Yamaha Virago 250 fuel range | GTAMotorcycle.com

Yamaha Virago 250 fuel range

ifiddles

Well-known member
A friend of mine has a Virago 250 and she runs out of gas around the 100 km mark...she brought it in to Burlington Cycle end of last year (she just bought it used mid summer as a new rider) and they told her she was out of gas...which I can understand because she probably was LOL...however, she went on a ride yesterday and said it ran out of gas again after only about 100 km...she assured me the tank was full so I'm trying to figure out a)what the range should be (apparently it's a 9.5 L tank) and b)if it is indeed full, what could be causing this...I asked if there's a leak some where but she says there's nothing on the ground around the bike in her garage...I'm stumped...
 
Stock original or has anything like the exhaust been modified?
 
It's suppose to get like 70 mpg according to the epa people
 
everything stock...only had 700 km on it...the lady who bought it before her was transferred to Europe for her job...I know, I googled the mpg and based on that and tank size, she should be getting better mileage...another friend of mine with the same bike gets 200 on hers...there's something wrong here for her to only get that much...either that, or she doesn't know how to actually fill the tank up to the fill line...I'll have to show her :D
 
My bet is indeed fuel starvation, but not because the tank is actually empty, but because of something else - rusty tank that's clogged the fuel line or petcock somewhere, failing fuel pump of a vacuum line driving it (leak might increase as the vacuum line gets hot), or a vacuum building up in the tank.

When it runs out and she switches to reserve, will it start again...or does it still act like it's out gas?
 
apparently she put it on reserve and was able to get to a gas station on Sunday...she's really new and went with a large group to that rally in Georgetown to support a boy who's being bullied...she was also disappointed that no one stayed behind to make sure she was ok...

she has dropped the bike a few times, so i was wondering if maybe something broke because of the falls...i've not ridden with her because she really needs to get comfortable and stable by just staying in her own neighbourhood for a while...

like i said, she brought it to where she bought it and they told her there's nothing wrong (apparently charged her $200 as well)...i'll mention these things to her PrivatePilot...
 
does it have a gauge?
and does it read empty when the tank is actually empty?

there's some things that can drastically reduce the range on a bike
 
The fuel system on these bikes is about as simple as it gets.

When she ran out and then switched to reserve...did she remove the fuel cap? Next thing I'd rule out is the tank building up a vacuum if the vent is clogged.
 
How many litres is she putting in? That would be my first place to look. Does it have a reserve switch (and does she know how to use it)?
 
If it was burning excess gas, you'd be able to smell it.

Random guess: she's sticking the nozzle into the tank and stopping at the first click.
 
@ PrivatePilot...not sure what she did...I wasn't with her...how easy is it to check if a vent is clogged?...can she do it herself?...you tube videos?

@ GreyGhost...she said she put $4 in and it was full, so my first thought was, it wasn't empty...no way a 9.5 L tank would tank that little and be full again...she does have a reserve switch and I'm almost positive she know how to use it...
 
@ FLSTC that's what I thought...i told her to make sure she sees the fuel up to the fill hole...
 
apparently she put it on reserve and was able to get to a gas station on Sunday...she's really new and went with a large group to that rally in Georgetown to support a boy who's being bullied...she was also disappointed that no one stayed behind to make sure she was ok...

she has dropped the bike a few times, so i was wondering if maybe something broke because of the falls...i've not ridden with her because she really needs to get comfortable and stable by just staying in her own neighbourhood for a while...
...

That's not good you are suppose to have somebody ride sweep that has their stuff together in group rides.
and imho it really really helps a new rider if they have somebody to ride with / follow, she needs to find 1 ride partner not a cluster.
 
Well, if she only put $4 in (@~1.30/L, that's only a little over 3L) it most certainly wasn't out of gas.

I'd now lean towards the fact she's just not actually filling the tank. Like FL says above, if she's just filling it like a car and burying the nozzle in thh tank my bet is it's not even getting half full, which would then make sense as the reserve is probably around 1.5L....so 3L or so would be about half the tank.
 
Inspect the spark plugs, see if they are running nice and toasty or all sooted up. Maybe replace air cleaner more often ;)
 
@ PrivatePilot...that's what I said to her...I'll have to go out to her place and show her properly...

@ Trials...I agree...and I've told her many times she shouldn't be riding in a large group...that she's not ready...but yeah, it was pretty disheartening to hear she was left behind, especially in a town she's not familiar with...
 
There’s no way it’s actually burning 10L in 100km. If it was it would be running so slobbering rich the exhaust would be glowing and/or it would barely run.
 
Inspect the spark plugs, see if they are running nice and toasty or all sooted up. Maybe replace air cleaner more often ;)


it's a fairly new bike (2015 I think) and only had 700 or so km when she got it...i doubt the air cleaner needs changing or cleaning with such low mileage...however, i'll tell her to look up some you tube videos on how to do this...

thanks everyone for the suggestions...
 
The bike is bone simple to work on and built in China so it really should work as awesome as original ;)
or just stick a new motor in it.
 

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