Gas Gauge not very accurate! What happens if I disconnect?

[Peter Aawen]

How exactly do you think it is "not accurate" ?

There is a hidden reserve on all of them......so that when it says E it really isn't completely dry.

That 'hidden reserve' is there to stop you damaging things by running the tank to empty/the engine until it stops - on most modern EFI engines you NEED to keep at least a couple of litres of fuel in the tank in order for the remaining fuel to act as both coolant & lubricant for the injector system - running too much past that low fuel warning light is risking damaging things irreversibly, expensive & important things!!

Still, there's no denying that many if not most owners of the early units found the analogue gauges were definitely pretty innacurate/unreliable. Some worse than others - the gauges (& sender) on my 2013 RT Ltd are so innaccurate that if I fill when the low fuel light comes on, then squeeze in all of maybe 12 litres this time (into a 24 litre tank!) so that the tank is overflowing & the gauge is showing as close to full as it ever gets (cos it's NEVER shown full!! Not EVER!) then ride.... Sometimes I can get to ride just 10 kms or so before the gauge is reading almost empty once more & the low fuel light is on again; other times I can go as far as 200+km before it shows empty &/or the low fuel light comes on once more, but at most I can STILL only squeeze in about 12-14 litres if I try to fill up then!! But if I re-set a trip meter when I fill & ride for 200 km or so & then do a dip on the tank (yep, using a graduated rod about 300mm long dipped thru the filler hole...) it almost invariably shows the tank is still more than about 1/2 full; so I tend to ignore the gauges & light completely & just ride on iaw the trip meter & the odd reassuring dip. That way I can usually do about 350 km around town & 400km easily on a steady 'not flat chat' cruise and yet it'll still generally only take 20 litres or so at most to refill the tank to brimming!!

And before anyone says it, disconnecting both the analogue temp & fuel gauges reveals that on my Spyder at least, while the digital gauges don't waver around anywhere near as much during ryding as the analogue gauges do, they are STILL showing the tank is empty when it's clearly isn't, altho they are no more consistent anyway, cos sometimes the tank can be so close to full when the light comes on that you can barely fit another litre in there no matter how slowly you dribble it in, other times it's a a fair bit closer to half full; but invariably I can ryde on a WHOLE LOT further than indicated by either of the fuel gauges & the warning light! That said, I am always still VERY MUCH AWARE of how much irreversible damage you can do to your engine & injection system by running the tank to empty/engine 'til it sputters due to low fuel, hence my practice of using the trip meter supported by dips to confirm that I've still got enough fuel in there for the remaining fuel to do that all important lubrication/cooling thing for the injection system!