Hi all, just finished work on my Across to get it registered. Had the first real ride yesterday and have a couple of questions for any Across owners (or former owners). Temp gauge I've found bike runs pretty cool according to gauge. Usually less than 1/5 of way along. Did have one moment, low speed and sitting at idle where it moved to 1/2. Expected it to get hotter but wondering what others have found to be normal. Before I start looking for a problem that is maybe not there (bad thermostat or radiator fan/switch) Fuel lights First full fuel fill before the start of the ride yesterday. Amber fuel light came on after 95kms. Is that normal point? Thanks
An update. Refuel at 99km took 6.84 litres. Not sure if I filled tank as much last time (it was night so couldn't see where fuel level in tank was easily). 6.9l/100kms is a bit thirsty. I let the bike idle when I got home and watched temp gauge closely. Needle got to straight up position (see pic). Used the temperature probe on my multimeter against side of radiator. Registered 83c max temp and fan kicked in and temp dropped to 70c. Fan works, thermo switch works and the registered temps seem reasonable. Just fuel consumption to address then. Will check needles and move up #1 spot. Thought bike was running rich and this should deal with both things
Needle adjustment done (see story and pics on my Suzuki Across project post) and fuel consumption has improved I already had 30km on the odometer before adjusting the needle position. The orange fuel light came on at 114km. This is about a 15% improvement. Will check it more thoroughly after next fuel fill. Bike still starts easily without choke, takes a little bit longer to warm up. May need choke on a cold morning.
126kms on the odo before orange fuel light came on after first refill since adjusting the carb needle position. This is another improvement over the 114kms I got last time (first 30kms at old carb setting). And a huge improvement over the 98kms I achieved on both of the first two refills immediately after registering the bike. Just need to check mixture settings with an exhaust analyser to be sure it is not running too lean. May pull plugs to check them. The ones I replaced when I got the bike looked like this (running rich is my read).
Yep. Running rich. When you are reading plugs, you want to look down into them. The colour deep inside the plug is the important area. Check out some plug colour charts as a guide. Mind you oil fouling on an old machine will make them look wet and black. Rich is typically dry and sooty after a reasonable run.
Fill up done, 189kms for 9.63 litres. If I have my calculations correct then that works out to 5.09l/100km. A very significant improvement from the 6.84l/100km I started with
