It's probably 14L total.. Including the reserve.. not 14 + reserve

 

+1 agree. Makes sense, if you have 14l total capacity, of which 3 is reserve so you'd tank with 10 if the R shows.

 

The total tank capacity is 14 litres in main, and 3 litres in reserve.

I'm not sure why the tank would read empty if there is still 3 litres in there..

 

What the h3ll's a litre?

 

It's the correct spelling of liter for most of the world!
The litre (International spelling) or liter (American spelling) (SI symbols L or l, commonly, but incorrectly, abbreviated as ltr) is an SI accepted metric system unit of volume equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3).


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I've never put more than 12l (3.2 gal) in mine, even after doing 40km (25mi) on reserve trip.

 

one says 14L + 3L, others say 10L + 4L. Can anyone confirm that has actually refilled their tanks, how much do you refill when it hits reserve and you go to the gas station

 

quite certain it's the latter. i can only refill 10L every time my fuel meter starts to blink

 

14l total, 3 of which are considered the reserve. The "main" is 11. In other words, when the fuel gauge is blinking, you should have 3l left (assuming it's accurate)

 

14l total, 3 of which are considered the reserve. The "main" is 11. In other words, when the fuel gauge is blinking, you should have 3l left (assuming it's accurate)

11 liters seems roughly correct for the standard volume but the reserve seems like almost 4 liters on my bike. Today I set a new range "record" with my R3 - ran it 372 km ( 231.15 miles) before the reserve began flashing and then another 87.8 km (54.56 miles) on reserve before I found a gas station after 460.2 km (285.95 miles).
To my surprise I was only able to squeeze 13.9 liters (3.67 gals) into the tank, almost a liter less than anticipated...

 

The most Ive ever been able to squeeze in is 11.2L and that was after riding for 20KM after the fuel low indicator came on...

 

Went 60km after reserve fuel indicator and filled up 13.5L

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I had my low fuel indicator flashing this morning and all I was able to fill in was 2.4 gallons (9 L). Not sure how long I was riding on low fuel, but I don’t remember ever being able to add more than 2.5 gallons to the tank.
So, how far you should be able to ride with the low fuel indicator flashing?

 

It's a 3.7 Gal tank and the light turns on around 2.2. You should be able to go another 50 or so miles depending on your fuel economy. Anything after 50 you should be clenching cheek for the next gas station since you're not sure if you filled up to maximum capacity or not

 

I ran my tank dry on purpose a few weeks ago and found out that I can squeeze 14.9 liters (3.936 gals) into the tank when empty.
I ran 101km on low fuel warning before the engine quit, that's about 62.75 miles...

 

thanks for the info sofa! I really wanted to test that but I don't have a canister, and I don't want to be stranded far from the gas station.

 

Sofa, did you manage this with the bike on the kickstand or holding it centered/leveled?

 

While riding in a foreign country on twisty roads... - but I had a 1.5 liter reserve canister with me...

 

It is also possible to do damage to a fuel injection system by running it dry.

For example, the fuel pump in an FI system is inside the fuel tank, and at least some of those pumps require that there be gasoline present to "lubricate" the pump (prevent dry metal on metal running).

Also, I think that cycling the fuel injectors without fuel present also is very undesirable, for the same reason.

I know for a fact that several of the car owner manuals I have read specfically warn against letting the fuel system run dry, and I assume this is why.

Jim G

 

I know for a fact that several of the car owner manuals I have read specfically warn against letting the fuel system run dry, and I assume this is why.

Jim G

Hi Jim,
I don't think that this is an issue anymore with modern pumps... - I routinely run all my vehicles empty to see what the actual fuel capacity is and also to know the possible distance while the empty warning flashes.
I never had any issues, not even with my BMW and I ran that bike empty four times already... :nerd:

 

In fact, I just checked my current 2017 model car's manual and it says:

"CAUTION - Low fuel
Avoid driving with an extremely
low fuel level. Running out of
fuel could cause the engine to
misfire damaging the catalytic
converter."

Stock R3s have a catalytic converter.

Jim G

 

Running out of fuel can also be very dangerous. You don't know where you will exactly be when it happens. What if you are in a location where coasting to the side of the road and adding fuel would be dangerous? What if you need to use a burst of throttle to get out of a bad situation and you run out right then?

Be careful.

Jim G

 

Yep, I would certainly underline the "Be careful" statement...

None of my motorbike or car engines every misfired and there was never a passage in the manual of any of my vehicles about technical issues either... - my Mercedes Benz manual just mentions to avoid running out of fuel due to possible fines by the police if it happens on motorways and longer walks to the next gas station in less densely populated areas...

What actually happened with all my vehicles in the past 15 years was that all of a sudden the engines stopped... - dead silence, that was all. A non event except in the few cases where it caught me unprepared but never unaware of the situation... - I would certainly not try to overtake someone with an empty tank.
I only had to walk once though... - unfortunately the fuel gauge of my BMW R1200RT (modern German engineering is roughly equal to third world standards...) quit one day and even though I could tell by the miles on the trip meter that something was off, it caught me by surprise.

 

Well, as long as I have to pay less rather than more and as long as I can squeeze as much range out of the tank as I can now, why would I care about the above? I love detail and I'm a number-chruncher myself but ultimately my preference is a mixture of precise knowledge and common sense with a certain safety margin...
Regarding the Yamaha manual: unfortunatly Yamaha is not very precise in the R3 manual and misses out in various regards... - I tested the tank volume myself and I was able to squeeze 14.9 liters into the tank and I'm sure that there was space left for some drops more...