this morning, I was out cruising on the freeway. the gauge indicated a little less than 1/8 tank. knowing HD's gas gauge isn't the most reliable, I'm kinda keeping an eye on it. I planned to stop in another 10 miles or so. the light comes on, so I decide I better start looking for a station. I pull into the first one. which was within 3 miles of the light coming on. it took 4.99 gal. to fill up. my manual says it has a 5 gal tank.

was I out of gas or what?!

I know better than to trust a gauge, and won't let it get this close again. this was my first fill-up since getting the bike.

 

Or the meter on the pump wasn't calibrated dead on. There is a +/- tolerance (in most states) when they are inspected each year.

 

true. I'm not sure what the tolerances are for Texas..... I gotta believe it's around +/- .02 gal.

my point is - you can't trust the gauge... or the light.

 

Seems every gas gauge on these bikes is way out, but most are out the other way and read empty when you still have a third of a tank or more left. I still have a hundred miles of riding when my light comes on and it bugs me a bit but I'd rather it that way than the way yours is. Why can't Harley give us gauges that work?

 

my softail was like that. gauge indicating empty, and I could put 2 - 2 1/2 gal in it. the light was fairly accurate. when it came on, I was down to less tha 1 gal.

 

Mines about empty when It reaches a half tank on the gauge. It doesn't even leave the full mark till it's half empty. Go by your odometer only. Fill up a couple of times at a hundred miles to get a reading on just what type of millage your getting on your bike with your riding style. It does make a difference on how you ride as to what millage your going to get.

aka Bob

 

When I had my Ultra, when it got to 1/8th of a tank, it would quit running and I would start walking. It doesn't take long to fix that problem!

 

thanks Bob.... this ain't my first rodeo.

 

Pretty much did the same thing, I ran mine to the edge and it took 5.24 gallons to reach the bottom of the filler neck on my '05 Ultra Classic.

 

Sounds to me like you're gauge worked spot on. I must be the only one here who has an accurate gas gauge. At least it's accurate to me. The light illuminates and the countdown reads 40. Of course this is an estimate and it drops rather fast from there, but it's always consistent, and that's what matters most. when it gets down to 10 the readout changes to "lo" and that's when I get gas. Every time i do this it takes 5 gls, maybe 5.1 or 5.2. This is a 6gl tank. So I'm really happy with the fuel indications on this bike. The gauge itse;f looks fairly spot on as well and seems to coincide with the countdown feature and the light indicator...