Fuel Tank...

[siinthai]

Last night I had the pleasure of pushing my RD04 at least 1km as I ran out of juice !!!!
Orange fuel light came on....supposing there was at least 5 litres left, i carried on..couldn't have done more than 8km.....dead........no red light ....pushed to the servo....filled to the brim.....20 litres

I thought these were 24 litre tanks ?....there wasn't drop in it...believe..i was shaking the girl..praying...

Any clues anyone..or do I just figure orange means red in my new Rd04 world ???

[j]

What I can remember orange is at about 15 miles, means garage now.
I always watched the mileage 170 miles and top up safer then risking a push, been there and bought two of the T shirts.

[Snaphappy]

I had to push a Montessa 350 for nearly a 1/4 mile


I learnt the easy way


dont trust warning lights always reset the trip and fill up when you know your low

[AlanH]

Any clues anyone..or do I just figure orange means red in my new Rd04 world ???

Both lights should come on when you turn the ignition on and then go off after a few seconds as a bulb and circuit check. I would check the wiring to the senders under the tank and make sure that there are no loose connections. Check the sender output too with a full tank and an empty tank.

There is no way you should be able to run the tank dry without the red light coming on unless something is wrong. I regularly ran my RD04 down to the red light and it was considerably more than 8km between the amber coming on and the red coming on.

[BobA]

You do know there are 2 fuel taps on an RD04 don't you? (sorry I'm not being sarcastic)

I always leave the right one switched off, so even if I run out of fuel and both the lights are on, I know there's a fair amount (more than 2 litres I'm guessing) in that side.

Is your right tap switched off? (could have been a pointless push if it is!!!)

Secondly, if your fuel tank has been badly dented in the past, then just had filler in it, this would reduce the capacity of your tank (but not by 4 litres!)

I always brim my tank and get a minimum of 160 miles until the amber light comes on, then my RD04 will run on to 190-200 miles when the red light comes on. I've had 220 miles before I've chickened out and filled up, and all this was without turning the right fuel tap on.


Check it out, Good Luck


Bob

[Mungrel]

You do know there are 2 fuel taps on an RD04 don't you? (sorry I'm not being sarcastic)

I always leave the right one switched off, so even if I run out of fuel and both the lights are on, I know there's a fair amount (more than 2 litres I'm guessing) in that side.

Bob

As a noob to the @, I wondered why there were 2 fuel taps. Am I to understand that if I leave the RH tap OFF, then when the orange light comes on, I can turn that tap ON and use it as a sort of "reserve"??

No sarkyness intended, this is a genuine question.

Mungrel

[Pussyhorse]

Ther are two taps as the design of the tank doesn't allow all the fuel to drain from just one side.

I always leave both mine on and just go with the lights. If one is off it is possible for it to 'run out' with loads left in the tank. If the lights are morally lacking use one tap as a reserve.

The usual weak spot for the lights is if you've had the tank off and the connectors have got crap in or haven't pushed together properly. My old RD03 did this to me once. Pushed it half a mile through Vauxhall.

[BobA]

If you cut the tank in half, across ways, it be a similar shape to an " n ".

The upper part of the tank is one, but once the fuel drops below a certain level, it sits in the two lower side parts of the tank. This is why there are two taps, and a "Y" piece before they enter the fuel pump.

There are two level sensors in the tank, one for the amber light, one for the red light. Both are mounted in the left side of the tank.

The reason I leave the RIGHT side petcock off, is because this will keep the fuel trapped in that side as a "Reserve" and will not affect the level sensors.

If you did it the other way round, and kept the right tap ON, and the left tap off, the fuel trapped in the left side of the tank would mean the level would not drop, so the level sensors would not work or detect this.

Hope that makes sense.


Good Luck


Bob

[siinthai]

Thanks to Bob....like your changing avatar by the way

Ok...both taps are in open position....both lights come on with key....
will the red come on with key if there's a connection problem at sender...?
There was no fuel when i shook it about...believe me 1km in the heat and humidity here was not a fun exercise...even at night !1
need to take tank off this weekend to route GPS power feed so will have a look.
Any other things to look for ?
cheers
Si