Hi there, the wife's bike has run out of petrol again, and the reserve doesn't seem to be working, any ideas what may cause the reserve switch not to work, what should I check. Bike works fine when filled up, so it must be the tap, right?

please bare in mind I'm no mechanic!

thanks in advance

Matt

The fuel tap pipes in the tank may be clogged up - if the tap is removed there are usually two tubes which poke up into the tank - these can sometimes get blocked causing which ever selection 'ON' or 'RES' to not work

I used to have a fuel tap that would only work on the reserve setting!

They are quite simple to take apart and clean if you have a haynes manual.

Or you could tell your wife to keep an eye on the fuel a bit more!!

Cheers
Smev

Thanks Smev, i'll dig out the manual and check the pipes at the weekend. Hope your healing well.

Matt

I've got the same problem,
When the fuel is gone from 'ON' then 'RES' does nothing different
This cost me a 4 mile walk in the blazing sun in full bike gear just now

When I take the tap off I don't understand how the reserve works.. there's no separate container, nor does the tap have a straw that sits up inside the tank.


More advise would be appreciated :)

I am not trying to take the piss here but is the tap turned in the right direction to start with, if so which direction did the long pointy bit point?

2 Clicks to the right is RES, 2 clicks to the left and its ON, OFF in the middle?
This is top of my head, but i had checked at the time the settings of this.