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Re: Warning lights...



Hello Geoffrey,

From: <RSRiding@xxxxxxx>

I have a '94 R1100RS with ~85,000 miles accumulated. This past weekend I rode
from eastern Tennessee up to Marietta OH (if you haven't been there, the
riding is terrific...and that's on the OH side of the river...West Virginia is just a stone's throw away too) and had no problems. I stopped for fuel a few miles into OH and had about 65 miles on the odo when I parked Saturday night. I, fortunately, parked the bike just before getting hammered by a thunderstorm. The bike was on the sidestand and seemed fine when I rode a couple of blocks later in the evening (after the storm was long gone) while running an errand.

Sunday morning I headed back to Tennessee and the bike immediately started
the following symptom. It has a 15 second alternation between the low fuel
warning light being on and then off. It's not a serious problem because the fuel gauge is working fine, but it's rather annoying. It crossed my mind that this alternating warning light, which I have never seen before even after running the tank pretty low at times, might be an indication of some other kind of fault.
I've had the light come on lots of times, but haven't seen it alternate.

During the ride home I stopped and refueled. The gauge went right to the top but the blinking continued. I always assumed the low fuel warning light was on a separate circuit than the fuel gauge and this seems to pretty well confirm
it.

Is this just a fuel sensor issue of some kind or could there be some other
electrical gremlin?

This may be related to an experience I had on my R1100S: The fuel light would go on for about 10 minutes, then go off for a while, then go on for a while, then go off for a while. This occurred when the tank was fill (false positives), when it was low (false negatives), and throughout fuel consumption.

The issue was quickly diagnosed by my trusty BMW Motorcycle wrench as a rusty fuel level sensor. It seems that if you get in the habit of storing your bike with low fuel, it can leave bits like this exposed to air, which will result in oxidization.

The symptoms sound similar. I suggest you get it diagnosed and remedied by a qualified technician.

-Steve Makohin
'01 R1100S/ABS
Oakville, Ontario, Canada