Fuel gauge problems?

[showkey]

Today I rode to the top of a mountain when I supposedly had a bit less than half a tank...only 11 miles up and it was blinking! I made it around 20 miles for more gas, but will now be wary of relying on that gauge and will set the trip meter!

Going uphill (especially a mountain) the fuel will slosh to the rear........causing temporary inaccurate fuel gauge reading.

 

[cdnuser]

I had a similar issue on my last car. I was going to the same gas station which was selling bad gas. It messed up a sensor in the tank. Another reason I always go for 91 (for my bike, in canada 91 is recommended) from a trusted gas station. And never go to one while the tanker is there, get all the crap stirred up in the storage tank.

That being said I also think that the gas gauge on this bike is faulty.

 

[L.B.S.]

Another reason I always go for 91 (for my bike, in canada 91 is recommended)

I also think that the gas gauge on this bike is faulty.

Who is recommending 91 for our bikes in Canada? Honda says "minimum 86" in Canada, and the lowest I've seen anywhere (around here at least, in BC) is 87.

Having said that, I will put a tank of Chevron 94 in once in a while, but only to placebo myself into believing the "the most Techron" cleaner malarkey will be of the tiniest bit beneficial.


I wouldn't say the gas guage is faulty, so much as it's just a pretty crude and an "approximately" thing, to never gamble with and think you can rely on it always being spot on.

 

[tslaw]

My gas gage worked flawlessly and reasonably accurately for 5K miles - when the last bar blinked it was 2.7 to 3 gallons to fill it up. Then it begin to get consistently erratic. Once I went 235 miles before it blinked and took 3.3 gallons to fill it. Other times I've put 3.2-3.5 gallons in with 2 bars showing. I now fill up at 200 miles unless I know that my riding pace requires me to fill up earlier.

 

[cdnuser]

Who is recommending 91 for our bikes in Canada? Honda says "minimum 86" in Canada, and the lowest I've seen anywhere (around here at least, in BC) is 87.

Having said that, I will put a tank of Chevron 94 in once in a while, but only to placebo myself into believing the "the most Techron" cleaner malarkey will be of the tiniest bit beneficial.


I wouldn't say the gas guage is faulty, so much as it's just a pretty crude and an "approximately" thing, to never gamble with and think you can rely on it always being spot on.

In the Canadian edition of the manual included with my bike 91 is recommended. I seem to be the only one that has that though. The only thing I can think of is mine is one of the first 30 bikes off the line, so it could have been changed later for bikes built after mine.

 

[StratTuner]

I observe the fuel bars aren't linear... The first goes out, for me, between 70-90 miles. So, Since there are five bars, I should get 5x70 miles or 350 miles from a tank! Nope...
I can't tell how the thing works, but for me, I know that it's URGENT to find gas when I get above 200miles.
I calculate, worst case, I have 30 miles to go once the last bar starts flashing.
It amazes me that, in 2013, Honda can't make a reliable fuel gauge.... don't get me wrong, I love my NC, but his this is a definite quirk.

 

[Mike Cash]

What's a bike without a few quirks?

 

[L.B.S.]

In the Canadian edition of the manual included with my bike 91 is recommended. I seem to be the only one that has that though. The only thing I can think of is mine is one of the first 30 bikes off the line, so it could have been changed later for bikes built after mine.

Does it say 91 RON?

I bet it does. That does not mean it is what you actually put in at the pump, going by the numbers listed denoting grades. (Regular 87/ Mid Grade 90,91/ Supreme 92/94 etc.) If you look at pumps, they will all have this sticker on them: (R+M)/2)


In Canada, at all gasoline pumps:

"Regular" gas (ie: the lowest, cheapest grade) is: RON Research Octane Number (91) + Mon Motor Octane Number (82) divided by 2, equals the AKI Anti Knock Index of 87

So if your manual says to put in 91 RON minimum, that means roughly 86.5 AKI, and what's sold at pumps as Regular is 87, so 87 is good to go.

 

[Spaceteach]

It might help to try and separate the actual issues with the gauges from the design of the gauges. First off I've never seen a vehicle with a linear fuel gauge. Every car or bike I've ever had with an analog gauge would go several miles before the gauge started to move off full, and even after it started to move, it always dropped faster on the second half of the tank than the first. With the NC, you only have 4 regular bars and a reserve flashing bar on the gauge. If you think of the bars as each representing 1/4 tank with the fifth bar as reserve, it starts to look more like any other fuel guage. The top bar isn't going to go out until you've consumed the gas above the upper range of the level sensor as well as the top fourth of the normal (as in non-reserve) tank. StratTuner, you can call this a quirk if you'd like, but to me its no different than any other fuel guage I've ever seen. The main downside of the digital gauge, is that you can't tell just by the gauge whether you're at the top, middle, or bottom level of the range of any given bar. This means that if you are riding up the mountain and start with the gauge indicating just under half, you are really looking at the last bar before the flasher and you don't really know if you are at the top or bottom level for that bar.
I realize that some posters on this thread have real issues with their gauge, and hopefully Honda will come up with a fix. For others, its more getting used to the way a digital gauge differs from the analog we're all used to.

Anyhow, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Bob

 

[L.B.S.]

I observe the fuel bars aren't linear... The first goes out, for me, between 70-90 miles. So, Since there are five bars, I should get 5x70 miles or 350 miles from a tank! Nope...
I can't tell how the thing works, but for me, I know that it's URGENT to find gas when I get above 200miles.
I calculate, worst case, I have 30 miles to go once the last bar starts flashing.
It amazes me that, in 2013, Honda can't make a reliable fuel gauge.... don't get me wrong, I love my NC, but his this is a definite quirk.

Don't ever buy a BMW costing $10,000.00 or $20,000.00 + more than our NCX then, and expect a reliable or even remotely trustworthy fuel guage!

The fuel tank is not a perfect cylinder, square, rectangle, etc. It is a weird blob of a shape, at roughly a 45* angle off the horizontal, that has all manner of convoluted internal quirkery going on. The amount of fuel at the top 1/3 of measurable volume is waaay different than the middle or bottom third.

The fuel level sender has to also deal with inherent sloshing back and forth, and side to side.

And what about headwind, long steep hills, city versus highway, large throtle openings rather than gentle minimal style riding, etc. A simple level guage can't take all that into account.

They might have been able to come up with a super complex computer algorithm and cunning sensor doohicky gadgets to get it pretty perfect, but I'm sure that would have added some decent extra cost to the overall purchase price, and judging by how many fellow motorcyclists still look at those of us who are keen on fuel stats, mpg's, distances on a tank etc., versus "How fast does it go? How much Horsepower? What's the 1/4 mile time?, Who cares how far you can go on a tank? Get a Civic!" I don't think having a "perfect" guage was right at the top of the priority list.

My BMW, also with an under the seat tank of dubious shape, had a mega complex computer algorithm, real-time mpg readout, miles to empty and so on, via cunning sensor doohicky gadgets that cost me an arm and a leg as a coveted Option, and guess what? It sucked! It ROYALLY sucked! I ran out of fuel twice, after a blemish free, never run out of petrol in my entire life record, up to that point.

 

[Beemerphile]

...Then it begin to get consistently erratic.

Hmmm? Is "consistently erratic" the same thing as "inconsistent"?

 

[StratTuner]

It might help to try and separate the actual issues with the gauges from the design of the gauges. First off I've never seen a vehicle with a linear fuel gauge.
Bob

Really... Analog fuel gauges I grew up with had an "E" on the left, an "F" on the right. When the tank was full, the needle poited to F.
When the tank was half full (optimist), it pointed to the hash mark exactly between "E" and "F". When Empty, it pointed to "E".
Is this not linear? You've never seen one of those? I guess I'm just old!

You are correct about not moving off F quickly and going below... so that really wasn't linear either.
I'm beginning to accept the fuel gauge in the "Zen" frame of mind... it is what it is...

 

[StratTuner]

Hmmm? Is "consistently erratic" the same thing as "inconsistent"?

yes. Using the correct adjective there was a good idea.

 

[Beemerphile]

The shape of the NC tank will make linearity a challenge unless they used a correlation map between gauge voltage and fuel remaining. However, whatever screwy irregular readout it gave ought to be the same every time.

 

[L.B.S.]

It might help to try and separate the actual issues with the gauges from the design of the gauges. First off I've never seen a vehicle with a linear fuel gauge. Every car or bike I've ever had with an analog gauge would go several miles before the gauge started to move off full, and even after it started to move, it always dropped faster on the second half of the tank than the first. With the NC, you only have 4 regular bars and a reserve flashing bar on the gauge. If you think of the bars as each representing 1/4 tank with the fifth bar as reserve, it starts to look more like any other fuel guage. The top bar isn't going to go out until you've consumed the gas above the upper range of the level sensor as well as the top fourth of the normal (as in non-reserve) tank. StratTuner, you can call this a quirk if you'd like, but to me its no different than any other fuel guage I've ever seen. The main downside of the digital gauge, is that you can't tell just by the gauge whether you're at the top, middle, or bottom level of the range of any given bar. This means that if you are riding up the mountain and start with the gauge indicating just under half, you are really looking at the last bar before the flasher and you don't really know if you are at the top or bottom level for that bar.
I realize that some posters on this thread have real issues with their gauge, and hopefully Honda will come up with a fix. For others, its more getting used to the way a digital gauge differs from the analog we're all used to.

Anyhow, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Bob

Years ago, Kawasaki had an issue with owners complaining their bikes were running too hot, and the temp guage needle always too close to the red. This made the owners nevous and twitchy, always thinking they were damaging their bikes.

Kawasaki recalled them. They didn't change a thing with the engineering of the motor, the rad, the cooling system, nothing. It was all just fine.

They just repainted the guages so that the red zone was further away from the needle indicator.

I think Honda should have simply made the LCD blocks smaller, and had many more of them. It's not a surprise when 10 out of 16 bars gradually disappear, versus the suddeness of: "I've got 1/2 a tank" to: BLINK BLINK BLINK Auuugh!!

lol

 

[Jay Fridays]

If anything is faulty, I would take it to the dealer IMMEDIATELY while it is still under warranty. That sounds like a bad sensor, or bad electronics in the computer brain. I do not have that problem at all. My guage is spot on. Like someone else entioned, I can almost predict by the miles exactly when it will change.

The digital dash is SUPER EXPENSIVE !! just have them fix it for you before it's too late. And, if so many people are experiencing this, maybe this will stir up a recall; and everyone else experiencing this problem will have it solved...

 

[L.B.S.]

Really... Analog fuel gauges I grew up with had an "E" on the left, an "F" on the right. When the tank was full, the needle poited to F.
When the tank was half full (optimist), it pointed to the hash mark exactly between "E" and "F". When Empty, it pointed to "E".
Is this not linear? You've never seen one of those? I guess I'm just old!

You are correct about not moving off F quickly and going below... so that really wasn't linear either.
I'm beginning to accept the fuel gauge in the "Zen" frame of mind... it is what it is...

Did you grow up with Motorcycle linear analogue fuel guages, or car ones?



Having said that, though, the simple and cheap analogue fuel guage on my CBR125R is as dead nuts accurate as any fuel guage I've ever had, anywhere, period. I :heart: the little thing.


Zen attitude is good; carrying some spare fuel for emergencies, is better

 

[cdnuser]

Those with a honda plus warranty with roadside assistance can have gas brought to them once I think (correct me if I am wrong). You have to pay for the gas and wait a couple of hours for it mind you. lol but it may be better than pushing your bike over a mile.

 

[Spaceteach]

Really... Analog fuel gauges I grew up with had an "E" on the left, an "F" on the right. When the tank was full, the needle poited to F.
When the tank was half full (optimist), it pointed to the hash mark exactly between "E" and "F". When Empty, it pointed to "E".
Is this not linear? You've never seen one of those? I guess I'm just old!
Well, I'll agree the gauges are normally symmetrical with even spacing between the marks. When I said linear I was referring to the movement of the needle as the fuel is consumed. You originally stated that your bike goes much further before the first bar goes out than it does for the others, and I thought you said that was an obvious quirk. I was trying to say (apparently poorly) that I think it's normal since every car or bike I can remember went more miles between filling up and the guage indicating 3/4 of a tank than they went from indicating 3/4 to 1/2 tank. To me, that's not linear. Just out of curiosity, assuming your tank held 18 gallons, how were you able to verify that when the gauge read 1/2, you had exactly 8 gallons left?

Bob

 

[Jay Fridays]

18/2=9
sorry...lol
someone was gonna say it..