Ridiculously high L/100km? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Ridiculously high L/100km?

油井緋色

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Bought a 2005 RSV1000R off a friend. It's running around 10L/100KM. My old GSXR, at worst (on the track), was at 7L/100KM. The bike also smells very rich when running (my clothes smell like gasoline).

I'm thinking this is a tuning issue as said buddy slapped some slip ons onto it without tuning it and just wanted to confirm with others here that this doesn't sound normal.
 
Cant speak for your bike, but my FZ1 runs in the same range at city speeds.
 
I wouldn't call 10L/100 ridiculous. Shaman probably has more km's on those motors than anyone else and could easily tell you what to expect. Not sure if he is around much anymore though.
 
10 L/100 km is pretty bad, and the rich-smelling exhaust is a confirmation. The appearance of the spark plugs would be another clue.

There could be something wrong, a bad sensor, a dribbling injector, etc.

Check the forums for that bike to see what other people are experiencing and what they are doing with the tuning, if anything, to improve it.

Tuning for gas mileage is more difficult and time-consuming than tuning for power. I've done it (on another bike that had miserable fuel consumption in stock form). Requires installing an air/fuel ratio gauge so that you can watch what's happening in real time and a PowerCommander or something similar so that you can change stuff. My '04 ZX10R used 7-ish L/100 km in stock form, and that gauge revealed that at 90 km/h steady cruise, the engine was seeing 11:1 air/fuel ratio, which is obnoxious, and it was almost as bad at most other part-throttle cruising conditions. It's now 15.0 - 16.0:1 at part-throttle cruise. Big parts of the PowerCommander map are -30% or more. The tricky bit is that there is a fine line between lean-cruise and lean-misfire, and there are certainly conditions in which you cannot run it that lean. Once sorted out, it runs very well, and consumption is now more like 5.5 L/100 km, but it took a lot of fine tuning to get to that point.
 
My bike is a 750cc sport-tourer and I get 300 km's from a 21/L tank. Mixed highway/street. I also reek of gasoline when I ride it. The owner's manual says I should get 400 km's.
 
10 L/100 km is pretty bad, and the rich-smelling exhaust is a confirmation. The appearance of the spark plugs would be another clue.

There could be something wrong, a bad sensor, a dribbling injector, etc.

Check the forums for that bike to see what other people are experiencing and what they are doing with the tuning, if anything, to improve it.

Tuning for gas mileage is more difficult and time-consuming than tuning for power. I've done it (on another bike that had miserable fuel consumption in stock form). Requires installing an air/fuel ratio gauge so that you can watch what's happening in real time and a PowerCommander or something similar so that you can change stuff. My '04 ZX10R used 7-ish L/100 km in stock form, and that gauge revealed that at 90 km/h steady cruise, the engine was seeing 11:1 air/fuel ratio, which is obnoxious, and it was almost as bad at most other part-throttle cruising conditions. It's now 15.0 - 16.0:1 at part-throttle cruise. Big parts of the PowerCommander map are -30% or more. The tricky bit is that there is a fine line between lean-cruise and lean-misfire, and there are certainly conditions in which you cannot run it that lean. Once sorted out, it runs very well, and consumption is now more like 5.5 L/100 km, but it took a lot of fine tuning to get to that point.

Thank you for the in-depth response.

I don't need to maximize the fuel efficiency but I have suspicious it is running so rich that it may be losing power (if that's a possible symptom from richness?) It's also very annoying that the fuel light comes on at 130km after a full tank. However, whole v-twin engine is causing doubts to my suspicions as I'm much more familiar with inline 4 characteristics.
 
My bike is a 750cc sport-tourer and I get 300 km's from a 21/L tank. Mixed highway/street. I also reek of gasoline when I ride it. The owner's manual says I should get 400 km's.

I don't think this is normal. I've worked on/ridden 3 bikes in the past and none of them made me smell like gasoline...even the one bike that would shoot flames more often than not.
 
if you smell like gas afterwards are you sure you don't have a leak. mine leaked alittle only while running and when it was cold.
 
my old 2000 Suzuki TL1000S would get about 220-230km per tank on 14-15L of fuel. Something sounds off. Start with the basics, plugs, fuel and air filters and go from there.
 
if you smell like gas afterwards are you sure you don't have a leak. mine leaked alittle only while running and when it was cold.

I haven't had a chance to check, but I did also feel some tingly sensation on my thigh along with a very strong gasoline smell after filling up.

Thanks for your input, will look into it.
 
Are you comparing those fuel economy numbers to a GSXR 1000 or 750 or 600? I would expect there to be some variance if engine is in a different class. The strong smell is what I would be trying to track down. Could be a leak or running rich like you suspect.

For reference, on my 600 I get approx 200 km out of a tank unless I'm babying it. Tank is 18L but I usually put in about 15L each fill. So that's roughly 7.5L/100km which is inline with your GSXR.
 
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A leak of raw fuel on a fuel injected bike?

If it is a tank venting issue then the leak will be there whether the engine is on or off, although the sloshing while riding might affect it. Filler cap, or the vent/overflow hose (make sure it isn't kinked or plugged). If there's a leak at the gasket where the fuel pump attaches to the tank, it will leak all the time. If there's an internal leak inside the fuel tank related to the overflow, it will leak whenever the fuel level is above the leak, regardless of whether the engine is running or not.

If the leak is on the high pressure side (after the fuel pump) then probably one of the fuel line quick-connect couplings is not installed properly (disconnect, inspect, reconnect) and there are only a couple of them. The only other place it can be is where the fuel rail attaches to the injectors and that's not normally something that would ever be touched. Switching on the key with the fuel tank lifted should reveal the leak if it's on the high pressure side.

I kinda suspect that it is not a raw fuel leak. They're rare on modern vehicles and when it happens because of a design or assembly problem, it's a huge deal. (My sister has a Ford Escape that was recalled 3 times for fuel leaks. Every time, they called her on her cell phone, "Where are you? Don't drive the car. We'll send a tow truck and a loaner vehicle to wherever you are ...")

A dribbling injector that is making a cylinder too rich to fire will send (essentially) raw fuel out the exhaust. An inspection of the spark plugs is called for. (It will also make the bike run very badly)
 
That doesn't sound too outlandish on a litre bike depending on what rpm your running around at.Out in bc on the Selkirk loop I blew through a tank of gas real fast, only I don't remember the exact Kim's .I remember seeing the gas light come on and thinking wtf , time and gas flies when your havin' fun
 
Once you've verified the basics, grab yourself a copy of Guzzidiag (freeware) and the appropriate cables off Ebay or similar.
 

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