Fuel gauge in the red

[Mister Paul]

First week on my Forza 300, and loving it.

I've read on here people say that when the fuel needle gets to the red you have a gallon left. So I set off this morning with the needle above the red. On the motorway it went into the red and I wasn't worried. But it kept moving to the other side of the red.

Is this what it does, and does wrong end of the red mean one gallon, or is something not right?

[gn2]

The gauge is merely decorative, fill the tank full and use the trip meter and economy meter.
For the North American model, when the trip shows double what the economy meter shows you have the economy meter left to go.
e.g. eco meter shows 60mpg, trip shows 120 miles, you have 60 miles remaining.
or eco meter shows 65mpg wait till the trip hits 130 miles and you have 65 miles left.
To reset the eco meter you need to select trip A and press reset.

For UK version its different, when the trip distance is double the eco meter you have half the eco meter left.
e.g. eco meter 80mpg, trip A shows 160 miles you have 40 miles left.

[Vesper2112]

That's exactly what I've been doing, too. I get around 68mpg, so I fill up around the 180 mile mark on my trip meter. I did sorta freak out that very first time when I was cruising along with an "empty" tank according to the fuel gauge.

[iceman]

You wouldn't want an accurate fuel gauge on a near £5K bike would you.

[Mister Paul]

You wouldn't want an accurate fuel gauge on a near £5K bike would you.

I accept that fuel gauges are usually stepped and that's fine and expected. Which is why I'm asking whether it's normal for the gauge to step through from above the red to the bottom of it, and whether this is the indication that I've got around a gallon left.

Has anyone ever let their tank run dry? Does the needle go any further from the bottom of the gauge?

Incidentally, I've come to a Forza from a Kawasaki Versys. The Honda is so much better quality than the Kawasaki.

[iceman]

You wouldn't want an accurate fuel gauge on a near £5K bike would you.

I accept that fuel gauges are usually stepped and that's fine and expected. Which is why I'm asking whether it's normal for the gauge to step through from above the red to the bottom of it, and whether this is the indication that I've got around a gallon left.
Has anyone ever let their tank run dry? Does the needle go any further from the bottom of the gauge?
Incidentally, I've come to a Forza from a Kawasaki Versys. The Honda is so much better quality than the Kawasaki.

My comment was tongue in cheek and with regard GN2's responses who has often helped people by mentioning how inaccurate the fuel gauge is on Forza's and advising how best to gauge how much fuel is left, and with regard his own comment above 'The gauge is merely decorative'
You could expect it to be a bit out as it got low but not wildly inaccurate as seems to be the case, esp. as the PCX's gauge (£2700) is quite good in comparison. It drops faster as fuel gets lower and lower but you can rely on having 15-20 miles left at 30-40mpg when the last bar starts flashing.

[Jge64]

I never trust fuel gauges anywhere near the bottom. I get my scooter next week and this will be the first procedure I try, I'm sure many here already do this:

1. Fill the tank to the brim
2. Reset trip meter
3. Drive until tank shows near E
4. Refill tank to brim, noting the amt of gallons it took
5. Divide gallons by miles to get my real mpg ( I will be running same routes always)
6. Multiply my mpg x the tank capacity for my real miles per tank

Now I know how far I can go using the bike in my style, will reset trip meter every tank, and fill when I'm 90 pct or so of that. Also I I'll compare where that 90 pct number is vs the bike reading. Hopefully it's close.

[iceman]

The PCX 2015 mpg and fuel gauge are good - the mpg is only a few miles out from filled to brim to just after flashing bar (proved since I've owned the scoot every fill-up - it does take some settling from full to settle at times) and the fuel left is also accurate, albeit you still should have quite some reserve once the bar flashes.

[dadragon]

I drive 211 km (132 miles) on 8,5 liter (2,25 gallon) on highway (80 mph)

[Mister Paul]

So - does everyone's needle drop through the red or work gradually down?

[gn2]

You wouldn't want an accurate fuel gauge on a near £5K bike would you.

No, what you want is a very accurate economy meter and trip meter so you know exactly what your range is.

[MBMyer]

I took delivery of my '14 Forza here in the States last Saturday. Today, I rode it 90 miles up to Givi in Charlotte. The gas gauge needle was dropping steadily, and when I pulled into Givi I had about 120 miles on the trip meter and was showing just under half a tank (overly optimistic much?). When I got ready to ride away, the gas gauge did its little "hey look at us! We're all waking up!" trick when I turned the key on, then dropped down to nothing and stayed there. I rode a couple miles, got a bite to eat, and then headed for a gas station. On start-up, same deal with the gauge. After I filled up, the needle did its wake-up dance, then went up to full. All the way home it did a slow, steady, predictable drop. I got home and did some shopping; several stops, predictable gas needle position.

I'll be curious to see what happens when I only have a gallon left. Is the needle just going to drop precipitously to nothing again? That seems very odd, but is in keeping with the language in the owner's manual.

No real worries here, since (like others) I tend to use my trip meter as my most reliable gas gauge.

Pax et bonum,
Michael

[iceman]

Wonder if any other bikes share this ridiculous fuel gauge nonsense of the Forza - why bother having one when it's next to useless?

[gn2]

There's no such thing as an accurate motorcycle fuel gauge.

[stryder123]

I would much rather have an oil pressure gauge in place of the useless gas gauge.

[iceman]

There's no such thing as an accurate motorcycle fuel gauge.

True, but most instruments are fairly good. It does not have to be totally accurate just not totally useless.

[MBMyer]

For this tank, I have taken a picture of the dashboard every time I have switched the beast on, and I have been more intentional about watching the gauges when I switched it on.

Yes, it is indeed a slow steady drop through the first two gallons. Predictable needle readings.

Once I got to about a gallon left (judging from the mpg gauge and the trip meter), the wake up gauge dance swings the gas gauge all the way to full pegged up, then all the way down full pegged down, then it pops up just a bit to rest in the red zone. At first, the needle was stopping in the top of the red zone, but within just a few miles, the needle would pop up to just the bottom of the red zone.

Let me try to post a couple of pix to show what I'm talking about.

I think I'm going to wait until about 160-170 miles on this tank before I fill up, just to see what the gauge does. But the sudden drop to red is definitely in keeping with the language in the US owner's manual, "Needle in red (E) mark, remaining fuel approximately 0.95 US gal (3.6 liters)".

HTH,
Michael

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[waybar]

The guage stays on full for the first 50 some miles. When it first shows empty, there is about a gallon left. I consistently average around 67 mpg, should be able to get about 200 miles on a full tank, but I just reset my Trip B meter everytime I fill up and refill at 160 miles just to be safe. I did go as much as 180 miles once before I filled up and still had fuel left. I found when I reset the Trip A meter it also reset the mpg guage, and it would jump way down to the 30's and stay low for a long time before it would finally get back up into the 60's. So I just reset Trip B (doesn't reset the mpg guage with Trip B) and refill at 160 miles. (USA)

[gn2]

I found when I reset the Trip A meter it also reset the mpg guage, and it would jump way down to the 30's and stay low for a long time before it would finally get back up into the 60's.

Which is exactly as you would expect and shows its working correctly.

[waybar]

I found when I reset the Trip A meter it also reset the mpg guage, and it would jump way down to the 30's and stay low for a long time before it would finally get back up into the 60's.

Which is exactly as you would expect and shows its working correctly.

I don't expect it to stay in the 30's and 40's for a long time. Maybe initially but it shouldn't take too long to work it's way back up to the 60's. You can keep doing your calculations with the mpg guage and tripmeter, but to me it is just easier to refill at around 160 miles using tripmeter B. As long as my gas guage drops to the empty mark at around 130 miles I know everything is normal. I have around 4000 miles on the scooter now and I know how many mpg's I get. Average 67 mpg.(USA)