• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

New Owner - First problem (gas gauge)

  • Thread starter Thread starter bryan
  • Start date Start date
B

bryan

Guest
Today I picked up my 1983 GS1100 ES. VERY happy. After riding a 78 gs550 the past ten years, it's like I just discovered motorcycle riding all over again. Thanks for the help from the folks on the purchase tips.

I was extremely excited to have a gas gauge. I filled up, and by the time I got home the gauge stopped working and resides on E even thought it's full.

Any tips on where to look first? Seems like it would be an easy fix...I hope.

The only other thing I experienced was a god-awful buzz, but when I got home I discovered it was the head lamp hitting the top of the fairing.

I'll post pics soon. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
 
I would first check the connections under your seat where they come off the tank. These bullet connectors are known for bad connections.
 
Absolutely, check the bullet connectors. But also, are you sure the fuel gauge sending unit (in the tank) even has a float? That was my problem.

I used this awesome thread (thanks to Jethro) to fix mine about two years ago. http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=81513&highlight=fuel+gauge+sending+unit

Know that even if you have a float, your pickup could be loose and not connecting with the pickup coil, or it is milaligned and outside the range. Read this thread it'll really help you out. It's the first thing I did, and I was mechanically retarded.

Also from that thread in a later post "The system works on resistance, the more the resistance the lower the reading on the fuel gage. Lower the resistance and the needle moves towards full, when the wiper arm moves it changes the resistance output." I'm not sure what the resistance range should be, but you will need a multimeter to check the resistance as you manually raise and lower the float. That will help you make sure that the blade is in the right range of the coil.

It's really less complicated than I'm making it out to be, honest.
 
Leak?

Leak?

I've had gas gas gauge problems in the past and worked through all of them, successfully, and agree with all of the above comments. Now.....

This is purely a guess. If the tank showed full when you filled it but quickly went to the empty spot on the dial, I would guess, maybe, the float has a hole in it and it filled up with gas after you filled it. That guess is based on little information since I don't know how much gas was in it to start with or where the dial was to start with.:-s
 
Good point chucky.... I hadn't even noticed that it did work. If it worked as some point, you most likely have a float lol. Though the resistance readings could certainly be off, or it could be a problem with the float.

To add to my post, if this hadn't been a situation where the gauge worked at some point, one thing you'd also want to do is use a paperclip or something to bridge the bullet connectors on the gauge sie (not the tank side). Once bridged, the fuel level on the handlebars should start to rise to the top, and once the bridge is removed it should fall back to empty.
 
Thanks, guys. Based on this info, it sounds suspiciously like a float problem.

When I got the bike, it had about half a tank. When I filled it up, it read full. Then somewhere down the road it read Empty. I'll let you know what happens once I get some riding in and get around to it later this season. I can live with it for a while to get some miles in on the new machine! \\:D/
 
bryan said:
Thanks, guys. Based on this info, it sounds suspiciously like a float problem.

When I got the bike, it had about half a tank. When I filled it up, it read full. Then somewhere down the road it read Empty. I'll let you know what happens once I get some riding in and get around to it later this season. I can live with it for a while to get some miles in on the new machine! \\:D/
Click to expand...

Well, based on that, I now think there's a good chance that your connection between the tank and seat are loose (as Bill said). I hope so because that's a really easy fix.

If it's not that, you're going to have to consider JC's advice and check it out that way. It must be one or the other because I don't think your float has a hole in it. Let us know!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top