I accidentally ran my 2017 ES all the way down to one bar on the gas gauge the other day. Well, actually, it was sort of deliberate: I wanted to see how much fuel it'd take to refill it from such a low level
.
Filling the tank from one bar took 4.6 gallons of gas...which doesn't seem consistent with the tank holding 6.6 gallons.
So, is the gas tank not actually 6.6 gallons? Or is the gauge that non-linear? Or something else?
Just curious.
This might cause you more confusion than answers, however ...
Some time ago, I did a test on my 2010's gauge. I don't think the tank or its internals have changed from 2006 since, so this may still be relevant. and my 2018 behaves the same as my 2006 as well as the 2010.
I was wanting to try to linearise the gauge, as the indications towards empty are less helpful, but more critical. In the end I didn't succeed because of the results I got from a detailed measurements of its characteristics. To sum up, this table shows fuel quantity remaining against gauge bars.
Bars 0=F
Litres
Gallons UK
Gallons US
0
0.00
0.00
0.00
0
5.90
1.30
1.56
1
6.38
1.40
1.69
1
6.95
1.53
1.84
2
7.50
1.65
1.98
2
9.00
1.98
2.38
3
11.00
2.42
2.91
3
13.00
2.86
3.43
4
14.00
3.08
3.70
4
15.00
3.30
3.96
5
15.50
3.41
4.09
5
16.25
3.57
4.29
6
18.00
3.96
4.76
6
20.00
4.40
5.28
7
22.00
4.84
5.81
7
24.00
5.28
6.34
8
24.80
5.46
6.55
8
25.30
5.57
6.68
I tried to show the quantity at the limit of each bar's range, so there are two quantities at each step, there is obviously uncertainty on the precise quantity at which the gauge switches from one reading to the next. I show two places of decimals, this is (of course) wishful thinking in terms of absolute accuracy, just the result of conversion from fluid ounces at the lowest part, and fuel pump readings at the upper. There is uncertainty on the limits of each bar's quantity as I was measuring with increments of fuel added between each reading. All measurements were made with the bike on its centre-stand (it reads significantly lower on the side-stand), and the engine not running (doesn't seem to make much difference running or not).
All quantities I show are available to use, I "emptied" the tank via the fuel pump, so it's not as if I started with a totally dry tank and measured what was poured into it.
A graph showing quantity of fuel against bars displayed. Note that the vertical lines show the quantity range at one gauge indication, the sloping parts show the uncertainty in my measurements between where the gauge changes from one reading to the next.
While there is some variation bike to bike, certainly in my experience of four FJRs, they all behave about the same.
The way I did all this can be read
here.
