Stranded Twice 08RT

cookie said:

I see I'm not alone here. ....... I will watch my odo for miles rather than depend on that silly guage.......

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Jeff - fwiw my RT had a 4% error on the odometer, my GT is between 2-4%

Gotta love it

You guys are right on the money, I never thought of ethanol. I put a gallon of fuel in last night and vvrroom I'm on the road again. I took it to the gas station filled up and set tho trip minder. That is a new habit for me!!!!
Thanks

Don't feel too bad. Lots of people have run out of gas a time or two because they mistakenly trusted a gauge or did something silly. I've had it happen on one motorcycle (didn't have the reserve switch turned on with an old Honda CB400) and one car (borrowed a buddy's classic late 60s Mustang and the gauge was permanently stuck on 1/2 tank). A bit embarrassing, but one of those life lessons.

My 12GS's gas gauge is basically useless until my "reserve" light pops on. Once that reserve light pops on I have four little bars that disappear one by one until empty. They are remarkably consistant at 10-12 miles per bar. Very predictable. That, and the number showing miles to empty, which only comes on with the "reserve" light, is pretty darn accurate, too.

That said, I always reset one of my trips when I refuel. My 12GS is the first motorcycle I've owned with a gas gauge, so its an old habit. My first car had a gas gauge that wasn't worth a darn, either, so I use the trip in my cars, too.

I'm anal-retentive about my bike, so I'm always calculating my mileage, which means I'm always resetting my trip odometer every time I fill up. I average 210 miles between fill-ups on my '02 RTP, which works out to about 35 mpg. I got 260 miles on my last tank, but that's because most of my riding was downhill

BMW fuel gauges have always been junk. Mine never shows a full tank, and indicates I'm down to 3/4 of a tank after just five miles of riding. Go by miles ridden instead of what the fuel gauge shows and you'll avoid this problem in the future.

Just in case, I keep at least one of these filled with gas on my bike at all times. If I ever do run out of fuel, I'll have enough to hopefully get me to the next gas station.

Finally, I've seen it mentioned on the forum that the fuel pump is cooled by the fuel in which it sits, so if the tank is routinely drained to almost the last drop, the fuel pump might not be adequately cooled and thus might fail. Others might have better information on this phenomenon than I do.

This is exactly why I ride an AIRHEAD. Too much high technology that fails too often. I simply flip one of two reserve petcocks and keep on cruising.

stkmkt1 said:

Yep. BMW just spent $1700 replacing my pump, injectors, and rubber due to "too much ethanol" in the gas. At least they paid the tow bill and for all of the repairs. Oh, and the fuel strip was replaced. Bike is an '09 with 10,500 miles on it.

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Too much ethanol? Was this a mistake, as in, too much blended into the fuel? Did you get some E85 somehow?

jamesdunn said:

Too much ethanol? Was this a mistake, as in, too much blended into the fuel? Did you get some E85 somehow?

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We will never know for sure. The fuel in the tank tested as E10. But both BMW Field Rep and dealer said the damage was consistant with too much alcohol. Wish we had an easy way to eliminate the alcohol from the fuel before it ever goes into the bike. I have yet to find anyone with any common sense, make a good case for adding alcohol to gasoline in the manner in which we are subjected to in the country. Sorry farmers.

OfficerImpersonator said:

I'm anal-retentive about my bike, so I'm always calculating my mileage, which means I'm always resetting my trip odometer every time I fill up.

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Me, too. Every time I refuel I print a receipt, then use the calculator on my phone to calculate gas mileage based on my trip. Then I write it on the receipt. I also write down the approximate mileage when the light came on, the number of miles my computer said I had left, and the bars showing on my gauge. That's how I've come to know that those four bars that are their after the light pops on are so predictible at 10-12 miles per bar (ie., 40-50 miles after the light comes on). I eventually throw the receipts away, but for several months I keep them held together with a paper clip in my tank bag. Before I throw them out I look them over for little trends, etc... Just one more little way to know the bike.

Anal retentive and obsessive compulsive, I know. But their ya go!

It happened to me too.

Until now, my fuel gauge was always spot on with the warning light coming on at about one gallon of fuel reserve. This morning, however, coming back home from work I ran out of gas. No big deal, one may say but in my case, it happened in the morning rush hour on I-5 North near Everett exit 189. I was cruising on the HOV lane and that's where I got stuck, the problem was I had to cross the freeway to get to my exit. After rocking my bike, left and right I was able to refire the engine and zoom by to the other side of the freeway between flying cars and semi trucks, just as the engine started to die again. Lucky for me, no one ran me over in this attempt and this is the reason why I think this is MAJOR SAFETY CONCERN. At that time, I had 303.3 miles on the trip, and the fuel gauge showed quarter of tank fuel left and computer was showing 57 miles to empty, (no low fuel warning light). As I was pushing my 2009 R1200 RT to the gas station, someone on the old British bike stopped by offering assitance (nice gesture) but I was too close to my destination. One positive from this story is that now I know what the fuel tank capacity is. It took 6.932 of a gallon in the distance of 303.3 miles equals average fuel economy 43.375 miles per gallon in commuting. And yes, from now on I will monitor more closely my trip meter. Considering the number of misfunction fuel gauges BMW should issue safety recall on all effected models before somebody gets hurt.

The gas gauge on my '09 RT seems to work perfectly, at least for now, knock on wood. Can't say if the miles to empty function is accurate, because I've never taken it past zero or run out of gas.

Nevertheless, I've been screwed too many times in the past by trusting gas gauges. I just set the tripmeter every fill up and gas up after about 250 miles. I've never had it take much more than 5 gallons, so I figure this leaves me a pretty healthy reserve. My butt needs at least two breaks per tank, anyway, which I attribute to the stock seat.

Stabil treatment ?

Don't have any technical advise but have been using the Stabil Ethanol Treatment in both my boat and my RT. Like the idea of Ethanol treatment and fuel cleaner in one.

Very common problem. I have an 09 GS and the local dealer tells me most people's gas guage doesn't work, and there is no "fix". BMW tells them to just keep replacing the original system while it is in warranty. My gas guage stays on full, and mileage to go stays on 240. When I get to about 170 miles, I am looking for a gas station, as the bike gets on average about 40 mpg.

stkmkt1 said:

Yep. BMW just spent $1700 replacing my pump, injectors, and rubber due to "too much ethanol" in the gas. At least they paid the tow bill and for all of the repairs. Oh, and the fuel strip was replaced. Bike is an '09 with 10,500 miles on it.

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my 09 GSA fuel pump has been replaced twice also. Once at 2400mi in June and now at 4000mi. This time they blamed ethanol in the winter gasolinr blend in Colorado. The first time they couldn't. Seems like a design problem to me

bsaylors said:

Don't have any technical advise but have been using the Stabil Ethanol Treatment in both my boat and my RT. Like the idea of Ethanol treatment and fuel cleaner in one.

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Has BMW officially blessed this additive?

I guess I've got an oddball RT. My 06 gauge works flawlessly. I too reset my #1 trip odometer to zero at every fillup and always get gas at or near 300 miles and take a bit less than six gallons. I've never seen the low fuel warning come on and have no desire to experience it either. At 300 miles I've got a bar and a bit left on the gauge.

05 rt

I just returned from a riding vacation which took me through a good part of S. C., N. C., Va., and home. during the second tank my fuel gauge, which had been working perfectly, simply quit working. For the remaining 12 days I rode with a warning light flashing. It was extremely annoying!! I haven't yet had a chance to try to diagnose the problem.

cookie said:

It happened last night going home. I was cruising along about 60mph and the engine just quit. I have 114 miles to empty and 1/4 tank showing on the display, acted like I ran out of fuel. 2 and a half hours on the side of the road, a state trooper arranged for a tow. I had no cell service naturally. 100 degrees and no water. I never once was stranded on any other bike I have owned. $315 tow bill which I hope BMW will pay, that's going to be my next experience. I got to tell you I am losing confidence and I never expected this from a BMW.
Thanks for listening, I needed to tell someone.

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I'm on my fourth fuel strip for my ;07 RT. That is the part that sends the fuel level to the gauge. The gauge is terribly inaccurate even when it is working. BMW has roadside assistance which includes free towing while your bike is under warranty. I'm pursuing a Lemon Law case with BMW over this issue. Definitely trust your odometer only...

MPMARTY said:

I guess I've got an oddball RT. My 06 gauge works flawlessly. I too reset my #1 trip odometer to zero at every fillup and always get gas at or near 300 miles and take a bit less than six gallons. I've never seen the low fuel warning come on and have no desire to experience it either. At 300 miles I've got a bar and a bit left on the gauge.

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My 07 is perfect. It was off when I got the bike, but my dealer (Holt in Athens, OH) replaced the strip in the tank and calibrated the system and it is right on the money for the last 22,000 miles or so. I always reset the trip odometer just to be sure, but when the miles remaining gets to "0" I have about 1 gal reserve left. Depending on what part of the country I'm in, I start thinking about getting gas somewhere around 250 or 300 miles.

Running back from Galveston last night trying to beat the sunset on the '09 GSA...decided LaGrange would be in my fuel window,roughly 30 miles away...bike sputtered soon after that decision and I rocked it to a re-fire, no fuel light warning...made it another hundred yards to another sputter and a really big side to side roll to get her to re-light..saw the lights of a Chevron a mile away as it stumbled the last time in time for a powerless slight downhill roll in to the pumps...computer said 60 miles to go..my odometer had me at 340 miles on that run...well within my usual window. I wasn't hammering it at all, but I was at sea level 1/2 the day and it was very humid. Will check it against odometer on this tankfull... I have had 5 bikes with this fuelstrip setup...first one with an issue this far off. I have a 22OZ emergency fuel bottle but was hoping it was for Helen's or Chucks smaller tanks
I was hammering it a few months back and ran out when it said I would, 3 miles from town 9 gallons of fuel and I still ran out..luckily I had the bottle that day as well
The route I took that particular day had no stations the last 150 miles and I "thought " I was going to make the stop...almost! I use my odometer on the bike and the one on the Garmin, don't typically use the countdown on the bike other than for entertainment.

LaGrange

A how how how how . . .
Have mercy!