Bad Gas Mileage

wolfman · 09-16-2007, 11:12 PM

Has anybody else had issues with bad gas mileage? I have a stock 954 except for an Akropovic slip on and it gets bad gas mileage and by bad I mean 90 miles TO THE TANK!!!

I have heard there is a relay or a fuel pressure regulator that might be to blame. I have the extended warranty so I am going to put it in the shop but it would be nice to tell them what the word on the street is as far as possible problems. Thanks.

wolfman · 10-11-2007, 08:58 PM

Come on guys, someone has to know the answer...

deftones156 · 10-12-2007, 09:19 AM

Well, the best I ever got was 44mpg, but usually my fuel light would come on between 130 and 140 on the trip. What condition are your plugs in? Air filter? Fuel filter? All these things will affect your gas mileage...

Besides these things, take it to a dealer and at least talk to them. They may think of something simple that you hadn't.

wolfman · 10-12-2007, 08:54 PM

I had the 16,000 mile tune up done at 15,000 miles because the bike would not crank up. They said the plugs were fouled so they could not tell me what condition the plugs were in. I explained that I got crappy gas mileage and they said that was normal for that bike. I explained that other people were getting 150 miles to the tank. He told me he had never heard of gas mileage that good.

You can smell that it is running rich. I would like to get a PCIII USB and have it programmed but I am not sure if a custom map would help it or if it is a mechanical issue. The dealership we have in town SUCKS so I drive to leeseburg to have them work on my bike. When they did the tune up they forgot to plug the fan in and it went to 249 degrees before I could get it back to the dealership.

I do have the extended warranty but I am not sure that this will be covered on it. I have an aftermarket slip on exhaust but that is the only mod to date.

SAHTT · 10-22-2007, 01:22 AM

The lowest I get under extreme steet duty is 28mpg. That involves a lot of idling and creeping along in traffic.

If you are getting worse than this you undeniably have issues.

I did a trip from austin to houston, tx on one tank before, ended up being a little over 50mpg. It's mostly about how you are riding.

If you haven't tuned anything and have the ability to do so, go back to stock parts and see if this resolves it.

CBR_rob · 11-04-2007, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAHTT

The lowest I get under extreme steet duty is 28mpg. That involves a lot of idling and creeping along in traffic.

I average 105 miles to the tank when commuting and 130 when out on rides. And mine is all stock with the exception on the K&N air filter.

wolfman · 11-20-2007, 04:46 AM

Finally got to put her in the shop. I guess we will see what happens.

wolfman · 11-20-2007, 04:12 PM

my butt is already hurting...They have to replace the battery that was replaced on 12/30/05 along with the rectifier under warranty. This time it will cost me 262.00! or I can pay them the diagnostic fee of 105.00 and buy a battery on my own for 150.00.

Now hopefully the running rich problem will be fixed under warranty. It is stock except for the bolt on muffler.

dam750 · 11-27-2007, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolfman

my butt is already hurting...They have to replace the battery that was replaced on 12/30/05 along with the rectifier under warranty. This time it will cost me 262.00! or I can pay them the diagnostic fee of 105.00 and buy a battery on my own for 150.00.

Now hopefully the running rich problem will be fixed under warranty. It is stock except for the bolt on muffler.

Wolfman

I put the Acropovic on mine and my fuel consumption went down by a lot, the bike was running so rich and rough, got PClll put on and then got it dyno'd, very nice after that, fuel consumption is back up again as well.
Have the dyno chart if you'd like to see it.

wolfman · 11-28-2007, 09:16 PM

the dreaded double post

wolfman · 11-28-2007, 09:23 PM

11-27-07
Just got off the phone with the stealership. They said the poor mileage was due to low tires and a wiring harness being in the way of the air intake. They have done the service work on this bike from the beginning and he says that he cannot prove that his tech left the wiring harness in the path of the air duct. "You may have wheelied it causing it to fall in this place." The bike is in mint condition and obviously not abused. Hell, I can't even do a wheelie. He says it does not indicate anything wrong about the FPR. It is running great now he says but they are going to charge me 97.00 for the diagnosis. I told them I would be in to talk with the owner of the dealership as I do not feel it is my place to pay for the diagnosis on the wiring harness because they have been the only people inside of my bike. Therefore if it is assembled wrong, they did it.

The tech that did the original work on the bike also did it this time. He left the coolinf fan plug off so why couldn't he make another mistake like leaving the wiring harness in front of the air intake?

Today:

Well I got a call from the dealership today. The service manager says" Hey this is **** from the dealership. There was an accident in the shop today. I'm sorry but we dropped your bike. The tank was dented, but we are ordering another one overnight, nothing else was damaged. but as a courtesy we are going to replace the fuel pump regulator for free even though there was nothing wrong with it." I was livid and told them to call me when it was ready for me to pick it up. I am definately going to speak to the manager and mail a letter to Honda copying the owner of the franchise.

It amazes me that they did not know anything about the FPR problems and there were not any bulletins in the service manuals about any problems. He wanted to know how I knew about this problem and where did I hear about it. I explained that it is all over the net.

I am picking up the bike on Saturday if it is ready. I will also make sure the manager is onsite so I can talk to him.

dam750 · 11-29-2007, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolfman

11-27-07
Just got off the phone with the stealership. They said the poor mileage was due to low tires and a wiring harness being in the way of the air intake. They have done the service work on this bike from the beginning and he says that he cannot prove that his tech left the wiring harness in the path of the air duct. "You may have wheelied it causing it to fall in this place." The bike is in mint condition and obviously not abused. Hell, I can't even do a wheelie. He says it does not indicate anything wrong about the FPR. It is running great now he says but they are going to charge me 97.00 for the diagnosis. I told them I would be in to talk with the owner of the dealership as I do not feel it is my place to pay for the diagnosis on the wiring harness because they have been the only people inside of my bike. Therefore if it is assembled wrong, they did it.

The tech that did the original work on the bike also did it this time. He left the coolinf fan plug off so why couldn't he make another mistake like leaving the wiring harness in front of the air intake?

Today:

Well I got a call from the dealership today. The service manager says" Hey this is **** from the dealership. There was an accident in the shop today. I'm sorry but we dropped your bike. The tank was dented, but we are ordering another one overnight, nothing else was damaged. but as a courtesy we are going to replace the fuel pump regulator for free even though there was nothing wrong with it." I was livid and told them to call me when it was ready for me to pick it up. I am definately going to speak to the manager and mail a letter to Honda copying the owner of the franchise.

It amazes me that they did not know anything about the FPR problems and there were not any bulletins in the service manuals about any problems. He wanted to know how I knew about this problem and where did I hear about it. I explained that it is all over the net.

I am picking up the bike on Saturday if it is ready. I will also make sure the manager is onsite so I can talk to him.

Bloody hell Wolfman I can't believe they dropped your bike

I am not a mechanic but when ever I have stripped my bike down to do stuff I have always found the wiring to have just enough excess play to be able to turn it to undo plugs etc, I can't imagine how much play it would need to fall in front of the air intake and have to admit that it sounds like

Hope that you get it back soon and that they have replaced any parts that were damaged, go over it very carefully before taking it away and point out any damage you don't think was there when you took it to them.

I'd still consider a PCIII and dyno to get it running top notch.

wolfman · 12-01-2007, 07:39 PM

Well I got the bike back and I think they fixed everything. They had to replace the tank, left mirror and the alternator cover. I spoke to the manager and I only had to pay to replace the battery. I think I made a good case as far as the wiring harness goes. He knows they are the only ones to do the service work on it so the tech was the only one that could have the wiring harness in the air tube.

They said they replaced my tank with a new one but I have my doubts. I am going to run the tank down and then put a mirror inside and see if there are any dents inside. It looks as though it was fixed and painted instead of a brand new one being installed. The paperwork shows a new one was put on. The paint has too much orange peel to be a new one and it looks as though there is small strip of primer on the right side at the air intake like it may have been taped off and then sprayed. A friend of mine paints and I asked him to come look at the bike and without telling him what was dropped he said they painted your tank....confirmed my thoughts. I will look into it this week.

dam750 · 12-01-2007, 07:54 PM

Why can't these people just be honest, I really hope you roast their arse if it turns out they repaired the tank and then lied to you and even gave you an invoice stating a new one had been supplied.
I bought a second hand car once which when I test drove it the ABS warning light was on, they told me that they would take it to honda and have a new sensor fitted, when I picked it up no light, I thought great, about a year later I had to change some of the dash bulbs and discovered that they had removed the ABS light! So even the big dealers are not to be trusted.
So is the bike running better now with the harness out of the way, I still think back to how mine was after I put on my end can and it ran as rich as hell.

wolfman · 12-02-2007, 09:17 PM

It seems to be running great. It does not smell rich but I stuck my stock exhaust on to make sure everything is stock. I will leave the bolt on off until I can get a PCIII and then I may just get a full exhaust at that time. I ran 70 miles today so tomorrow I will get a mirror and look in the tank and see what I can find.