Low Fuel Indicator

[Dubuque]

Has anyone ever troubleshooted a bad or incorrectly adjusted sending unit in the gas tank? :dunno Mine has not operated since I had replaced the fuel filter last summer at the rally in Spokane. My Haynes book suggests reading the resistance across the unit with it at various levels. I tried to get a reading from the pig tail while the sender is still mounted in the tank but get very erratic readings. It could be something else but with it happening right after replacing the filter is suspicious.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks, Tom

[CHPBike]

I'd be curious to the outcome of this thread as well. The low fuel indicator on my 99 RT doesn't work at all. I've tested the bulb and the fuel gauge is working fine. I'm just not sure how to troubleshoot this problem.

Scott

[donkey doctor]

Hello; It's a float with a potentiometer on teh other end. If you can remove the wires from the sender and somehow move teh float through it's travel while you have a voltmeter on the sender, ste at impedance (ohms) the value should change as you go from empty to full. The potentiometer is just a variable resistance. If you test it without removing the wires, you might damage teh VOM ( volt ohm meter).

[bmwmick]

[QUOTE=Dubuque]Has anyone ever troubleshooted a bad or incorrectly adjusted sending unit in the gas tank? :dunno Mine has not operated since I had replaced the fuel filter last summer at the rally in Spokane. My Haynes book suggests reading the resistance across the unit with it at various levels. I tried to get a reading from the pig tail while the sender is still mounted in the tank but get very erratic readings. It could be something else but with it happening right after replacing the filter is suspicious.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Tom,
When you replaced the fuel filter, you have entangled the float assembly in the hoses. This is a pretty common occurrence if you are not anal about getting the mounting plate back in exactly as you took it out.
The low fuel lamp is turned on when the float reaches the bottom of it's travel. Once you fix the interferrence problem, you can adjust the low fuel lamp to come on sooner or later by slightly bending the float arm up(later) or down(sooner).
The long round tube that enters from the top of the tank is your actual fuel level indicator(RID bars) and is unaffected by the float.

HTH,

[Dubuque]

Mick,

So you think the pick up hoses in the tank are holding the float arm in a fixed position and not allowing it to swing free? That would mean taking it apart to verify the situation inside the tank. I figured it would come to that.

Forgot to mention my bike is a '01 R1100R.

I have checked the resistance across the pig tail dender leads and do not get any reading at all except that I do get continuity across the ground wire and the sender leads.

Thanks for the reply I appreciate the thoughts. I will probably take it apart tomorrow provided I can get a gasket at the local dealer (Iron Horse).

So you are in Tucson also? :nod

Tom

[bmwmick]

Yep