Im in NZ & riding a water cooled 2018 Triumph Speedmaster. Ever since brand new experienced wildly inaccurate low fuel readouts.

Triumph Motorcycle Forum - TriumphTalk

Help Support Triumph Motorcycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
> Im advised the electronics and voltage readouts on my new 2018 Speedmaster are all accurate yet ever since new the orange low fuel light comes on at just 110 kms! Fuel burn is 5 lt per 100 kms and has an actual range of 240kms. More on a trip. At Distance to empty at zero kms left 165kms has elapsed on the trip meter. Takes 8 litres so 4 litres left in tank. Therefore at zero distance to empty I still have 33 percent fuel still left. Seemingly unsolvable. Any ideas anyone?
 
Something needs to be recalibrated. My 2012 Tiger is pretty accurate. BUT, I am old school. I do not rely on the computer and fuel gauge. I rely on the trip meter and reset it everytime I fill up. I recommend taking it to the dealer.
 
Have got into this one before . Q ship is probably on the money . Dispite the advanced electronics, the sending unit in the tank is most likely similar to the float mechanism in your toilet , not much like your cell phone. Brooke
 
Thanks for the input. Its not a warranty issue. Its simply about finding out why its so widely inaccurate ..and then fixing it..under warranty! Its been calibrated twice which consists of measuring voltage ( increase) changes for each litre of fuel inserted from completely empty. There is a brand new float mechanism now in the tank so ....so far everything checks out 100% except its widely inaccurate! Light comes on at 110kms yet is burning fuel at 4.8 lt per 100 kms ( trip metre use for each tank fill up ) so at an average of 5 lt per 100kms has an actual range of 240kms. So the light comes on at 45% of fuel burn. In all other respects the bike exceeds expectations. Just this one issue is marring the ownership experience. Cheers Paul
 
Thanks for the input. Its not a warranty issue. Its simply about finding out why its so widely inaccurate ..and then fixing it..under warranty! Its been calibrated twice which consists of measuring voltage ( increase) changes for each litre of fuel inserted from completely empty. There is a brand new float mechanism now in the tank so ....so far everything checks out 100% except its widely inaccurate! Light comes on at 110kms yet is burning fuel at 4.8 lt per 100 kms ( trip metre use for each tank fill up ) so at an average of 5 lt per 100kms has an actual range of 240kms. So the light comes on at 45% of fuel burn. In all other respects the bike exceeds expectations. Just this one issue is marring the ownership experience. Cheers Paul
As Old School Goes and Old School Knows, the only way to measure fuel is to.........

Start from empty and I do mean empty. Get a stick pink it in the tank and remove .:
Then mark it as empty.
Put One Litre of petrol in the tank and Dip and remove Stick.
Mark Stick "One Litre"
Repeat this trick for 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 litres or what ever graduations take your fancy.
The Laws of Physics does not change , but seems to get more inaccurate with time.
But you can trust this stick to always be RIGHT FOR YOUR OWN BIKE.
The inaccuracy will come from the method used to measure petrol put in tank.
Some people like to saw the marks and even vanish the stick and paint the numbers.
Its your stick , don't let anyone throw it a way.
Others go as far as using a fancy , fuel pump , that is available for Top Professional Race Car teams.
This gives a Digital read out of litres pumped to the Hundredth of a Litre.

Give me the stick anytime.
Now ” what was the Question " , only joking.
Its confusing you. Stick with the Litres left and measure it.
Only when that's accurate , then worry about the kms.

Chris .... Let me know if u agree.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the input. Its not a warranty issue. Its simply about finding out why its so widely inaccurate ..and then fixing it..under warranty! Its been calibrated twice which consists of measuring voltage ( increase) changes for each litre of fuel inserted from completely empty. There is a brand new float mechanism now in the tank so ....so far everything checks out 100% except its widely inaccurate! Light comes on at 110kms yet is burning fuel at 4.8 lt per 100 kms ( trip metre use for each tank fill up ) so at an average of 5 lt per 100kms has an actual range of 240kms. So the light comes on at 45% of fuel burn. In all other respects the bike exceeds expectations. Just this one issue is marring the ownership experience. Cheers Paul
You have a new bike and this inaccuracy is marring your ownership experience. This inaccuracy is not normal, This makes it a warranty issue. Something is not as it should be. Sounds like your dealership has done everything they can do. You can try contacting Triumph directly explaining the problem and listing what has been done so far.
 
Hmmmm. FYI the Thruxton R light comes on at 68 km consistently,maybe there’s a little guy in there somewhere flicking the switch,.When it does get to zero there is still about 2 or 3 litres left ,enough to go maybe 50 km ?? Full to bone dry probably , theoretically 330 but at 275 travelled the gauge stops calculating. If I let it go that low I know where the next fuel stop is , hopefully.
 
I see you have a 12 litre tank . Didn’t realize they came that small , R model is 17.2 . With that in mind I can understand your concerns. Would be nice to have more precise information
 
After all figuring I did when I got my Tiger 800 and later the Thruxton it still ended at the same conclusion. Mileage is remarkably consistent on both. Since the tiger is my distance traveller , it often goes places where I don’t know exactly where the next pump is . Over time I gradually learned to rely on the reset trip meter as the easiest way to feel safe re not running out. When the trip gets to 325 I stop for a fill . A couple of times it exceeded 400 , the last few miles of which were not driven at high speed.
 
In 27 years I haven't run out of gas, but one time years ago on the Cabot Trail I nearly did. My tank was low, but I knew there was a gas station just ahead where I had filled up the year before.
When I got there the station had obviously been closed for some time FACE
I knew there was plenty of gas behind me so I gingerly rode back and made it on fumes BGRIN
That's when I learned to get gas even if you don't need it.
 
Think maybe they(your dealership) may need to contact Triumph directly and make sure they are doing all correct WRT calibrations. Possible that new sending unit is defective. Could be a bad batch from whatever manufacturer makes them. Not the first time something like this happened, with all the globalization involved in manufacturing these days.
 
Like Rocky, I have never run out of gas on a motorcycle. I could always flip a carbed bike on reserve. But I don't have that option on an EFIi bike. I only have a yellow light that I don't trust. At my age, my bladder gets full before my tank gets empty! BGRIN I fill up around the 150/160 mile mark. The trip meter is my friend!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top