Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech running on empty, but not really

i had to finish my ride to work on reserve today and i ran out of gas on the way home, just as i got through the fort mchenry tunnel's toll plaza. i just rolled over to the tow truck shed (quite an elaborate building for a shed!). the fella put a quart in her, enough to get to the gas station at the first exit. i ran out of gas as i pulled in. i filled her up with 3 8/10's gallons. huh? i thought she'd hold 4.? gallons if i ran out on reserve? i either messed up putting her on reserve and she ran on "empty" for 17 miles or something else is amiss. would putting her on her stand move more gas to the petcock side of the tank, allowing me to run almost home on an almost empty tank? could the reserve pipe have a clogged screen? she's running fine after the fill-up.

Although your tank has the capacity to hold in excess of 4 gallons, the positioning of the fill port and the position of the motorcycle when on the side stand will prevent you from ever filling the tank to its fullest capacity. And, as Martha Stewart would say, "That's a good thing." This prevents you from over filling and sending the excess into the vent pipes, onto the ground and causing you potential slip, fall, and fire hazards. If its running ok don't worry about how much went in. There are too many variables.

I usually put in 3.6 at reserve. I have driven 25 miles into reserve and put in 4.1 gallons. But always 3.5-3.6 at reserve. I fill on the side stand.

I'll just have to run her til she hits reserve again!

The most I've put in my tank was 4.2 gallons. I was on my way to the Ohio rally and taking back roads so I didn't see a whole lot of fuel stops. I think my trip meter had 178 miles on it and I was sweating the last few miles wondering if I'd run out.

You might try popping off your petcock valve to make sure there's no gunk clogging up your reserve filter. When I replaced mine with a Pingel, there was a bunch of crap in there.

I have seen the gas petcock in the picture associated with our bikes but can't figure out how it fits into the tank with such a different way of mounting?

There is an adapter that has a threaded part for the Pingle.