Happened on my 85 FXST. It was a loose wire on relay. This was about 30 years ago and can’t recall which one caused it.

 

Deleted

 

All kinds of lessons learned on a new/old bike. Confidence is high you won't run out again...

 

actually, I wasn’t

 

Then I don't know how you ran out of gas...??



The reserve fuel is from the left side (petcock side) of the tank...

As long as there is a functioning crossover fuel line... you will still have the reserve available if you only fill the right side of the tank...

My FXS shovel head bikes had two tank halves, two fill caps, one crossover and one petcock on the left side... If you filled the right side only, the volume of gas put in the right side tank, will still "equalize" between the two tanks within several minutes. That should be enough to cover the reserve and a bit more...

If you take the time, you can fill both tank halfs from the right side... It's just that the crossover fuel line does not equalize fuel between the tanks, as rapidly as the gas pump can fill the tank...You COULD fill right side, let fuel equalize... fill right side again, let fuel equalize.. etc... But who is going to take that much time.

I used to fill left side and then fill right side to ensure a fast, complete fill.... I would even wait a minute or two, if on a long trip, to let the tanks equalize after filling the right side, and then top that side off again...

So if you filled only the right side, within minutes, the tank would be half full... if you had the petcock in the normal position, when the bike stopped, you should have been able to switch to reserve and continue on for another gallon's worth of distance (or whatever the reserve on your tank is)....

If when the bike died, you had the petcock in the regular position, you then tried switching it from regular to reserve, and the bike wouldn't start... it wasn't because you ran out of gas by only filling the right side of the tank..... there is another issue that needs attention..

Be sure to post up what the shop says....

 

If you were not running with the valve in the reserve position, then your problem still exists.

The valve is not working properly.

 

He wouldn't be the first rider to forget about the reserve. Especially if he's never had a bike so equipped before.

 

OP said it wont crank, if it just shut down is the engine seized up?

 

He meant it cranked but would not start...

The bike ran out of gas...

 

Oh, I used to do that more than once. i would shut the petcock and fire the bike up and leave hard by third gear it was shutting off...;0