fuel light flashing how many miles till it runs out

[jans1971]

only had my sv for for five days i filled it up after the first time it was flashing and now its flashing again, how many miles will it go before it runs out

[therealvw]

Should tell you in the manual somewhere. BUT, I think it probably starts to flash when it has about 5 litres in, then goes to fully on when it gets to about 3 litres.
I'm sure someone on here will get the proper figures for you though.

[pupdog123]

The fuel indicator light will flicker when you drop below 4 litres, the light will remain lit when you have less than 1.5 litres in the tank. Most people from what i can gather on here set there trip to zero, fill up and then do 100 miles and then fill up again, that way you should never run out of fuel...... hopefully :cool::cool:

[therealvw]

Yep,. jusrt checked in the manual and for a curvy model which I have it is,
3.5L it will flash, and below 1.5L it stay on. Which is about a third of a gallon.
Working on about 40MPG, you should have about 13 miles or so. SO at 3.5 Litres (.99of a gallon)when it starts flashing you should have about 39 miles.
Hope that helps!

[Ceri JC]

I've had 35 miles of motorway riding, and when I stopped I still had 0.9 litres in there according to the fuel pump. I've done this twice.

Anything over 25 miles is taking a risk IMO though and I avoid it if at all possible.

[ASM-Forever]

Not overly SV relevant, but im gonna share anyway.....

I discovered on monday that my bike starts a new 'trip' when the fuel lights comes on solidly, which is cool. When it gets really low(less 1 litre by my calculations) it switched to a 5 mile countdown.

When i had an SV i did as a previous poster indicated and filled up every 100 :)

[muffles]

I have that too :D a reserve mileage counter, from when the light first starts flashing. Don't have any 5 mile countdown, not that I've run it that close though lol!

[ASM-Forever]

I have that too :D a reserve mileage counter, from when the light first starts flashing. Don't have any 5 mile countdown, not that I've run it that close though lol!

Its quite possible you do...i didn't know it did that until Monday. :p

SS600's rule!

[MR UKI (1)]

Yep,. jusrt checked in the manual and for a curvy model which I have it is,
3.5L it will flash, and below 1.5L it stay on. Which is about a third of a gallon.
Working on about 40MPG, you should have about 13 miles or so. SO at 3.5 Litres (.99of a gallon)when it starts flashing you should have about 39 miles.
Hope that helps!

Nothing to do with the thread 'therealvw', but noticed the Mark & Lard lines from your signature, god i miss those 2 on a weekday afternoon! Got a 'shout out' on the show from them for my 18th birthday, still got it on cassette somewhere! :D

[Alastair]

When people refer to the light as 'flashing' do you actually mean it's on for about a minute and then off for a minute? That's what mine does, K3. It certainly doesn't 'flash'.

[Alpinestarhero]

Hurrah! Love this question

My carb'd curvy will do anywhere between 120 (thrashing) to 150 (sedate) before the light comes on...then theres prob still 4 or 5 litres left

Matt

[Ruffy]

only had my sv for for five days i filled it up after the first time it was flashing and now its flashing again, how many miles will it go before it runs out

Try it! - find an easy circuit of approx 1 mile that passes a petrol station, pack a petrol can, a lock and some cash and just keep riding until it runs out. Lockit up and take the can to the petrol station to rescue yourseld. Then you'll know for sure and it won't be too far to walk!

On all the bikes I've had, reserve (either with a old style tap or after a dashboard indication) has usually been 15-30 miles worth, but hitting reserve is basically the sign to go and fuel up.

I always zero my trip when I fuel up and make a mental note of mileage when it hits reserve. After using several tanks, you get a feel for how far the bike will go 'til reserve, which helps with planning fuel stops. For example, on our current crop of bikes, the wife's SV does about 120-130 miles 'til the fuel light comes on, her TZR250 does 100-110 before it splutters, for my VFR800 it's about 160-170 miles 'til the fuel gauge flashes and my old FZ600 did 130-140 before I had to twiddle the tap.

[ASM-Forever]

It all depends on what sort of riding you are doing and whether you are smooth/ride the bike hard etc. I have had over 150 miles on a tank for my R6 but i have also had half that!

Then there are all sorts of other variables such as mods that will make a difference.

Rider height/weight/body shape is also going to change things.

As i believe Grinch proved using 97 ron over 95 will increase mileage slightly.

A while back my instructor said the same as the previous poster with regards to running it until it ran out. Personally i've never seen the sense in that as there are too many variables to get an accurate answer.

After a while you will get a feel for how much you will get out of it.

Personally i just use the fuel light uness i am commuting, in which case i fill it up every other day.

[gettin2dizzy]

Try it! - find an easy circuit of approx 1 mile that passes a petrol station, pack a petrol can, a lock and some cash and just keep riding until it runs out.....

I can think of a million things I'd rather do/need to do instead!

[plowsie]

Now did i read this thread last week or is this a new one :rolleyes:

£10 used to get me 105 ish miles (nice riding) 90-100 (thrapping)

Not tried with new one yet, trip is still the same from when i set off from Hull :D

[Samnooshka]

When people refer to the light as 'flashing' do you actually mean it's on for about a minute and then off for a minute? That's what mine does, K3. It certainly doesn't 'flash'.

K3's don't flash they just have a fuel light... not sure about the K4's but on the K5's onwards they put a flashing fuel light and then it goes solid once you are down to about 1.5ltr.


Mine also does come on flashing and then stops again depending on the gradient of the road.

Generally though i fill up as soon as i reach about 110 miles, but an average tank milliage (to flashing light) for me is 140 and thats gunning it too. I know i have about 30 or 40 miles before i really need to fill up. Each bike will be slightly different anyway, guess i'm just lucky with the fueling on mine.

[JediGoat]

K3's don't flash they just have a fuel light... not sure about the K4's but on the K5's onwards they put a flashing fuel light and then it goes solid once you are down to about 1.5ltr.

My K4 seems to behave like a K3, i.e.:

My bike: You need fuel!
*wait 30 secs*
My bike: Oh...b*gger, my mistake, no you don't.
*another 30sec*
My bike: Aha.....I was right the first time, yes you do!
*you get the idea*
My bike: Mwhahaha....how much do you trust me....? :twisted:

Jo <- owner of a talking K4

[muffles]

I have had over 150 miles on a tank for my R6 but i have also had half that!

I did 63 miles before the light started flashing on my GSX-R the other day :smt119

Filling up @ 90 odd miles on that same tank I got 15 litres in!! I couldn't believe it! It was 26mpg odd :eek:

Then I went out last weekend with a few mates and I realised why - 16000rpm :smt041

p.s. that tank above WAS the worst I've ever had on this bike, by far...and I've done 3200 miles now so enough to know I think! Lol!

[skint]

How many miles have you done?!!! Five days and only just fuelled it back up?

I normally fill up every 100 - 110 miles on my gixer and always before every ride. I don't expect to get much more than 125 miles and i seem to recall when we had a SV we used the system. Anything else takes too much thought!! :D

[drefraser]

I've got '99 curvy. From a full tank the flashing light came on at 135 miles, the solid light came on at 146 miles and it ran out of petrol at 182 miles. It took 15.8 litres to fill.
And if anyone was worried about how I got to the petrol station it conveniently conked out just before pumps :)

[Kinvig]

My K4 seems to behave like a K3, i.e.:

My bike: You need fuel!
*wait 30 secs*
My bike: Oh...b*gger, my mistake, no you don't.
*another 30sec*
My bike: Aha.....I was right the first time, yes you do!
*you get the idea*
My bike: Mwhahaha....how much do you trust me....? :twisted:

Jo <- owner of a talking K4

lol

[metalmonkey]

Well I got 168 miles out of MY SV on a full tank which I think is rather good.

I get less around town espically going to work, as its stop start filtering in busy traffic, i get probally 120 miles...

It really depends on how I ride and aclerate, faster u go the more gas you use. I got work err in 10/15 mintues last week, I guess I used a bit more then;)

If I'm around loads of petrol station with the light flashing I'll wait it turns on fully, but I did think I was going to run a while back, the bike coughed and I though oh crap. I had just over litre in the tank by the time I filled up!

The K6 fuel does flash....also it flashes and goes off depends sometimes on the level of the ground.

[CB1ROCKET]

My K4 fuel light comes on at one point then goes out for 3 miles, then 3 miles later it comes on again, then it will go out and come on again in 2 miles. and so on.

I don't think there is any such thing as a flashing fuel light, its a solid light that stays on when the fuel meter detects its low. So if its getting near the reserve mark it will just flicker at random intervals. When the fuel is totally past the reserve meter detector, it will then remain on as others have said.

[metalmonkey]

I can assure you that is a flashing fuel light on my bike, becasue I have seen it......it is also mentioned in the manuel, can't be botherd to dig it out, but a flashing light means that there is some fuel left a soild light means fill me now.

[therealvw]

ditto Bluethunder.
My curvey has a flashing one too. Warning for low, about 5 litres, then steady after it gets to 3 litres left, or something similar.

[CB1ROCKET]

ditto Bluethunder.
My curvey has a flashing one too. Warning for low, about 5 litres, then steady after it gets to 3 litres left, or something similar.

but does it just randomly flicker, or does it do it properly? like a consistant flash, not just some random on, off > 5mins later on, 3 mins later goes out etc and so on

[therealvw]

Nope, proper timed on and off.

[CB1ROCKET]

ok thats clears things up. Goes to say that as your fuel level first hits the reserve mark, the light will flash even if the fuel rises back up the reserve mark. So proper electronic fuel metering light has been omitted for my pointy in particular.

Ta

[therealvw]

Thats a bugger. Maybe take it back to the Garage?

I presume though that as soon as it does start to come on you go fill up.

so why bother taking it back!??

[CB1ROCKET]

i think its just cutting corners in the design department to save a few quids in manufacture.............