Ducati Sporting Club UK > Model Specific - Discussion, Technical Problems and Help > Sport Touring: ST4 / ST3 / ST2 > fuel indickie

[Mad Dog Bianchi]

Just got back from a business trip to very very sunny California....aah, the joys of driving a convertible up Hwy 1!
Anyway, looked foreward to getting back in the saddle of my ST4 and rode into Tokyo on Sunday. When first starting out I had 3 bars left on the fuel gauge and an indicated 10 liters used. Part way home the fuel light came on and the last left hand bar started flashing. Checked the fuel used and it was still only reading about 11 liters used. Rode it yesterday thinking the problem would be solved after another ride (something stuck on the fuel sensor??) but same thing. ...yellow light on at times, off at others, 3 bars to one flashing bar and a used fuel reading of 12 liters. Coming home last night I decided to fill it up with only 12 liters used, but I was able to put in almost 17 liters. Any suggestions what this may be. Would be nice to have some accuracy in this matter.

[rockhopper]

I know it would be nice to have an accurate guage wouldnt it?

I tend not to rely on it, i just zero the trip each time a fill up and i know how many miles i can get to a tank full.
Having said that, my guage and warning light appear to be quite reliable.

[Mad Dog Bianchi]

Paul, that is the old school of riding your tank. But then we had reserve valves (which some of us forgot to shutoff after a fill-up). But with the new hitech digital wired broadband hyper managed systems we have today, shouldn't we be a little more reliable in a matter as simple as fuel management. I thought the fuel sued indicator would be directly linked to the FI and hence quite accurate, but with a reading of 12 liters used and a fuel top off at 16.55 I was a little shocked. One of my Italian associates told me that there are not too many good electrical engineers in Italy and that is why folks like Ducati began to rely more and more on the Japanese from the early 90's. WOnder what happened with the ST4 dash??

[Derek]

Mad Dog,

I can't help you with the unreliabilty of your fuel meter. I have the pre-digital dash version and the light comes on around the 130 mile mark. A couple of weeks ago I ran to 191 miles and it took 19.8 litres which was cutting it a bit fine with a 21 litre tank, but now I know how far I can go.
To be on the safe side just make sure you fill up by 150 miles.

[Mad Dog Bianchi]

My, what benefits the digital age have brought us! I got 300 kilos on 16.5 liters of Tokyo driving so that is a little more than 150 miles with some to spare. Still, that little LCD winking at me and the info that I can dial up should be a little more reliable than guesstimating.
Cheers Derek!
PS How does your '03 like Scotland weather?

[rockhopper]

Ah, i was forgetting that your bike has a smarter dash than mine does!

I bet the fuel indicator just compares the guage reading with the odometer to work out the fuel usage. I know that some cars are more sophisticated and have fuel flow meters.

You are right about italian electrics as well. My Fiat car has loads of little silly electrical faults.

For info, i get around 150 miles before the light comes on. By 170 miles i'm starting to sweat. I've never actually taken much notice of how much it takes to fill it back up so i dont know my tanks capacity!

[Jools]

It's a 21 litre tank. I sweat when my low fuel warning light comes on as well, but I don't know why!

I've only ever managed to get 15 or 16 litres of fuel in if I fill up as soon as the warning light goes on, so that must mean that there are still 5 or 6 litres left (or, to put it another way, about quarter of a tank full).

[Derek]

When the light comes on I reckon you have about 50 miles till empty.

MD, the '03 has no complaints about the Scottish weather so far. Hard to keep it clean though.

[Mad Dog Bianchi]

Cheers lads,
I will talk to the dealer about this on Saturday. I have run the tank down to about 19.5 liters leaving about 1.5 to go.....20-30 kilos (with the last 10 off pushing the thing LOL). The gauge, lights and other indicators have all been spot on until this last run after returning frome the US, wo I wonder if there is some gum formation or something on the fuel level sensor (probably a float system). Will let you know what the story from the dealer is.

[Howard]

I regard my fuel guage as more of an on board entertainment system!