The gas gauge is horrendous.

[Fappy]

So I know this has been talked about before, and I realize the gas gauge on the '08+ is notoriously bad.

BUT, today, on the way to work, I ran out of gas. I stalled at a red light and tried 4 or 5 times to restart the bike, completely bewildered, while people started squeezing around me giving me dirty looks, lol. Finally I decided that I was out of gas... but luckily there was a station nearby. I got a bit of a workout pushing the bike up a hill

Anyway, my problem I think is unique, because the gauge doesn't work at ALL! It read that I had more than 1/2 a tank remaining, yet my tank was completely empty (it took 4 gallons). I think most people have the issue where the gauge will read empty before they actually are. Also, going by the trip odometer, I only made it 150 miles on that tank... which is about 38 mpg. Bike is stock. Does this seem right?

Anyway, figured I'd vent a little about that minor issue and see if anyone has any suggestions. Maybe the gauge / float is stuck in the tank? Not sure. But it reads full now.

[Alex]

Are you filling up all the way to the metal part at the top? It should take closer to 4.5 gallons.

[flynjay]

A surefire way to get the last bit of gas out of the tank is to lean it over as far as you can to the left. That allows the gas that is trapped in the bottom of the right side to flow over to the left were the petcock is. That should give you enough gas to go a couple of miles.

38mpg is horrible. I'm currently at 54 mpg with pod filters.

[Fappy]

I don't think I filled all the way to the metal ring at the top, but it appeared to be pretty close. I had the nozzle out of the tank a little bit. Next time I'll try to fill all the way to the metal ring and see if I get a little extra.

Even still, if it took more gas, that would get me even worse mpg lol. My last fill-up, I actually had 62 mpg. So I'm not sure what's happened between then and now, other than the fact that I cleaned and re-oiled the air filter.

And the gas gauge seems to read 1/2 when I'm out of gas, too. That's my bigger concern.

[Fappy]

To that end... does anyone know where I can get a new OEM pre-oiled air filter element? I think I may have over-oiled mine, and I'd rather just get a cheap new one to eliminate that as an issue, rather than speculate.

[flynjay]

Originally Posted by Fappy

To that end... does anyone know where I can get a new OEM pre-oiled air filter element? I think I may have over-oiled mine, and I'd rather just get a cheap new one to eliminate that as an issue, rather than speculate.

Just take it out and squeze the oil out. Even with a new filter element you are going to have to oil it.

[Fappy]

Originally Posted by flynjay

Just take it out and squeze the oil out. Even with a new filter element you are going to have to oil it.

I could try that again. I'd be more worried then about taking TOO much oil off of it.

K&N filters seem to be all over the internet... but they're $50. I doubt they're worth it.

[Jiggles]

Originally Posted by flynjay

A surefire way to get the last bit of gas out of the tank is to lean it over as far as you can to the left. That allows the gas that is trapped in the bottom of the right side to flow over to the left were the petcock is. That should give you enough gas to go a couple of miles.

38mpg is horrible. I'm currently at 54 mpg with pod filters.

IMO 38mpg is pretty good

[Fappy]

Originally Posted by Jiggles

IMO 38mpg is pretty good

Well, my first fill-up (before cleaning the air filter and before this stalling incident) I was getting 61-62. Not riding any differently.

[choneofakind]

Originally Posted by Fappy

To that end... does anyone know where I can get a new OEM pre-oiled air filter element? I think I may have over-oiled mine, and I'd rather just get a cheap new one to eliminate that as an issue, rather than speculate.

cheapcycleparts.com they're like $5

Originally Posted by flynjay

Just take it out and squeze the oil out. Even with a new filter element you are going to have to oil it.

a new filter comes pre-oiled.

[dirty nasty]

People seriously use and trust the gas gauges on motorcycles? Holy ****...those things are a waste of time. Use your trip odometer. I stop every 150 miles and put $10 in. It about fills it up, sometimes over and sometimes under depending on gas price, which has been fluctuating lately.

Just squeeze the oil out of your current air filter. Get some latex gloves on first. Air filter oil is TACKY (at least the good **** is, anything else sucks ass and shouldn't be used) and will make a huge mess if you spill it or get it on your hands. Very hard to clean up. Don't wring the filter, you WILL tear it and it will need replacing. Just squeeze it until all the oil stops dripping out of the filter. There's no reason to replace your air filter unless if you have a hole in your stock one. Just keep cleaning it. What I do for all my bikes is have 3 air filters. One in the bike and two extra ready to go. I cycle them in and out and always have a clean one on hand. Not that I need to for my street ride as the service interval for that is much higher than my dirt toy. I'll usually swap air filters half way through the day on my dirt toy. Still, it's just nice to be prepared.

[Boom King]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

a new filter comes pre-oiled.

Some do, some don't. Usually those "performance" replacement ones like the K&N do but some of the other OEM replacement foam ones don't. Mine didn't and I had to apply oil.

[choneofakind]

huh, mine came pre-oiled when I bought oem

[Boom King]

You could be right Chris since you actually ordered one so we'll go on that basis. I was once told that it wasn't pre-oiled but of course the guy on the phone at the parts counter could have always been wrong.

[dirty nasty]

Originally Posted by Boom King

I was once told that it wasn't pre-oiled but of course the guy on the phone at the parts counter could have always been wrong.

[Fappy]

Originally Posted by dirty nasty

People seriously use and trust the gas gauges on motorcycles? Holy ****...those things are a waste of time. Use your trip odometer. I stop every 150 miles and put $10 in. It about fills it up, sometimes over and sometimes under depending on gas price, which has been fluctuating lately.

Hah, yeah I realize the things are inaccurate, but my bike stalled today at 150 miles on the nose. Out of gas at 150 miles? It was highly unusual... Last fill-up, like I said, I got around 61 mpg, and I filled it up at about 170 miles. So I wasn't expecting it to go empty so soon

Originally Posted by dirty nasty

Just squeeze the oil out of your current air filter. Get some latex gloves on first. Air filter oil is TACKY (at least the good **** is, anything else sucks ass and shouldn't be used) and will make a huge mess if you spill it or get it on your hands. Very hard to clean up. Don't wring the filter, you WILL tear it and it will need replacing. Just squeeze it until all the oil stops dripping out of the filter. There's no reason to replace your air filter unless if you have a hole in your stock one. Just keep cleaning it. What I do for all my bikes is have 3 air filters. One in the bike and two extra ready to go. I cycle them in and out and always have a clean one on hand. Not that I need to for my street ride as the service interval for that is much higher than my dirt toy. I'll usually swap air filters half way through the day on my dirt toy. Still, it's just nice to be prepared.

That's a good strategy... By the way, I didn't use any specialized air filter oil. I used regular 10w-40 motor oil, as was recommended in the faq here: http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/How_do_...r_filter(s)%3F

Will air filter oil make a huge difference? And should I replace it asap? I can stop by the store on my way home today to get some.

[dirty nasty]

For a street ride, to be honest 10w-40 oil would probably work fine. I grew up on MX bikes so I've always used this very tacky Twin Air filter oil. The tackier the oil, the more dirt and other particles it will catch. It's just better protection.

[cerberusrex25]

did you switch it to reserve when it stalled out? you probably had a little bit there to get to the gas station, unless I'm wrong and the 08+ has no reserve anymore.

[Fappy]

Originally Posted by dirty nasty

For a street ride, to be honest 10w-40 oil would probably work fine. I grew up on MX bikes so I've always used this very tacky Twin Air filter oil. The tackier the oil, the more dirt and other particles it will catch. It's just better protection.

That's good to know. The owner's manual was a little confusing about it. At any rate I sopped up a good 6 or 7 ounces of oil after taking it out of the bike yesterday.... there was a LOT. I hope it wasn't coming from the blowoff from the crank.

Originally Posted by cerberusrex25

did you switch it to reserve when it stalled out? you probably had a little bit there to get to the gas station, unless I'm wrong and the 08+ has no reserve anymore.

Yeah, it's the 08+ and there's no reserve. Honestly, I'd rather they 1)did away with the broken, useless fuel gauge, and 2) added in a reserve switch like the old bikes! What good is a fuel gauge for you without a reserve... if the gauge doesn't work? Weird.

[flynjay]

Originally Posted by Fappy

That's good to know. The owner's manual was a little confusing about it. At any rate I sopped up a good 6 or 7 ounces of oil after taking it out of the bike yesterday.... there was a LOT. I hope it wasn't coming from the blowoff from the crank.



Yeah, it's the 08+ and there's no reserve. Honestly, I'd rather they 1)did away with the broken, useless fuel gauge, and 2) added in a reserve switch like the old bikes! What good is a fuel gauge for you without a reserve... if the gauge doesn't work? Weird.

You are free to put a pregen petcock in there to give you your reserve back.

[Jiggles]

Originally Posted by Fappy

That's good to know. The owner's manual was a little confusing about it. At any rate I sopped up a good 6 or 7 ounces of oil after taking it out of the bike yesterday.... there was a LOT. I hope it wasn't coming from the blowoff from the crank.



Yeah, it's the 08+ and there's no reserve. Honestly, I'd rather they 1)did away with the broken, useless fuel gauge, and 2) added in a reserve switch like the old bikes! What good is a fuel gauge for you without a reserve... if the gauge doesn't work? Weird.

The fuel gauge works fine and the reserve is called a trip meter. If you run out of gas that's on you

[Fappy]

Originally Posted by Jiggles

The fuel gauge works fine and the reserve is called a trip meter. If you run out of gas that's on you

I wish it did. Mine is horribly unpredictable. As for the trip meter... well, as of my last trip where I unexpectedly ran out of gas at 150 miles, doesn't look like I can rely on that either haha. At this rate I will be stopping by a gas station every time I hit 100.

[Jiggles]

Well u are just all kinds of fail

[Fappy]

Originally Posted by Jiggles

Well u are just all kinds of fail

The bike is fail; I'm the one looking for solutions.

[choneofakind]

I don't have a reserve anymore; I switched to EFI and had to ditch my petcock for a fuel tap. I also don't have a gas gauge. All trip odometer baby!!

That's how my beater car was when I started driving. That '95 civic had a faulty gas gauge since like 2002, and we never ran out of gas I loved that car

[dirty nasty]

My truck gas gauge kinda works. When you fill it with gas the needle will always sit slightly below 1/4 tank. It will go below that mark down to E, but it will never go above, no matter how much you put in.

I'm really starting to not trust gauges at all. Speedos are wrong, tachs are wrong, oil pressure gauges are wrong, temp gauges are wrong. It's just ridiculous. I suppose that is one reason I like my dirt toys so much. So simple and everything is by feel.

[cerberusrex25]

Originally Posted by Fappy

Yeah, it's the 08+ and there's no reserve. Honestly, I'd rather they 1)did away with the broken, useless fuel gauge, and 2) added in a reserve switch like the old bikes! What good is a fuel gauge for you without a reserve... if the gauge doesn't work? Weird.

Wow, now that is crappy, I guess I am happy with a reserve and no fuel gauge on my pre gen.

[flynjay]

When I was in flight training for my private pilot's license, my instructor told me the fuel gauges in the plane only read correctly twice, when the tanks were full and when they were empty. Everything else you had to figure out yourself.

That saved my ass once. I was flying in central florida and noticed the gauges were bouncing off the E but pretty reliably on the E. Did a quick stop at an airport 50mi from my destination to check the fuel level and put enough gas in the plane to get home. Turned out I only had about a gallon left in the tanks. The plane burns 6 gal an hour and we were 30 min from home base.

Moral of the story: The gauge is only right twice, when you just filled it up and when you are out of gas.

[Jiggles]

My guage is 100% accurate + or - the trip odo

Funny thing though, on my 1000 it shows full until about 100 mi or 1/2-1/3 gas left. I'm not sure if they did it on purpose but it gives me more accurate low fuel readings i.e. each bar left = 10-20mi

[Fappy]

Hah. Yeah. I'm definitely going to be hopping on the "ignore the gauges bandwagon" here. Definitely don't trust that thing anymore.

Mine's only right once, heh -- when it's full. When my tank is empty, it's usually somewhere around 1/2...... +/- a quarter tank.

[thomason2wheels]

Seriously wacko gas guages...my vstrom when it hits reserve i have just about 1 gallon left, so i figure i need gas in the next 40 to 50 miles. I nearly always get 300 miles to a tank on it. Looks like the ninja will be a lot less.

[Bassman]

Odd, on my 2011 I fill up around 240 trip and below "E" for around 3.9 to 3.8 gal.

[Fappy]

Heh. Lucky you. Yeah it's completely effed at this point -- my last fillup, the gas gauge has gone up to F, and.... hasn't moved at all lol. Even when I was down to 1 gallon, it remained up at F

[sze5003]

Mine is pretty accurate. I rode until I was near the E, maybe about 2 lines from it or 3 and filled up about 4 gallons.