[RidleytheRed]

Okay, so I ran out of gas yesterday (first time I had to fill up on the new bike), It was a stupid mistake. When I first got the bike the guy told me the tank was “mostly” full. I should have taken it right to the gas-station and topped it off, but I didn’t for some reason. Anyway, I was on my way home and going to stop at the station to fill up but ran out about a block before the station, went and got a gallon and rode tho bike there. When I filled at the pump it only took 1.1 gallons before it stopped the nozzle and wouldn’t let me fill any more. I thought that was kinda odd, so when I got home I checked and the tank is supposed to hold ~5 gallons. I’ve never filled a motorcycle tank before yesterday so is there something I might have done wrong?

I think there’s a reserve tank too, but I’m certain I was running with the fuel valve on ON, not RES or the other setting.

[megaspaz]

Over in cali, most gas pumps have nozzle sensors that stop pumping when gas touches the tip of the nozzle. You need to continually move the nozzle up when it stops and look in the hole to stop pumping when you see gas touching the tank’s the fill line.

—
If there’s anything more important than my ego
around, I want it caught and shot now…

[Jim]

Well can’t explain what is going on with your bike but here is one piece of advice. Your bike probably doesn’t have a fuel gauge but should have a trip meter. Get used to resetting that every time you fill up. So figure your tank size * mpg and when that gets close to the trip meter time to fill up. I ran out of gas my first week too! Luckily it was right by a gas station.

[RidleytheRed]

I found the reserve fuel switch guide on the site which answered a lot of my questions (wish I checked there first).

My bike has the Pri. On Res. type of valve so that’s where I got confused. Now I know what to do. Thanks for the comments though, they’ll help next time I fill up.

[Budd]

You can’t just stick the nozel in like a car. You have to barely put it in and watch carefully for it to fill to the base of the little rim that extends down into your tank.

“I am the best there is at what I do, and what I do ain’t nice.”-Wolverine

[BoOZe P-ti Motard]

the xj650 does not have fuel indication? i removed mine from my first bike ;p after every 100 miles i’d check the tank coz i dont have reserve… imean it does have, indicated by the fuel meter. when the needle would rest on red the extreme red, i have 1.5L left….dang

BoOZe
Solomolo Rider

[Andrew]

Is there a fill line in all tanks or do you just get it close to the top?

[megaspaz]

NO. Never fill all the way to the top of the tank. The nozzle opening for fuel tanks should be about a 1 inch cylinder. Just fill to the bottom of that cylinder.

—
If there’s anything more important than my ego
around, I want it caught and shot now…

[rt]

as somebody said, don’t fill it up like a car.
eye ball it yourself without sticking the nozzle all the way in.
don’t pull the trigger all the way either. light touch it.
avoid topping it off until you get use to it.

[Rab]

Most gas pumps in this area have a rubber sheathed springy jacket around the actual gas filler nozzle. The purpose of this is to suck up the gas *fumes* while you’re filling. This means that there’s less chance of an explosion and also helps in reducing air pollution. That’s all well and good but…

It’s set up so that the gas won’t pump when you pull the lever unless the filler nozzle is pushed all the way into the gas tank, thus compressing the springy sheath which surrounds the filler nozzle.

This works fine on a car (which has a long filler neck), but not on some bikes as they may have an obstruction in the tank (e.g. around a frame tube) which prevents you being able to push the nozzle all the way into the tank. Even if you can push the nozzle all the way into the tank, it means that you’ll only be able to half fill it before the blow-back cut-off kicks-in (i.e. when the level of fuel in the tank reaches the gas pump nozzle, falsely indicating to the pump that your tank’s full).

For such pumps, you have to hold the fingers of your left hand in a V-sign (sport biker’s wave) while holding the pump hose trigger with your right.

With your left hand V-sign (one finger on each side of the filler nozzle), you pull the sheath back (thus over-riding the sheath cut-off switch) so that it’ll pump gas. In doing this, *you* can decide how far you want to push the filler nozzle into the gas tank filler neck.

I know this sounds awkward, but it’s not difficult and you’ll have to learn to do it if you want to fill your gas tank using these types of pumps.

[Andrew]

I filled up for the first time yesterday and was nervous so I took it slow and it was fine. The bike took over 4 gallons and the tanks is only 4.8 so the previous owner didn’t leave me much to play with. I kept stopping to check how much was in the bike but I assume that gets easier with practice.

[Jim]

Enjoy the savings too! My gas bill went from $250 a month to $70 a month when I started commuting by bike.

[RidleytheRed]

So far I’ve spent all of $8 when it costs about $40 to fill my car. I’m really seeing an improvement.

[Anonymous]

Make sure you put Premium Unleaded in there. Itll keep your bike’s engine cleaner and run better.

[Niko]

http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/premium/questions.html (there are lots of other sites that agree, this was the first I found. plus I like these guys.)

I’m coming from a car background here, and I’m not sure if all bikes are required to run premium. If your engine isn’t designed to run premium gas don’t use premium. Premium gas is harder to burn than regular gas. Running premium will lead to more incomplete combustion causing more pollution and less power. Read the owner’s manual it tells you what type of gas to use.

[Author]

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