Fuel milage ?

[warrior273]

When I bought the bike about a year ago when ever I reached 100 miles my fuel light came on, but know when i hit 80 miles it comes on. What could be the issue here? I recently change the fuel sensor, could that be the problem?

 

[maleko89]

It could be. Next time light comes on quickly fill up and see how much it takes. Fill up to just below the neck. It could be your sync, dirty air filter, low tire pressure, etc. Every little bit helps.

 

[COP RUNNER]

Re: Fuel mileage ?

It could be. Next time light comes on quickly fill up and see how much it takes. Fill up to just below the neck. It could be your sync, dirty air filter, low tire pressure, etc. Every little bit helps.

IF YOUR NOT WHIPPING ON IT & ITS NOT LEAKING , ITS BURNING IT OR HAS TO BE AS MARK SAID ! MY 2006 GETS 45 MPG , JUST CRUISING , BUT IF I'M MESSING AROUND , THAT GOES DOWN LIKE FALLING OFF A CLIFF !..:biglaugh::rofl_200:BIG TIME !

 

[HDKILA]

Mine comes on between 75-90 around town with lots of redline shifting. Highway I can must 110-130 before light turns on.

 

[[email protected]]

Mine comes on between 75-90 around town with lots of redline shifting. Highway I can must 110-130 before light turns on.

I seem to avg around 34 mpg. I would like to be in that 40+ range but I have yet to see it. I do mostly short rides, back roads. Very minimal highway. Not saying this is the way it should be but thats what I've been getting. Doesn't seem to change much no matter what I do.

 

[gunrunner]

Mine comes on between 75-90 around town with lots of redline shifting. Highway I can must 110-130 before light turns on.

Im about the same . unk:

 

[satariel666]

Mine comes about 100 miles when cruising.
If i run it hard it can be even 60 miles when light comes on

 

[warrior273]

It could be. Next time light comes on quickly fill up and see how much it takes. Fill up to just below the neck. It could be your sync, dirty air filter, low tire pressure, etc. Every little bit helps.

Are you talking about the carbs when you say that the sync could be off, because I did slightly move the carbs when I replaced my head gaskets. I do fill up as soon as the light comes on and it takes about 3 gallons.

 

[maleko89]

Sounds like your fuel sender is working then. If you remove the carbs from the boots it's possible they carbs our out of sync. The sync linkages are pretty finicky.

 

[2stangs69-91]

I rode down the freeway in a group ride once, besides almost falling asleep...planning all my next weeks activites ,and singing countless songs to my self. I got 40 plus mpg. at the first check point we ditched the main group had some fun and went back to a 35 mpg average. :biglaugh:. I could get good milage but I didn't buy a Vmax for fuel economy. It is better than my F-150 and my 10 sec 5.0 mustang daily driver.

oh, back to the question I am looking for my fuel light around 104 miles on a average weekend ride. I have seen it on in the high 80's If I am playing with carbs and stoplight running.

 

[nosvmax]

Well since I just bought my VMAX I have only filled the tank 3 times. The last time I got almost 130 miles before the red light came on,, Do you think my floats need adjusting?

 

[Redbone]

What Mark means is that to get to the gas station in the fewest miles possible in order see how much fuel you have to use to fill it up. Please note the amount of gas put in so you can figure out what level your sensor is at. I usually put in 3.2 gallons and I fill it to the very top by lightly shaking the bike to get all of the air out of the tank, then squeezing a little more in until it completely full.

 

[TCHILDERS]

Hey, I think what Mark means is: the next time the light comes on, go immediately and fill up so that you know how many gallons you've 'used'. Notice I didn't say how many gallons you've 'burned'. I was just washing gas through my number three cylinder because the wire that fired it's coil had an open spot. Thus, my bike was only running on three cylinders. Always check the small things before tearing into the larger things (like rebuilding your carburators- it was a good learning process for me though!) I would check and make sure you're getting spark to all four plugs. But FIRST, you should probably synch your carbs. Any time you mess with them, synch them. If you don't have a tool to do it yourself, and don't want to pay someone else to do it check out the old posting from Richwrench that I copied and pasted below. (I would recommend establishing a method of doing it yourself. I make it an effort to check synch every couple months whether I've worked on my carbs or not. It should just be routine maintenance). Once you learn how, it is real easy and only takes about 10 minutes. Anyway, definately synch them. Mark has a sticky thread in the carb section detailing how to do it. Afterwards, If you are still getting poor mileage/ perfomance, let us know. Someone here will get it right. And if not, you can always probably do what I did-- Bug poor Mark until he gets you there (the guy is awesome on issues with Mr. Max!).
richwrench richwrench is offline
Senior Member

Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Palm Harbor FL
Posts: 578
My VMax: '96 Black Max

Homemade Sync Tool
I did a web search for homemade manometers & I found a lot of sites that show how to build your own. So I borrowed what I thought were the best ideas & combined them all to build a sync tool just for my Vmax. I bought 50 ft of 3/8" OD by 1/4"ID clear plastic tubing at Lowes for about 10 bucks. I cut the tubing in 4 equal lengths & connected them at one end with two 3-way vacuum tees to a 4 ft board. Then I added a couple oz's of ATF ( about 20 inches ) & let it settle to the bottom. Then for vacuum restrictors ( to limit the pulsations in the fluid ) I cut four 1 inch pieces of coax cable & stuffed one in the other end of each tube. Then I simply stuck a vacuum connector in the end of each tube & added a short piece of 3/16" vacuum hose to connect to the carbs. With the tool hung from a hook in my ceiling I connected the hoses to each carb then fired up the bike. The ATF rose to the top of the tube connected to my left rear cyl , so I turned that sync screw clockwise very slowly until the fluid came back down. The right front cyl tube had no fluid in it , so I turned that one counter-clockwise until the fluid came up. I kept tweaking each sync screw until all fluid levels were within 2 inches of each other. ( that's as close as I was able to get them ). MAN does my bike run better now !!! This is much more accurate than my two vacuum guages. No more hesitation & the price was right. Maybe some day I'll buy a sync-tool, but for now this works great. Thanks to all in cyber-space that posted their ideas so that I could build this.
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I must be a mechanic because I sure do work with a lot of Tools...

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[MtnMax/Magniac]

Hey, 2stangs69-91 what case guards do you have? I can't seem to find any except one company in England.

 

[2stangs69-91]

those look like them. I bought them from yamaha when I got my bike. I added some grip tape to them.

 

[MtnMax/Magniac]

those look like them. I bought them from yamaha when I got my bike. I added some grip tape to them.

Thanks, I just got Max last week, an original '85 from a collector friend. Only 15,000 actual miles. Took my wife for a ride and she says I HAVE TO GET a backrest for her and engine guards. I always do what I'm told. (At least when she's looking.) ;^)

 

[gamorg02]

Thanks, I just got Max last week, an original '85 from a collector friend. Only 15,000 actual miles. Took my wife for a ride and she says I HAVE TO GET a backrest for her and engine guards. I always do what I'm told. (At least when she's looking.) ;^)

gonna be tough to find a stock one. i like the renntec b/c it comes with the luggage rack, but HAC makes one that is easily removable