Fuel light doesn't stay on
 

I've only just filled up my new XTR for the second time, but once again the fuel light came on at 120 miles, then went off a mile or two later, back on at 130 miles, off again, back at 140 and then was off again by the time I got to a petrol station.

Is that what they all do? I'm guessing it is. I wanted to try to get 30 miles on "reserve" but I don't know which time "reserve" started! :)

What sort of mileage does the fuel light go and and stay on?

The fuel light on my X comes on and goes off intermittently but I try and get it filled asap when it does come on just for peace of mind :)

+1

Common on most bikes, my XTR and now ktm 950 adv do the smae, lucky you dont have a Tenere, bloody fuel light used to come on at around 140 miles and i know these are good for double that

on my "R" the fuel light comes on and off for about 10-20 miles - usually somewhere between 130 and 150 miles and but then stays on. The fuel countdown seems to be clever enough to take account of each period of "on" as it doesn't reset to zero until I fill up.

If I catch it as the light is staying on a refill takes 11 litres meaning there is around 4 litres in reserve, about 50-60miles.

(05 xtx).The light does come and go off on mine but after lighting for the first time the fuel trip shows on the dash and continues to do so until you reset it

09 xtr, on supermarket fuel the light comes on about 120 miles, on shell or other branded fuel the lights on at 140 miles. you can comfortably do 30 miles from when the light comes on 1st time. once the lights on constant you want to be filling up within 20 mile MAXIMUM!
Also when the light comes on it starts the fuel trip at zero, if it then goes off again and you cover more than 7 miles before the light comes back on it will reset to zero again, likewise once youve filled up and ridden for 7 miles the trip display will revert back to whatever it was set to display before.

My 11 XTX usually starts to flash on and off at 170/180km and then stays on fixed from 200km. I have never tried more than about 30km after the fixed reserve, but I rarely manage to put more than 12L so still about 3L left......

Thanks guys, that's all useful information.

The reason I ask is I plan to use the XTR on a 2000 mile trip to and around Skye later this year, including venturing into the "wilderness" a bit. I'd really like to build up a good idea of fuel usage before then to keep the top-ups to a minimum and avoid me getting stuck somewhere in the remote mountains!

I'll aim to fill up at 160 miles the next time and see how I get on. Perhaps I'll keep a litre bottle of fuel in my rucksack just in case! :)

According to the book, the light should come on when there is 5 litres left out of 15. If you have done 120 miles before the light, in theory you should get another 60 before running dry. Yeah, I wouldn't try that either :)

For the record, the most I have done before refilling is 163, and on that occasion it took 11.82 litres, so I was safe for another 10-20 miles at least I would reckon.

What I always do with a new bike (and will do on the XTR when I get a free day) is fill it up, carry a 2 litre can on the back, and hoon it about until it goes onto reserve (or lights the fuel light), note the mileage, and then run it until it is dry, and note the mileage again. Fill from the can and get to a filling station pronto. You have to ride it pretty hard for this procedure, as this will give you the minimum you can expect once the light comes on. You then have the option to baby it in future if you think you are running low and you know you will have more than your calculations.

As to the flashing light, I think it is just the way it is wired up. The sensor bobs up and down and the fuel light responds, although the computer knows it has flashed and starts the mileage countdown regardless. On my car, once the fuel light comes on, it stays on no matter what. Just different logic in the circuits.

I regularly get the fuel trip up to 40 miles, in fact I don't worry until around then when I am in a civilised part of the world, like Lancashire:). Furthest was 54 miles on the F trip, and 200 miles for the tank. I cant remember how much it took but seem to think I still had over a litre left in it.

I would very interested to find out how much a properly empty tank takes to refill to brim full. For example my Transalp officially holds 19litres but I have put 20.5 litres before now although it wasn't quite properly empty even then.

I'm running my xtx in at the moment, my fuel light came on at 123 miles so I pulled into a petrol station to fill up and it went off. So I chanced it and carried on home (another 40 odd miles) and the light was on an off. I thought I better fill up so by the time I got to another petrol station I had done 170 miles and got 12.5 litres in. So even then I still had another 2.5 litres left!! I could potentially have got close to 200 miles before running dry! I wouldn't recommend it though and will fill up as soon as possible after the light comes on. By the way that was nearly all motorway miles varying between 50-70 mph.

Good stuff guys. I was aiming to hit 160 miles, but now I'll go for 200! :D

I bought a litre fuel bottle at Go Outdoors at the weekend so I'm looking forward to the fuel light!!! :)

OK, so my bike doesn't do 200 miles to a tank. Quite.

Armed with a spare litre of fuel I did 189 miles before the bike spluttered and died. That was 52 miles on the F trip. That was no motorway, just a combination of A and B roads and a few miles of town riding.

However, that 189 miles was done between 2 and 6 degrees centigrade, and the bike was filled on the side stand until the fuel just touched the bottom of the filler neck. In the summer, and with the bike brimmed on the centre stand, I think 200 miles would be easily do-able.

For now, I think I'll just start looking for a garage at 170 miles!