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Fuel / gas gauge inaccuracy

39K views 157 replies 56 participants last post by  GrogAV 
#1 ·
I have put 450 miles on my new 2012 CCT and I've noticed that the fuel / gas gauge is very inaccurate. I've actually watched the needle move while sitting at a stop light.

The first time the fuel light came on and the gauge showed bone dry I was only able to pump 3.8 gallons into the tank. The second time I was able to get 4 gallons. This bike has a 5.8 gallon fuel tank!

Has anyone else experienced this issue? I didn't see any other posts mentioning this.

Thanks,

Kyle
 
#2 ·
Typical of a Victory, from my experience. Inaccurate fuel gages and speedometers seem par for the course. Irritating but if it is built like a tank (mechanically speaking), I can deal with it.

Ride safe.
 
#51 ·
Actually, it's HIGHLY accurate at the top end but not the low end.
That's how mine is as well but can only remember one gas gauge that was truly accurate on all the Bikes I've owned and that was my 08 HD Electra Glide Standard .. On my 09 Ultra was about the same as the Vic XC, was good til about 1/2 tank, after that seems you went to empty in 40 miles ..
 
#5 ·
I usually get 4.2 gallons in if I fill up right when the light comes on. Its about .4 gallons early per what the owners manual says it should be. I wish they would have made it come on with 1 gallon left and it was accurate each time. I wish they would lose the "Low Miles" warning and leave the miles till empty up. With the gauge on E and a orange light on, I get it the point.

I am figuring I can get close to 230 miles per tank. I use the trip meter, but it would be nice if they perfected these gauges and MPG.
 
#6 ·
What's the ballpark range that everyone is getting per tank? I just got 165 on my first tank with mostly city riding. This normal? Ive only had the bike three days so I'm unsure..
 
#10 ·
My wife and I had 385 lbs on the bike for 5 days, her and my weight with tools and luggage We had 41 mile per gallon, some tanks 38 some 45 miles per. Miles divided by gallons per fill up with Cee Bailey Flectors in the forged bars. 200 miles was the most we could go after 10 miles of the low fuel light on.
 
#11 ·
I'm sure your fuel economy will go up with each tank until it's fully broke in. I'm on my 4th tank now and the MPGs are going up with each tank. First tank was low 30s and last tank was low 40s.
 
#15 ·
+1 to this - I'm at 3500 miles and the fuel economy is still increasing. I can lope along and get near 47 mpg finally. I'm thinking it'll improve more yet.
 
#13 ·
I have seen this happen...your sitting still and the range says 160 miles left...then in two seconds it says 60 miles left and the gauge just dropped by 1/3 of the way.

Corvettes have suffered from a similar problem for over fifteen years. The sulfur in today's gas coats the sensor and as a result you get highly inaccurate readings. Sunoco gas always caused the biggest problems and Shell gas never caused any in my vette
 
#16 ·
3/4 tank



I have about half a tank when the guage reads 3/4 full. I've gone 212 miles on a tank and put in about 5 gallons. Some are boasting 250 miles per tank. I usually try to fill up before the light comes on though... When you think the tank is full you can still put in quite a bit more. There are other threads out there about filling the tank. Some are actually punching holes in that fill neck thingy to expidite filling the tank completely more rapidly.
 
#18 ·
I have about half a tank when the guage reads 3/4 full. I've gone 212 miles on a tank and put in about 5 gallons. Some are boasting 250 miles per tank. I usually try to fill up before the light comes on though... When you think the tank is full you can still put in quite a bit more. There are other threads out there about filling the tank. Some are actually punching holes in that fill neck thingy to expidite filling the tank completely more rapidly.
I am not filling up before the light considering I have 1.6 gallons when it comes on. You want to be careful running it low allot as the fuel pump is cooled by the gas.
 
#17 ·
my light came on and after running 10 more miles it held 4.45 gallons.that piece that makes you hold the nozzle way to the front is a pain too.
 
#19 ·
I have a 2012 CC w/ 5k on it , w/ stage 1 flash, filter and D&Ds. I rode yesterday, light came on around 168, i continued on home and when I parked it in the garage I had 230 miles and still have gas in it. I'll fill it tomorrow and see what it takes. My guess is 5 gallons. We'll see.....
LongRIder
 
#23 ·
Update: Filled the bike up this morning for the ride to work....it took 5.1 gals with exactly 230 miles on it = 45mpg. this was riding in the country at 50mph all day. Gas gage read emty at 175.
LongRIdercheers
 
#20 ·
I have the 2013 xc sunset red, blacked out also. For the break in period I got 42 miles to a gallon. Now in getting about 35 around town. In my opinion that's terrible for a bike. I'm used to getting 43 on my 2009 jackpot and that was ripping around town!!thumb up
 
#21 ·
I'm just bummed so far... My Vegas was at least 100 miles a tank on 3 gallons... At the moment I'm getting the same mileage putting in MORE gas?? I really hope this is just part of the break in period.. The fuel "gauge" is driving me up a wall hahaha
 
#25 ·
I posted a thread on this but it went missing. My low fuel light came on and I pushed it for another 32 miles until I got scared and fueled up. When I filled it, I was only able to put 4.2 gallons in the tank. Seems to me by reading this thread that there is no consistency at all.

How far do you all normally push it past the fuel light? I'm thinking I wouldn't really be pushing it until I was close to 60 miles.
 
#28 ·
I reset the "Trip odometer #2" when the low light comes on. Then i have 60 miles. The trip Odo helps me remember how many miles, particularly if i stop somewhere...etc.
 
#26 ·
I'm puzzled, my first tank I got around 32 mpg, my second tank was around 38 and my third was around 42. I'm not relying on my dash right now. During those tanks I played around on her, rolling on the throttle and just having fun. My fourth tank I thought I'd take it easy and see what my mpg would be like. It was around 33 mpg! Based on that last tank, it looks like my bike does better if I hot rod it. That can't be right :confused:
 
#29 ·
Greg,

Where are you finding all of these threads? Prior to posting I did advanced searches within the category "Victory Cross Country & Cross Roads" for:

Fuel
Gas
Gauge
Mileage

I found posts about tires, Darkside, fueling tips, what works; not a thread specifically about the fuel gauge.

If you are finding "lots and lots of threads" please tell me how you are searching so I can improve my searching.

Thanks.
 
#30 · (Edited)
weird thing

So, here's something that's just started happening. My bike has 21k miles on it now.
I've always gone to about or just over 200 miles per tank. Hardly ever do I put more than about 4 gallons in to fill it up.
So lately I get a sputtering, running out of gas type behavior when getting in this range of miles. Yet I fill er up and top it off with 4 gallons or LESS. Knowing it's a 5.8 gal tank.
I know some of these bikes are more problematic with the fuel injection than others but this is getting irritating. Sometimes the bike will just flat out stall and quit running, just like it's run out of gas. It's happened where the bike flat out quit running and I coasted into a gas station. Filled it up with 4.5 gallons.

Anyone else with this issue?
 
#38 ·
Clean pickup screen.

So, here's something that's just started happening. My bike has 21k miles on it now.
I've always gone to about or just over 200 miles per tank. Hardly ever do I put more than about 4 gallons in to fill it up.
So lately I get a sputtering, running out of gas type behavior when getting in this range of miles. Yet I fill er up and top it off with 4 gallons or LESS. Knowing it's a 5.8 gal tank.
I know some of these bikes are more problematic with the fuel injection than others but this is getting irritating. Sometimes the bike will just flat out stall and quit running, just like it's run out of gas. It's happened where the bike flat out quit running and I coasted into a gas station. Filled it up with 4.5 gallons.

Anyone else with this issue?
Nodnard I believe I read in either the operators manual or the service manual you are suppose to clean the fuel pump pickup screen around 30,000 miles. I bet your pickup screen is getting dirty. Might be cheaper to take it apart now and possibly clean it, if that is the problem. If your pump is starving fuel I would imagine this could be hard on the pump and help cause the fuel pump to go out. My old bike I had to clean the fuel filter at about 5k miles,the inside of the tank coating was coming off a little at a time. I noticed the XRs tank has a coating inside of it, your bike may also.
 
#31 ·
It is still annoying when the fuel gauge shows full at 90 miles and then suddenly drops to empty when I know I have 60 miles to go. And thanks Victory or taking away my range indication just when I need it most. They turned my range indication into a second gas low/reserve light. Useless.

I have learned to completely ignore my gas gauge and range indication and use my trip meter just like every other motorcycle I have had with out a gas gauge. Victory should either fix the problem, or take it off.
 
#33 ·
In my vegas the light comes on at 150, and I put 3.5 gallons in, so that would mean I would be empty at 190 miles. I get too scared to push it much past 150 with the light on.... I'm getting around 45 mpg when I'm easy on her.

Sent from my DROIDX using Motorcycle.com Free App
 
#34 ·
My vstar has had this same inconsistency with the low fuel light coming on early and about 10% off on the speedo. I have always heard these are common motorcycle probs. Gas especially due to the leaning while riding and impossibility of trying to get consistent full levels due to never having the exact same lean, length of fuel nozzle etc when getting it to "full". Of course theres always the possibility that I am spewing nonsense. I am still on my first tank of gas due to not having any free time at home in the last few months constantly being gone on business, but I was never expecting to count on my low fuel light to be as accurate as that in a car.
 
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