I've had this '06 Deluxe for three months now. At 41K miles when I bought it, I expected to have to do certain things. I was good with that. The bike had been very well maintained, and stuff like cam chain tensioners had been recently done, showing virtually no wear at all. All fluids clear and clean, etc.

But there was one little bothersome thing. Not a big thing, but sorta like one of those micro splinters in a sensitive part of your finger that you can't see, much less pull out, but stabs at you none the less....the damned fuel gauge. the flush mount kind with the blue LEDs.

It has not functioned properly since the day I bought the bike. It might give me three lights with a full tank, almost immediately dropping to two, and going out completely periodically. I assumed the worst. The sender. I assumed this because when the lights went completely out, the low fuel light would come on. This even happened right after filling up once, before I even got out of the station parking lot.

I resolved to simplify things and eliminate it. First thing I did was to unplug it. Thinking, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind." Except, when unplugged, the low fuel warning light was on all the time. My research found there was no easy workaround to this.

However, when I went to unplug it, pretty much all it took was a touch to the connector and it came unplugged. I began to think maybe that was the problem all along. It took several days and running about a full tank of fuel through it to finally get around to cleaning the connector and plugging it back in. I do so last night. Even put a gob of die-electric grease on the connector.

Lo and behold! I fill up this morning, and all four lights come on just as they are supposed to! I reckon it was one of those Ockham's Razor things. Basically, the most simple and obvious solution is usually the correct one.

Bottom line, check the simple stuff first before getting all worked up about complex solutions to a problem.

 

I had the same problem on my Heritage. When I got the bike, it showed that I had three to four lights, but I ran out of gas almost immediately. I had a warranty on my bike, and the folks from where I bought it picked it up to check it out. It was the connector on the gauge. They made the repair, and now it seems to be working just fine. I thought that I was going to have to change file gauges, but I was able to dodge that bullet.

 

You mean this one:

 

Yep. Kinda like that one. Mine doesn't have that many LEDs tho. It only has a another round light where yours had the little gas pump too.

I'm thinkin' if it stays fixed, and confirms it was just the connector all along that caused the trouble, I may change it anyway. The matching fuel cap on the right side has a cheezy plastic glue-on trim ring, and the fake chrome is peeling off.

 

im taring mine apart this weekend and just going to run 2 matching gas caps. but only if i can find a way to keep low fuel light off. i dont need a gauge but i cant have that light be on all the time, would bug the **** out of me

 

That's pretty much what I was gonna do too. I even went so far as to buy the left side fuel cap adapter from Speed Dealers. I had two fuel caps, but the adapter has left hand threads on it.

There was a thread I came across on this forum, a few years old now, that dealt with the low fuel light staying on. One method was to use the guts of the fuel gauge stuffed into the tank hole and put the cap on. This would complete the circuit. Another solution is to use a certain value resistor on the yellow wire (at least I think it was the yellow wire), and that would allow the fuel light to work somewhat normally. Other methods disabled the light completely.

I'm still interested in hearing about any solutions to the fuel light staying on after disconnecting the gauge

 

fo sho, thanks. im going to look into all that stuff. and i think all replacement bungs are left threads for some reason. i found the left thread caps

 

I forget the value, but when the fuel float gets to a certain point (low fuel) the resistance is equal to x Ohms - which is equal to / less than (=<) the resistance for the low fuel light to get power.

Found it in the wiring diagrams in the Service Manual - yours may be different.

FULL: 39.5 / 27.5 ohms
1/2: 118.0 / 97.0 ohms
Empty: 260.0 / 240.0 ohms

Just add a resistor to the Y/W wire 86B before the splice with 117B.

 

Eliminate the fuel gauge, it's worthless. Did you forget your mind and your last mileage reading when you fueled up?


Electronics can be a pain in the **** but there are work arounds. Given I had to tear it down to find the culprit I would hope like hell I had one twisted up and a fridge of beer. This may take several days > lmbo

 

Nope. I keep track of mileage. And I'd be happy without the gauge. I'd be OK without the low fuel light. Hell, I'd be ecstatic if the thing had a carb and a standard fuel petcock like my Sportster has!

But, since it's there and it seems to be working now, I'm OK with the functionality. I reckon I'm just OCD about stuff like that. If it's there, it needs to work.

BTW, Next In Line,
Thanks for that schematic. I'd imagine many will find it useful