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2020 Fuel Capacity?
- Thread starter Kingz
- Start date
If it's anything like the earlier models, the fuel gauge & low fuel warning light are often really only vague indicators of what's going on! Like many others, you might find it 'safer' to work out your avg mpg, reset a trip meter every time you fill up with gas, and only ride to a safe distance as indicated on the trip meter!! 
hyea:
That said, if you're putting the gas pump nozzle right down into the tank & refilling only until it cuts off, you probably aren't filling the tank properly &/or completely - you'll need to lift the nozzle up somewhat & without pulling it completely clear of the filler neck, try to always fill to the same visual level. Most tend to get reasonably close to about a 6 & 1/2 gallon refill level that way.
And another thing is that you REALLY don't want to ever run the tank right to empty..... altho you might get away with it once or twice, maybe even more; modern fuel injection systems use the fuel remaining in the tank as both coolant and lubricant for the critical components of the injection system - the fuel pump and the injectors. If you ever let the fuel level get too low (nb: that's not even as low as empty!) you WILL be causing some irrepairable damage to those components, even if only at a microscopic level. Let it get too low too often, and it will start to adversely effect your engine's performance &/or fuel economy, or it might just kill the Injection system completely!! And if it causes an injector nozzle to blow a tip (it can!) and then drop rusty &/or jagged parts into a cylinder..... you could even destroy the engine! :shocked: So, I can hear you thinking 'how often is too often?' - well, how lucky do you feel?? It could be a half a dozen times, it could be more, or it could be too often the very first time you let the tank run low!! :cus: As to how much gas do you need to try to leave in there, it's usually something over 1/2 a gallon, but not necessarily as much as a gallon; altho that question is sorta like asking 'how long is a piece of string?'....
Ride to the trip meter, it's safer! :thumbup:
hyea:That said, if you're putting the gas pump nozzle right down into the tank & refilling only until it cuts off, you probably aren't filling the tank properly &/or completely - you'll need to lift the nozzle up somewhat & without pulling it completely clear of the filler neck, try to always fill to the same visual level. Most tend to get reasonably close to about a 6 & 1/2 gallon refill level that way.
And another thing is that you REALLY don't want to ever run the tank right to empty..... altho you might get away with it once or twice, maybe even more; modern fuel injection systems use the fuel remaining in the tank as both coolant and lubricant for the critical components of the injection system - the fuel pump and the injectors. If you ever let the fuel level get too low (nb: that's not even as low as empty!) you WILL be causing some irrepairable damage to those components, even if only at a microscopic level. Let it get too low too often, and it will start to adversely effect your engine's performance &/or fuel economy, or it might just kill the Injection system completely!! And if it causes an injector nozzle to blow a tip (it can!) and then drop rusty &/or jagged parts into a cylinder..... you could even destroy the engine! :shocked: So, I can hear you thinking 'how often is too often?' - well, how lucky do you feel?? It could be a half a dozen times, it could be more, or it could be too often the very first time you let the tank run low!! :cus: As to how much gas do you need to try to leave in there, it's usually something over 1/2 a gallon, but not necessarily as much as a gallon; altho that question is sorta like asking 'how long is a piece of string?'....
Ride to the trip meter, it's safer! :thumbup:
JayBros
Well-known member
If you stuff the pump nozzle all the way into the tank the automatic shutoff will not allow you to completely fill the tank. Experiment with pulling the nozzle out a bit and see what you get. In 66.7K miles I've never put more than 6.3 gal in the tank that is rated at 6.9 gal, and I've gotten more than 240 miles on a tank. Some pumps just have too much pressure and not an easy way to let fuel flow at a very slow speed so the automatic shutoff doesn't result in splash back.
BLUEKNIGHT911
Sadly Passed Oct 2024 - RIP
:agree: ... on average after the auto shut off triggers ... I can then add 1.3 to 1.5 gallons .... WHY ? the Spyder gas tank is not shaped like a car or trucks .... which generally have at least one foot of FILLER TUBE before the actual tank .... the Spyder has ZERO .... after it shuts off pull the gas nozzle out and SLOWLY add more gas .... when you see the gas ... STOP it's now FULL ......Mike :thumbup:..... PS don't do this to any V-twin Spyder UNLESS you have done a cannisterectomy or re-routed the gas tank / cannister fuel hose :thumbup:
If it's anything like the earlier models, the fuel gauge & low fuel warning light are often really only vague indicators of what's going on! Like many others, you might find it 'safer' to work out your avg mpg, reset a trip meter every time you fill up with gas, and only ride to a safe distance as indicated on the trip meter!!
Ride to the trip meter, it's safer! :thumbup:
I have thought of doing that, but there is just one thing that keeps scaring me away.
Just this past weekend, we were on a somewhat "spirited" ride with a group. Plenty of throttle twisting and plenty of shifting. A 210 mile ride got me about 37.7 MPG on just about 5.6 gallons. The next day, we headed home. Cruise control locked on the speed limit (± a couple) and got a whopping 30 MPG on the trip home. Didn't help that we were headed pretty much directly into a stiff headwind.
Bottom line: one day's mileage left me with about 1.5 gallons. The mileage on the next day's trip would have drained the tank. I prefer to experiment to see how accurate the gauge is, how much fuel is left when the needle hits "E" and whether the needle drops below "E". After that, I KNOW what to expect. :dontknow:
.
That is EXACTLY what I'm warning you is NOT a safe thing to do!! :shocked:
You really won't ever KNOW what to expect from the fuel gauge or the low fuel warning light, they can be THAT inaccurate & unreliable, only you get to guess when! :cus: Sorta like planning to trespass on a property that's got a big sign out front saying "Guarded by Hungry Grizzly Bears any randomly chosen 4 days per week, and trigger happy Shotgun armed Guards any other randomly chosen 4 days a week - guess which! Are you feeling lucky?" Sure, you can have a guess as to which days have what guards, and you might even get lucky and hit a completely unguarded day every now and then.... or you might hit a day when there's both hungry grizzly's AND trigger happy shotgun armed guards!! :yikes:
Bottom line, the OE gauge MAY well be a whole lot more un-reliable than is safe to use in that way!! Heck, my gauge has even told me that I burnt thru 4 gallons of gas in LESS THAN 20 MILES!! :banghead: I hadn't, but the gauges on these things simply aren't necessarily all that accurate!! Sure, they are better on the 2014's and on; but hey, better than bloody effing useless doesn't necessarily mean that it'd be any safer than using your trip meter and working on your 'worst case' 30 mpg to calc your range for now, then refining that 'worst case mpg estimate' as you get more data over time and your 'average mpg' gets more reliable with every tank full!
At least that way, you definitely WILL KNOW that it'll be extremely unlikely that you'll ever do much worse than your calculated range; and besides, you've still got the gauge waving it's arm wildly as & when it sees fit plus the low fuel warning light that might come on 20 miles after topping up or maybe not at all, but they might add some useful info every now and then.... However, using your established avg mpg range is still probably going to be safer!! :lecturef_smilie: Still, it's your Spyder, your engine, and your $$ if you get it wrong too....
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ARtraveler
R.I.P. Dwayne
If you want to fill to full capacity, you have to add more gas after the pump shuts off automatically.
At shut off, I pull the barrel out of the tank, carefully put more gas in and watch it come up to the circle. Shut off again, the gas level will go down a little. Repeat, one more time. I do this each and every fill for both bikes. Yesterday, on an F3L fill...when I was done, it said I had 271 miles to go on the tank. I dont believe it, but it indicates I got the tank quite full.
We usually go on 100 mile rides. After two of them, its fill the tank for the next go around. We don't wait for the fuel light to go on. On longer trips, we fill anytime after a hundred miles. Time to get off the bike for a break.
At shut off, I pull the barrel out of the tank, carefully put more gas in and watch it come up to the circle. Shut off again, the gas level will go down a little. Repeat, one more time. I do this each and every fill for both bikes. Yesterday, on an F3L fill...when I was done, it said I had 271 miles to go on the tank. I dont believe it, but it indicates I got the tank quite full.
We usually go on 100 mile rides. After two of them, its fill the tank for the next go around. We don't wait for the fuel light to go on. On longer trips, we fill anytime after a hundred miles. Time to get off the bike for a break.
Jetfixer
Well-known member
I agree with the method of using the trip meter. Another thing you should do is to ride until you get the low fuel warning. It might come and go a couple of times during stop and go driving, but when it stays on, refuel as soon as possible, and fill up completely. Do this a couple of times, and you will get a reliable indication of how low your tank is when you get the warning light. If you know your mpg from using the trip meter, you can accurately estimate your remaining miles when the light comes on. This can prevent panic on a remote highway!!
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