Erroneous fuel gauge on 07 GS

Is there anything I can do to correct the very erroneous fuel gauge on my 07 1200GS ??? Im always scared to take my bike in to a dealer since they usually screw something up. I am familiar with the sensor strip that BMW used and Ive seen a few notes about it here. Mine basically hits reserve at about a half a tank. The continually flashing light bugs me and when I have a woman on the back they keep complaing that " we're running outa gas !!!! " Is there a fix for this problem ? (Not the woman!)

I dunno, my old 07 GSA had a faulty fuel gauge, never worked but everything else did.
My new GSA has a working fuel gauge but everything else is stuffed:huh
I learned to live with the faulty fuel gauge and used the trip meter which was spot on every time.

Tads

I just live with it. Seems that BMW could make a magnificent bike in so many ways and an accurate fuel gauge and speedometer are too daunting.

I had a Ford Aerostar that had a continuous ERROR light warning of some sort. They never could get it to stay OFF. Eventually I a black magic marker and colored it GONE.

Spot on every time? :huh

You ride the exact same speed under the exact same conditions every time? Your bike gets the exact same gas mileage at all times?

If not, your trip odometer will leave you stranded at some point. BMW needs to fix this problem.

Mine is always off. I just make sure i fill up around every 200 miles

I have another '07 GSA with a bad gas gauge. Great bike, bad gas gauge. I can live with the tradeoff.

Search around, there's a couple of threads on this. Burnzilla has had several fixes and I think he still has issues with it. Mine was faulty as well and the fix is to replace the sensor strip. If they take it out and let it dry and try to recalibrate it, it still might not work. Bottom line, take it in, it should be done under warranty by the dealer. There might be a service bulletin about it as well since so many bikes have had bad sensor strips. GB would know.

Yes, they will screw something else up in the process, that's a given. But think of it this way, you'll have a fresh topic for a new thread.

Mine the the lyingist whore I ever seen. I go by the trip milage and ignore the flashing lite. I have tried riding till almost empty and for it to recalibrate itself to no avail. My next stop is the service bay to see if they can fix it. Good thing I am friends with the mech. I know he wont screw things up if it can be fixed.

THAT is a great quote! I'm planning on asking the dealer to address this @ my 6,000 mile service; we shall see...!

If you look through all the threads here, you will find the BMW service bulliten that says that the gauge not working is normal. I had asked my dealership to fix mine and they kept trying to tell me that it was intentionally made to act this way? That somehow I was not comprehending some great master plan with fuel gauges??? I wrote to BMW and they didn't have anything better to say. So, I just do what I would do with a bike that didn't come with a fuel gauge...use the tripmeter. When speaking with BMW I suggested that they just delete the gauge from the bike, but retain the warning light seen as though that does seem to work ok. Better to not have it then to have a function that works like crappola!

Guys, you have to think it through. You're used to fuel gauges in cars and trucks, where you have a big box for a fuel tank that holds a lot of gas. Put a few baffles in the box and you can get a reasonably accurate reading from a float device.

But a motorcycle has a small tank. And that tank is curved this way and that, frequently formed to go around a frame member as well. It doesn't hold much fuel in comparison to a large vehicle so that fuel is sloshing around inside making that fuel level float dance like crazy Plus, to further upset the fuel level you're leaning around corners and knocking off 12 second 1/4 mile runs on the bike. Under those circumstances there is no fuel guage from any maker that's going be work well. You're looking for a fix to something that really can't be fixed.

Veteran riders know to ride by their odometer. On my 12GS I know I can cruise easily to 240 miles regardless of what the fuel level says and even then I have .5 to .75 gallons left in the tank.

My gas guage sucks too. If you are going to equip a bike with the friggin thing in the first place at least you could do is make it work.

In the mean time, we have NO choice but to ride with the odometer readings.

verteran, newbie, whatever

The gas guage on my car is plenty accurate, but as my driving style changes, so does my mileage. You need to know how far you can go for a given instance no matter what you drive/ride.

Jim

Good point. But the R12GS doesn't use a float, it has a metalic sensor strip. By the time I took my bike in, the dealer knew about the problem and replaced the strip...problem fixed. Like slowinfastnout, I still trust the ODO more than the fool gauge.

I had this problem on my '06. Took it in, dealer replaced the strip. I filled the tank to the top, problem solved.

I had been complaining about the gauge on my 05 GS.

It reads full until I hit 100+ miles, then it jumps to half, and counts down from there. Warning light comes on at about 160, or 170 mi.

Guess I shouldn't complain.

Yeah they definitely do need to fix the fuel gauges. when I say spot on range was always with 50 kilometers. Usually 550 klm's fuel light would come on (old 07 GSA)and I would get 600 klm's out of the GSA tank in off road conditions (gravel roads) as well as hiway riding at the speed limit using 98 octane where available.
Wind the wick up and it could use considerably more of course. There must be a simple fix because compared to the rest of the BMW electrics the fuel gauge system is old technology.

Tads

That is the way yours was designed. All the 05, and up to mid 06 guages work that way.

I find mine is reasonably accurate, if a little odd.

Jim

G_d, I thought it was just me! Full til 90 miles, then drops to 2 bars.

Though I have never seen a low fuel light on my 06 GSA.

-Eff

My '06 does the same. Had it at the dealer 2 weeks ago, and they said there is nothing they can do. The famous "they all do that."