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Pushed it too far

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Old Mar 15, 2020 | 05:01 PM
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wanting to use up most of my 5 month old gas yesterday, ( yeah i know , crazy time tho ) I took off on a ride waiting till my low fuel light came on... it did and running on down the highway i was waiting for my usual LF reading and then a 10 mile countdown to appear on the odometer screen... it never did and i coasted to within 500 feet of a station ( lucky for sure ) so..... how come it did not show up this time,? ... any ideas ? thought it auto showed up... but i sure got all of that old gas out of there
 
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Old Mar 15, 2020 | 05:28 PM
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That's tough on the electric fuel pump as well. Glad your safe.
 
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Old Mar 15, 2020 | 06:26 PM
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Mechanic told me the pump will last forever in my truck, if I keep it over 1/4 tank. With such a small tank, I am not sure how much is needed to cool the pump. Like to think they built it to go down to a gallon left, which wuld leave it exposed. Though they are not building bike pumps to go 2-300k miles.

While I do think it is good run the gas down, if you can. But if you can't, I live with it. Winter came kinda early last year. I think I got 2 gallons in each bike.
 
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Old Mar 15, 2020 | 07:51 PM
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On a side note, my 1999, Road King is carburated and the other day I did the same thing. I had a quart of fuel in a jug and let the bike run down to the point of reserve. When it started sputtering I switched it to reserve and reset the trip meter. I was hoping for a gallon's worth (40 miles at Hwy speed) but, only got 17 miles before she died. So, now I know I have just under half a gallon when I switch to reserve. Good info to have.
 
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Old Mar 15, 2020 | 08:04 PM
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I have an 05 RK custom and my low fuel light doesn't come on all the time. I just keep an eye on the gauge and the mileage.
 
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Old Mar 16, 2020 | 05:33 AM
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I ride all winter long even if it’s just to go and get some fresh gas.
 
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Old Mar 16, 2020 | 06:11 AM
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Having to push it 500 feet would be way too far for me.
 
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Old Mar 16, 2020 | 07:44 AM
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Why are you guys running the tank so low? If the light comes on just fill it with fresh gas and you'll be good to go. With these in tank electric pumps it's not good for them to run very low (Lubrication and cooling).
 
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Old Mar 16, 2020 | 07:47 AM
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Conventional wisdom holds that filling the tank prior to storage minimizes condensation.
 
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Old Mar 16, 2020 | 08:02 AM
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Intuitively, if the bike runs on the old gas, the gas isn't so bad that you need to drain it all anyway. 5 gallons into a 6 gallon tank, or 4 gallons into a 5 gallon tank and you would be fine. And storing with a FULL TANK and some stabilizer is the preferred situation.
 
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