Heya guys , quick question, how does the reserve tank work on the 3AJ? I went for a big run yesterday and ran the main out, flicked to reserve thinking 3 litres should be more than enough to get me home the last 10km (seeing as the manual states 3l reserve) , got not even 5km down the road, and ffft gone, dead, ran out again. Had to push the big girl a couple kays till i got phone reception. So just curious as to how they work and why i didnt get very far on reserve. Im thinking it's got some crap in there and its blocking up the pickup. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated. I will be giving it a good flush on Sunday when I get back to my mates place where its stashed for the moment.

Hmmm, was the tank bone dry? did you slosh it about?

Mezo.

On a 1VJ and a 3AJ the vacuum operated FUEL PUMP has to be working to get the last of the fuel out.
If the pump is not working, relying only on gravity will leave about 5 litres in the tank.

The reserve is in the LEFT side of the tank, the RIGHT side is supposed to drain out completely, but if you are on a very rough road the sploshing can let your precious reserve fuel migrate from the left side to the right side. Then when you finally go to reserve, there is fark all fuel.

You should be getting at least 20km's per litre on these bikes.

On my 3AJ's the left & right hand taps both have reserve, I haven't fitted pumps on my bike & as Dave rightly said if the pump isn't working you'll lose 4-5 litres... so it does sound like your pump has stopped working...

Hmmm sounds like it may be just that, there is fuel in there but sweet FA , at a guess i would say a litre tops. Will give it a flush and check the fuel pump and see what happens. Thanks for that, thought it should go a lot further than that on reserve. And mine is like Geoff said , has the reserve tap on both sides. oh and on a sidetrack, is the 23 litre main tank separate to the 3 litre reserve, or does the reserve use 3 of the 23 litres? so basically do I have 23 all up or 26 with reserve?

In order to maintain the reserve fuel, the tap inlet has a 125mm snorkel. If this snaps off, then you will have very little reserve.

Drain the tank and remove the tap assy. You may find the broken pipe. New tap is US$22 from boats.net.

Reason i was asking if it was bone dry is it could be the fuel pump playing up, the pump (from reading other posts) is only there to get the last few litres of gas out of the tank.

Id be checking to see if there is crap in the whole system, the petcock filters, the filter behind the float needle valve, the fuel pump itself (split it open) as it has been known to have crap in there.

Do you have them mini inline filters fitted on your gas lines? check them as well or replace them (cheap enough).

When you went on reserve was you giving it a handful or just cruising?

Mezo.

ActionManMelb wrote:In order to maintain the reserve fuel, the tap inlet has a 125mm snorkel. If this snaps off, then you will have very little reserve.

Good point Dave, forgot about that.

Mezo

looks like ill be heading out and starting this stuff this afternoon, lots to check, thanks for that guys. I was cruising along bout 90 when she leaned out and I flicked to reserve. I'm pretty sure it has the inline filters. Any tricks to removing and checking the fuel pump? again for all the advice

Phatboy wrote: Any tricks to removing and checking the fuel pump?

Its pretty basic, id check the vacuum pipe that operates the pump first, if hats come adrift or has split it wont work.
You can pull the pipe off & suck blow & you can hear if the diaphragm is working or not (click click sound).

But its not much work to undo the screws & pull it apart, watch out the spring dont go flying across the room, try not to tear the gaskets, try not to round the stupid Phillips screws as well.

Do it on the kitchen table or clean bench top, fuel will come out as well.

Mezo.