I was going to reply to this thread, but didn't want to hijack the post since it was pretty long. I think there's something more to this (maybe?) and it's frustrating the heck out of me. It's going to be a little long but please bear with me and read it when you got time.
First incident
I got a 16 Chieftain for 2 years now, typically I refill every time the gas light comes on and I fill about 3.4 gallons, didn't think much about it until few months ago. I was on a ride on the Blue Ridge Mountain back in May, 2 Indians (1 mine, other 16 Chieftain Dark Horse) and 4 Harley's similar to our Chieftain (street glides). One of our fill ups, my fuel light came on, everyone, including the other Indian, had a 1/4 tank left. Well that's odd. I fill up, the ONLY gas station where auto shut off didn't work and I wasn't paying attention, go figure. Mind you, I got 22k miles on this, so I drive it regularly and it never happened before. O well, life goes on.
Second incident
On our way home from the same ride, it was me and the other Indian at that point, I was roughly 8 miles from the house low fuel light has come on for some time so I decided to get gas so I didn't have to do it the next day. I fill up 3.5 gallons while the other Indian was slightly less than a 1/4 tank and fills up 4 gallons. Now I'm really confused and something doesn't make sense.
Trying to find out what's going on
I called my dealership and made sure I wasn't crazy and mine was actually 5.5 gallon tank capacity, it was. So I decided to ignore the gauges, maybe they're faulty. I reset my trip meter and I figured, I get roughly 39.5 MPG (according to the bike) so with a 5.5 gallon tank I should get 217 miles. To be safe and don't run out of gas completely, I'll fill up at 200 miles and see what happens. At ~145 miles I get low fuel, I said to myself: "B.S. this shit is crazy, no way it should be this early, the sensor must be wrong, I found the problem".
This was on my way to work, I live in upstate South Carolina, so most of my travel is on rural roads with few gas stations in between. As I pass a gas station with the next one about 4 miles away, no more than a 1/4 of a mile, damn engine starts sputtering, WTF!!! I made the most (il)legal u-turn if there ever was one, and started heading back to the gas station I just passed. Holding the clutch on downhills and giving just enough gas on uphills. This couldn't have been planned any better, the engine DIES on the last push uphill within eyesight of the station, luckily I had the clutch in already as I was just coming from a downhill and I am cruising a dead bike next to the side of a pump. OMG!!! I can't believe that happened. I look at my trip gauge, 188 miles!!! Damn near spot on at 40 miles after light came on. Unfortunately, I prepaid for gas and filled up 4 gallons I should've overpaid to see where it topped off, but I was just too clustered after all that to think straight.
Dilemma
So I thought to myself again, if the bike died at 188 miles, with my mileage is 39.5 MPG (reset recently as well), maybe that one is wrong. Where else would the other 30 miles go? Being my smart self, I decided to reset my trip meter again, ride until fuel light comes on, fill and do basic math. Sounds simple enough. Guess what, last fill up was on 8/5 for 3.964 gallons with a trip meter at 156.4, so I am getting... 39.5 MPG!!!! I even have pictures of this shenanigans. Absolutely ridiculous!!!
At this point I'm just convinced there's a damn troll in my tank that siphons my shit up. I'm going to find that SOB and shoot him one day.
____
What are your thoughts?
First incident
I got a 16 Chieftain for 2 years now, typically I refill every time the gas light comes on and I fill about 3.4 gallons, didn't think much about it until few months ago. I was on a ride on the Blue Ridge Mountain back in May, 2 Indians (1 mine, other 16 Chieftain Dark Horse) and 4 Harley's similar to our Chieftain (street glides). One of our fill ups, my fuel light came on, everyone, including the other Indian, had a 1/4 tank left. Well that's odd. I fill up, the ONLY gas station where auto shut off didn't work and I wasn't paying attention, go figure. Mind you, I got 22k miles on this, so I drive it regularly and it never happened before. O well, life goes on.
Second incident
On our way home from the same ride, it was me and the other Indian at that point, I was roughly 8 miles from the house low fuel light has come on for some time so I decided to get gas so I didn't have to do it the next day. I fill up 3.5 gallons while the other Indian was slightly less than a 1/4 tank and fills up 4 gallons. Now I'm really confused and something doesn't make sense.
Trying to find out what's going on
I called my dealership and made sure I wasn't crazy and mine was actually 5.5 gallon tank capacity, it was. So I decided to ignore the gauges, maybe they're faulty. I reset my trip meter and I figured, I get roughly 39.5 MPG (according to the bike) so with a 5.5 gallon tank I should get 217 miles. To be safe and don't run out of gas completely, I'll fill up at 200 miles and see what happens. At ~145 miles I get low fuel, I said to myself: "B.S. this shit is crazy, no way it should be this early, the sensor must be wrong, I found the problem".
This was on my way to work, I live in upstate South Carolina, so most of my travel is on rural roads with few gas stations in between. As I pass a gas station with the next one about 4 miles away, no more than a 1/4 of a mile, damn engine starts sputtering, WTF!!! I made the most (il)legal u-turn if there ever was one, and started heading back to the gas station I just passed. Holding the clutch on downhills and giving just enough gas on uphills. This couldn't have been planned any better, the engine DIES on the last push uphill within eyesight of the station, luckily I had the clutch in already as I was just coming from a downhill and I am cruising a dead bike next to the side of a pump. OMG!!! I can't believe that happened. I look at my trip gauge, 188 miles!!! Damn near spot on at 40 miles after light came on. Unfortunately, I prepaid for gas and filled up 4 gallons I should've overpaid to see where it topped off, but I was just too clustered after all that to think straight.
Dilemma
So I thought to myself again, if the bike died at 188 miles, with my mileage is 39.5 MPG (reset recently as well), maybe that one is wrong. Where else would the other 30 miles go? Being my smart self, I decided to reset my trip meter again, ride until fuel light comes on, fill and do basic math. Sounds simple enough. Guess what, last fill up was on 8/5 for 3.964 gallons with a trip meter at 156.4, so I am getting... 39.5 MPG!!!! I even have pictures of this shenanigans. Absolutely ridiculous!!!
At this point I'm just convinced there's a damn troll in my tank that siphons my shit up. I'm going to find that SOB and shoot him one day.
____
What are your thoughts?