Modern Buddy

i'm wondering if anyone has noticed a quick drop off of the fuel gauge?

i filled sophie up when the gauge first hit the E and she only took .943 gals; i didn't overfill her; that was yesterday morning and the gauge showed F; this morning the gauge had dipped to almost the first line down from F. by the time i got home, it was definitely on the first line down. total mileage is around 35 miles.

i just had her in the shop for her first maintenance, so am a bit surprised by the quick drop off on the fuel gauge. thoughts? thanks.

definitely not normal, but I'm afraid that's all I have to offer.

[edited to add: I think I read that wrong. I thought you were saying it was on the first line up from empty not at 3/4 tank or whatever. Yes, gas mileage varies greatly by type of riding, wind, etc. See how far you've gone by the time you have to fill up before you start to worry.]

I think my guage drops through the first 1/4 tank pretty quickly too. Any loss in power, mileage, or any unusal clouds or smell from the exhaust?

I also sometimes wonder if temperature makes a difference with our gas guages...its a tiny tank and I'd imagine a tiny sensor... Is that even possible?

scullyfu wrote:i'm wondering if anyone has noticed a quick drop off of the fuel gauge?

i filled sophie up when the gauge first hit the E and she only took .943 gals; i didn't overfill her; that was yesterday morning and the gauge showed F; this morning the gauge had dipped to almost the first line down from F. by the time i got home, it was definitely on the first line down. total mileage is around 35 miles.

Well, let's see the math...

For the sake of argument; let's say the first line on the gauge is really a quarter tank.

If you got 35 miles on a quarter tank that would be a total range of 140 miles (4x35) on 1.6 gallons (6 liters) of gas.

To compute the mileage on that, it would be 140 (miles) divided by 1.6 (gallons) = 87.5 mpg

Depending on your riding habits, that's within the range I might expect out of a Buddy.

Depending on the real capacity of the tank, let's say for fun the tank is really 1.5 gallons instead of 1.6 gallons.

140/1.5 = 93.33 mpg which is even better and maybe more in line with the "100 mpg" sometimes bandied during Buddy BS sessions we hold at filling stations with SUV drivers.

Now take into account how accurate a reading that analog gauge can really get when it's only holding about a gallon and half and you're riding a vehicle where the gas is probably sloshing around a fair bit. The calibration might not be 100% accurate at 25% reading but it should be close at 50% reading and nearly dead on at Empty (0%).

Through in a little margin for error on the "around 35 miles" and where exactly the needle was pointing at what time.

That's all a long winded anaylsis type way of saying this:

I don't think there's anything wrong with your gauge or your scooter. It sounds fine to me.

When the needle hits the top of the E on Skeeter I can squeeze in about a gallon without overflowing. Just got my 4th fill-up the other day . haven't done the math (mainly because I abhor math). I'll ask Corsair to do that for me and will report back on my average MPG.

My gas gauge is not linear. When I fill up the first half of travel on the gauge is very slow and the 2nd half, down to "E", is much quicker.

I typically wait to fill up until the gauge is well into the red zone. If the needle is midway through the red I tend to squeeze in between 1.3 and 1.4 gallons. And after getting close to 100 mpg on my first tankful (about 1200 miles ago) I haven't seen anywhere near that number since. I average right around 80 mpg but I ride the Buddy hard. The throttle is addictive.

gt1000 wrote:My gas gauge is not linear. When I fill up the first half of travel on the gauge is very slow and the 2nd half, down to "E", is much quicker.

Kymco (and Chevrolet) fuel guages are well known for doing the same thing.

--Keys