Last time I refueled I pumped in 10 gallons exactly. My MFD unfortunatly says 58.5 mpg and 530 miles. I'm at one solid pip left. Should I be confident enough to drive the babe for 570 or so miles no matter what the guess gauge?
If that last pip starts blinking, I'd pay more attention to it than the odometer. Your bike's in the back just in case, right?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ystasino @ Aug 10 2007, 10:55 AM) [snapback]493544[/snapback]</div> This time perhaps, although if you put fuel in now you won't have to worry about it. Worst case senario, how far are you likely to be from the nearest gas station if the last pip starts blinking at you? If during the next 40 miles you are never likely to be more than 3 miles from a gas station, then go ahead and try if you enjoy seeing how many miles you can get on a tank, but I personally would recommend driving directly to the nearest station no matter where you are headed or how late you are if that pip starts to flash. Also if you are going to do that, keep an eye on that last pip, you don't want to have already driven 10 miles with it flashing before you notice that it is flashing! Overall, every tank will be different. Bad weather with lots of wind, and you might find your MPG dropping below 50mpg and might run out long before 570 miles. The guess gauge doesn't tell you how many gallons you've used or how many gallons you have left, but it does a really good job of telling the difference between all filled up, and getting rather low. If it is on 1 pip and you aren't intentionally trying to drain your tank, it's a really good idea to just fill up. If that pip is flashing and you don't have spare gas with you, there really isn't much of a good reason to push it any further.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ystasino @ Aug 10 2007, 08:55 AM) [snapback]493544[/snapback]</div> No! There are too many variables. Pumps click off at different points, Tank bladder temperature, roads driven, The concensus around here seems to be that as long as you are not too far away from a feuling station, and the last bar isn't flasing, you have 10 or more miles of driving left. Onece it starts flashing, maybe 10 or less miles to go.
The point is that I know how much I fueled so I WON'T be trusting the guess gauge, but the MFD reading INSTEAD within a 2% tolerance for error. I think in our panic to advise newbies to not trust the guess gauge we are missing the point, that one CAN estimate what distance they can SAFELY run before running out of gas. And I say SAFELY because I assume that there will always be a bit of gas left while you refuel. If the MFD is to be trusted and one consumes as much as they add in then I don't see why the above is dangerous. If one remembers how much the fueled and can do basic math then one should be able to calculate when to refuel.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ystasino @ Aug 10 2007, 12:31 PM) [snapback]493572[/snapback]</div> Lots of "ifs". In my experience the MFD can not be trusted. Look for Spirit Queen at greenhybrid.com and you will see the wide variance I experience between my calculations and the MFD. The only time I pay attention to the guess gauge is when it is at 1 pip. This does not mean that I believe it. Yes, there is always gas left. Is it usuable? Some. Maybe. If you know you pumped 10 gallons and you believe the MFD when it says you have 50mpg then drive 500 miles regardless of the state of the guess gauge. Sooner or later you will have some time to ponder the relationships as you wait for AAA to deliver enough gas to get to the next station. Good luck in not posting to the "I ran out of gas" thread.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NoMoShocks @ Aug 10 2007, 12:12 PM) [snapback]493557[/snapback]</div> Our policy has been to fill within 10 miles from the start of the blinking pip. A few times we have gone over that. We still only get 8.x gallons in the tank and that is after post-filling .5 gallons. PA P
570 miles? That's pushing it IMO. 550 miles? Now that's a lot more reasonable. I don't trust the MFD THAT much anymore. You say it says 58.5 MPG, but in my experience that's probably a lot closer to 55 MPG, if not below that. Of course that depends on a lot of things. It's my thought that unless you ran out of gas last time there is a little more than you pumped in, regardless. Of course I wouldn't bet money on it being there, but if you had no choice then I'd chance it. It's not that you couldn't possibly go 585 miles, it's just that why would you risk it for no reason?
Just my two cents...I've never ran out of gas and always fill up based on your assumption. Based on my MPGs, I multiply by 10 gallons and will fill up around that mileage (53.5 MPGs, I'll fill up around 540 miles). Knowing that the tank is close to 12 gallons, and that I filled up at least 10 gallons before, I feel confident I won't run out of gas. On the gas gauge, I think the most I've traveled is around 80 miles while it's blinking. And this was because I wasn't yet at the 10 gallon magic number. For me, as long as I put at least 10 gallons of gas, I know how far I can go.
Squeezing a lot of miles out of a tank may give you something to brag about but wont give you better mileage. Why risk running out and maybe being tempted to drive on the battery to the nearest fuel? It isn't good for the battery. I fill up at 2 bars, before I get to one bar. I've only ever run out of fuel once, the gauge was calibrated for another petrol tank size. Running out or having to fill the day your in a hurry is a pain.
