment in the tank to clog the filter more easily. Ill call him tonight and see if he had the same issue. It was puzzling and to be honest, its a bit scary as I dont want to fill up daily just to avoid the bike dying by the side of the road. Even if the reserve gave me 10 miles that would be nice as I could find a gas station with ease. Less than 1 mile makes it tough.

Thanks guys.

All other advice is welcomed!

 

Whenever I first got my f4i, something like that happened... I was cruising along, and the reserve light came on... no big deal, I'm two miles away from a station, tops... well, sure enough, right as I'm at the station, the bike dies. Got her all filled up and went to take off and she still wouldn't turn on... after about 10 tries (and calling my friend to see if he could come by and figure out wtf was happening), my friend managed to get it started... never did get it figured out, but it's the only time it's ever happened...

sorry, I just realized that really didn't help you at all lol... at least you know you're not alone lol

 

Good to know Im not alone.

Well, I went out again just now and had another issue which may have been what caused the bike to die the firsttime (unrelated to the reserve). The bike felt to be surging a little bit while riding and then as I coasted up to a light the bike died (no reserve light this time). It took me a ton of time of turning off the key, then the kill switch, then restarting it to get the bike to fire back up and even then it would fire and idle and then die again after 20s of idling. All this time I could see the FI light would come on and then go back out (I couldnt discern any pattern of flashes...but then again I was kinda freaked out and not really looking for one). Finally I got it to hold an idle so I could ride it the .5 miles home. Once back at my place I left the bike to idle for 5 minutes and it didnt stumble even slightly and never died again.

Im wondering if the above problem was really the reason and I just thought it was out of gas.

Even if that were the case, I think my reserve light comes on too early as according to the manual I probably had atleast 2 gallons in the tank before filling up...

Sorry to throw so many questions into one thread but this bike is feeling a bit like "Christine" at the moment.

 

That problem sounds like it could be a lot of different things, but it also sounds like what happened to me when my r/r went bad. It was barely charging the battery at idle (13V) but when the revs went up the voltage dropped and I'd end up draining the battery. It was frustrating to figure out because the bike would die while I was crusiing along, so I'd pull over, but then the bike would start right back up.

Later I let it idle in the driveway for 30 minutes and it didn't stumble at all- clearly related to load on the engine.

The moral of the story is check your charging voltage!

 

R/R = ?? ( Starter, Alternator, something-regulator?)

Its funny you mention the power issue as generally during the day I have been riding with my high-beams on. Today when it died and I was restarting it with the high-beams still engaged it was straining. As soon as I turned the high-beams off and tried to restart it seemed to start with far more ease.

I did run out before it got dark and pulled the seat off and changed the starter fuse just in case to the spare 10A. Before replacing the fuse I started the bike and it fired just fine so I didnt think I was really doing much, but there was some corrosion on the fuse I pulled. FWIW, there is now a new 10A fuse in the starting slot. I also checked the battery and the connections looked good, but Im used to cars and the terminal posts, so I didnt know exactly how to go about checking the connection on this motorcycle battery.

Im not super mechanical and am having my CCTL replaced this week along with the chain and sprockets and may have this looked at during the same shop visit. Who knows. Unless this is something super easy to diagnose and fix.

 

R/r = regulator/rectifier. It takes high voltage AC from the stator and converts it into 13-15V DC to charge the battery and run the bike.

Yeah, definitely check your charging voltage. Measure the battery voltage with the engine off- should be well over 12V, closer to 13V. Then start the engine, and measure the battery voltage again. It should be close to the voltage with the engine off. Then rev the motor to 5000 rpm and measure again. The voltage should be over 14V.

 

I was really hoping this would be the cause. I went to Lowe's after work and picked up a VoltMeter for the testing. Tried it out just now and it read 12.9V when off, right around 13V when switched on, and then 14.3 or so when revved to 5k rpms. It did seem to fluctuate a bit while being revved..but it never fell below 14V (well it went to7V during the start of therev, but quickly returned to 14V)

Any other ideas?