Dam reserve !

[Robbarrie]

It got me again. The first time, when I just got the bike, and now just yesterday. It's not going to get me again. Ya feel like a fuc'n idiot when ya run out of gas......well at least when you only have less then 5 min.


I didn't run out there was still gas it it, the light came on as it should, but the problem is it ran out with in 5 mins. I switch it back to on and if filled the bowls and I drove some more, switched back and forth with just the key in the on position - started it and rode a little more. Finally, to get me to a gas station while riding I kept switching the switch back and forth to res/on every time it started to sputter.

My question is : is it the switch that's the problem or is it the sending unit, or maybe a plugged tube, or ??? What it the best way ( to pin point the problem ) to tell. What are the reasons this would happen.

I'm going to blast the switch with contact cleaner, but if that doesn't work what else would you do next ?

Any help would be great guys. I did do a search but there wasn't much on it and maybe now someone knows for sure what the problem is....I hope.

 

[shawn kloker]

I have been burnt by the reserve before a few times too.I watch my mileage very closely now and do not push it before refueling.

 

[maleko89]

If the fuel sender trips the relay then the pump shouldn't click at all on the ON position...unless you turn the key on/off...not sure though. I would check for continuity of the RES switch and switch back and forth. If that checks out, it's probably a problem with the fuel pump relay. It looks like your fuel sending unit works correctly...you're fuel light is coming on and the relay is being tripped to shut the fuel pump off. My low fuel light comes on with about 1.1 gallons left. I get at least 35-40 more miles once I flip the RES. switch.

Mark
#1098

 

[Robbarrie]

I try to as well, but when I did refuel, I put in 11.73 L so that works out about right. I still had 3 liters in it. :confused2:

WTF.......what good is it to have a warning light when it only gives you less then 5 mins of riding before it dies ?

Anybody else notice this problem, if so what did you do to fix it.

 

[clintard]

I try to as well, but when I did refuel, I put in 11.73 L so that works out about right. I still had 3 liters in it. :confused2:

WTF.......what good is it to have a warning light when it only gives you less then 5 mins of riding before it dies ?

Anybody else notice this problem, if so what did you do to fix it.

when i first got my bike i did the same thing. then did it again a few weeks later. Then i figured out what i was doing wrong, i had the fuel switch set to RES instead of ON thinking that when u put it on the on side that it meant "reserve on" and not fuel on. Switched it to where it needed to be and i havnt ever really pushed it but i have had the reserve light come on several times now and it ran definitely more than 5 minutes and got me to the next station. Maybe this is your problem?

heres what it looks like

Fuel
Res On

when you fill the bike up you want it to be on the ON side meaning main fuel on, when you put it to the Res side thats your reserve


Could this be your problem possibly? ive heard others say the switch is confusing. I dont mean to insult your intelligence or anything

 

[clintard]

whoops excuse me for being a dumbass i failed to read the part where you mentioned you still had 3 liters in the tank LOL

 

[Robbarrie]

No problem, I know this has been a issue for many in the past. I had the switch in the right position. ( to the right side ) - on the on position.

It seems like to me that after the light comes on the pump won't kick in to fill the carbs. If I switch it back to the on position and back to res. while riding I can get a little farther until it starts to sputter and do it again. I made it to the gas station but it wasn't like I was far away ( mile or two at the most ).

BTW... It won't run when I leave the switch in either position - only when I go back and forth... it ran long enough to get me to the station. I wasn't about to try and see if I could ride another 10 miles or so..... fuc' that. But what I'm saying is that it worked to get me to the gas station. AND when I filled up it took 12L to fill the 15L tank !


So do you think that it has to be the relay or the switch it self....?
Anybody ever price that relay ? I may need to replace it.


I really just wanted to know if anyone else had noticed this. This is bullshit, I have to have this working, something is funky just not sure what's happening here.

I'll get it - and eventually post. I hope to pick up some contact cleaner after work before I try anything else.

 

[shawn kloker]

My guess is that your switch contacts are dirty.

 

[KWSOFTOP]

I had the opportunity to try out my reserve switch this past weekend as well. It kinda caught me off guard since I was only at 152km and the red light came on. I was not even looking for the light and it was pretty bright out so the light was hard to see. I only noticed when the bike started to sputter a bit. I flicked the switch to reserve on the fly and away she went. I stopped at the next gas station, filled up, and flicked the switch back to on...no problems...except for the 152km per tank....but I kinda knew that but I just wanted more like 200. unk:

 

[Buster Hymen]

My guess is that your switch contacts are dirty.

+1. It sounds like the same thing that happens to the starter switch. Spray some WD40 in there to see if it helps. If it does, you may want to take apart the switch for a proper cleaning.

 

[clintard]

yeah sounds like when your flicking the switch back and fourth your getting enough contact by doing that to kick the fuel pump on momentarily and fill or partially fill the bowls enough to make it run for a little bit

LOL look at me trying to be all sly and technical

 

[gleno]

If the fuel sender trips the relay then the pump shouldn't click at all on the ON position...unless you turn the key on/off...not sure though. I would check for continuity of the RES switch and switch back and forth. If that checks out, it's probably a problem with the fuel pump relay. It looks like your fuel sending unit works correctly...you're fuel light is coming on and the relay is being tripped to shut the fuel pump off. My low fuel light comes on with about 1.1 gallons left. I get at least 35-40 more miles once I flip the RES. switch.

Mark
#1098

:hmmm::ummm: "If the fuel sender trips the relay"

Hey MArk, perhaps you can clear up some things for me because I might not understand the circuit diagram as well as I thought.

My understanding of this problem (which also got me) is..


The fuel tank float works by varying the ground resistance in the electrical circuit that provides power to your reserve fuel light. Room dimmer switches use something like this principle to vary the brilliance of room lighting.

Without a good ground connection, power can?t flow to the reserve light.

The fuel level sensor is a variable resistor.

When your fuel tank is full the float level is high and the resistance in the ground side of the electrical circuit is also high. This makes it difficult for power to flow in the reserve light circuit. When resistance to the flow of power is high, your reserve light can?t illuminate.

When your fuel tank is low the resistance in the ground side of the electrical circuit is low and it is easy for power to flow in the reserve light circuit. When resistance to the flow of power is low, your reserve light can illuminate.

The weakness here is that resistance will increase in a circuit if your ground wire connection is poor. Corrosion is the usual culprit here.

Varnish and gum deposits from your fuel will increase resistance with some float contacts but the usual cause will be on your ground wires and connectors, which will oxidize (corrode) when exposed to the environment.

If you look at the ground wire connection to the Vmax fuel tank, which is located under the tank closest to the road, you will notice that the (green) ground wire is externally connected to the variable resistor (your float switch inside the tank) by a riveted brass connector with little to no protection from the environment.

This is the usual source of error with your fuel reserve light. As the ground side of the circuit degrades over time it increases resistance in the ground side of the circuit. Now the fuel tank float will need to sink lower and lower before the reserve light will switch on. Eventually the reserve light will not switch on at all and you will run out of fuel.

The fuel switch relay works independently of your reserve fuel switch. You can manually switch from the main fuel supply to the reserve fuel supply whether the reserve light is illuminated or not.

So if you switch to reserve and get no fuel?..

a)There is no (or little) fuel to be got.
b)The reserve switch is faulty.
c)The relay is faulty.


There is unlikely to be a fuel line blockage because the fuel is moving through the same fuel line regardless of whether you are switched to the main or reserve supply ? it?s the same tank and fuel lines, not a separate tank and lines.

More feedbacvk is welcome.

 

[Robbarrie]

You explained that very well. You would make a good teacher. ( I'm not joking either )

I rode to work last night and home this morning with the switch set (to the left) on reserve; just for shits and giggles: No problems. I assume after the light comes on is when the problem occurs. You are required to switch it over to reserve to get it to run. ( total B.S. IMHO )

Is there anyway to bypass this circuit and be able to leave the switch on the "on" position and just have the light stay on until you refuel. ???

The switching thing is retarted anyways.
For example : I was in the middle of an intersection when it happened the first time. This is one location I rather not be fuc'ing around with a sputtering bike and have to slide a switch over to get it to go again or it will die. WTF was Yamaha thinking about when they designed this. I know it's better than the manual petcock but they could have done it a better way than this. Do we have a res. switch in our cars ? A gage would have been safer.
If every thing is working properly. ( mine isn't ) Will the light come on and stay on if you have the switch in the res. position before the tank gets low enough to trip the light ?

I much prefer a gage or a flashing light just to let me know that I'm low ( what's wrong with that, right ? ) and having to prove it to me with a stalling bike. What if I was turning left - in front of an on coming car ? I think I'd try to sue the fuc'ers and I'm not talking about the driver of the car either. If I live to tell about it.
I think a solid light or a flashing one would have been more than suitable for the situation and forget the switch crap.

Has anyone been able to mod this ? I think it's less bullshit and could even prevent a meaningless death.


Not to mention and I'm sure it's happened, if you forget to switch it back to the "on" position your eventually going to get a big surprize when your totally out of gas.

P.S. Clint - that was a side of you we've never seen before....:cheers:

I'm not venting - I'm just tired, later boys.

 

[82ndCowboy]

I had a problem with my res fuel a few months back.
When the light came on I could go a mile or two and the bike would start to sputter, I'd switch it to res and the bike still would sputter and die. I had to turn the key off and then on again, the fuel pump would fill the bowls and I could go another mile or two and it would do it all over again.
I was told it's the fuel pump relay not turning the fuel pump back on when in the res position.
I never got around to replacing it, I've been too busy. I just got in the habit of refueling when I hit 100 miles. After doing that for a couple of months, everything seems to working back to normal. The light comes on now and I immediately switch to res, then I go several miles to the gas station and refuel.
So I'm not sure if it's because I was letting the bowls empty before switching to reserve or it just decided to work again on it's own. But I do know if it does it one more time... I'm changing the fuel pump relay and the switch... screw it!

 

[Robbarrie]

Gents;

I was looking in the online service manual, it said to use the tester on beep mode and check the continuity of the res switch.
( which I did )
Anyway, to make a long story short ( which is hard for me to do ) the switch was breaking contact. If I move it too far to the left it breaks connection, but as I move it back slightly to the right ( take up the play ) it connects again. I guess when I was switching the switch back to "on" position it was making contact as I was sliding it back. I gave it a number of shots of contact cleaner, sliding it back and forth a hundred times or so. It seems to be working good now. I can't wait to run out of gas. :smileystooges:


If your having problems with the reserve. Test the switch. Use your tester on the fuel pump relay connection - box closest to the front of the bike - under the left scoop you'll find it and unplug the the connector - test the connector until you find the two wires responsible for the reserve switch. That's what I did because the wires that the manual said did not match color ( not sure why ). Then blast with switch inside with contact cleaner until it now longer breaks contact. I guess the last guy who owned the bike probably never had to switch it over so it got pretty dirty in there. Then plug the relay back in and then go try to run low of gas
Yahoooo - Yes it is working perfect now.