I have an 03 Low Rider that I recently purchased with only 7K miles. This is my first Harley and my first bike with a fuel gauge. It seems to show empty before the tank is empty. When I refuel it, it only takes 3 gal of gas and I have only driven about 125 miles. The tank holds 4.89 gals. The question is, How far beyond "E" will the gauge go before I need to use the reserve? Is this common or do I have a faulty gauge?

 

my fuel gauge does the same. I have the low fuel light on my bike, I usually can go at least 140mi before it even comes on. I've let it go down to where it says LO RNG (less than 10mi to empty) and went 5mi to a gas station and put 4.2gal in.

I honestly dont even use the fuel gauge since my bike has the range left on my trip meter functions and I usually fill up at 40mi or so before the low fuel light comes on and usually put in 3.4-3.8 gallons. But my fuel gauge usually reads empty when I still have 60-80mi left on my range.

 

I leave mine on reserve all the time & fill up around 190 miles., my gauge shows empty around 130,, the gauge isn't very good, ithink Harley knew that so mine does't have a low fuel light.. .. better direct replacement gauges are available.

 

Why don't you just ride until the bike starts to stumble from running out of gas and then switch to reserve? That's what the petcock was designed for. You can easily switch the petcock to reserve while riding without missing a beat and find a gas station. On my '05 Low Rider, I get around 150 miles before I have to switch to reserve. I honestly never look at the gas gauge, just use one of the trip odometers.

Now the real question is how much is in the reserve? I know you can go at least 20 miles but have never wanted to run dry to find out. Probably could get at least 40 miles on reserve.

 

What? That really makes no f...ing sense, reserve is designed to be a reserve. It will save you from being stranded if you forget to check your mileage, reset your odometer by mistake, ride harder and burn more gas, etc. The only thing I recommend is checking reserve function first by running bike out of gas in normal position then switching to reserve.

 

Factory fuel gauges are pretty inaccurate, and pretty unnecessary.....I use the old tried and true method of the "reserve" position on the petcock.
Using odometer mileage doesn't work very well for me because my mileage varies greatly depending on how hard I'm pushing it.

I've seen 45/50 MPG when takin' it easy and I've seen 18/20 MPG when hot footin' it!

Don't hot foot it when you're on reserve.....You won't get very far.
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My '03 and now my '13 are the same, stupid inaccurate. On the '03 I kept removing the unit from the tank adjusting it to get it more accurate, I eventually cut the in-tank unit off and threw it in the trash and put a cover over the blank cap to cover up the window. On the '13 I left the in-tank assembly and covered the face of the fuel gauge cap, just some crap an HD doesn't need to have on it, I'd rather it were an actual left side fuel fill.

On your '03 trust the petcock and your ODO, if you have an issue switching to reserve as you're riding install a Pingel petcock, very easy to use and they look great. If you're just riding on reserve and not properly using the petcock it will catch you out eventually but will make for a fun 'I ran out of gas' thread

 

the reserve on these bikes doesn't work any better than the fuel gauge, it hits reserve at 160 miiles, makes no sense when the bike has a 5.5 gallon tank and gets 43 mpg, can easily go past 200 on a tank. less stopping, less wear & tear on the bike. I feel up around 185 and only takes around 4.5 gallons.

 

Thanks for all of the advice. I will run it down to the reserve some time to get a better feel for the actual mileage, I am just impatient right now and do not want to have to stay close to a gas station when it is low or showing Empty.

 

The gauge is merely a suggestion. Your plan is probably best. It is what I have used for years and only ran out when I wasn't heeding my own advice. :-) (meaning I didn't flip the lever back to not-reserve when I bought gas)