Why does my 'low fuel' light come on on my Kawasaki Ninja 650r when it's not supposed to be low?

Question

According to my owner's manual, my tank is about 4 gallons and the 'low fuel' light is supposed to come on when there is about .9 gallons of gas left in the tank. For the last two fill-ups, I have waited until my "low fuel" light started appearing on. When I fill it up it will only hold about 1.5 gallons until its full. Anyone know what this problem is?

Answer 1

The fuel gages are notoriously inaccurate.

I just ride until the distance on the trip meter exceeds the normal range I get on a tank, then pull in to gas it up.  Remember to reset the tripmeter, though. Its an old fashioned biker thing...

Answer 2

Sounds like a bad sending unit or float, I would replace it. Should be on the bottom side of the tank closest to the seat.

Answer 3

could be a bad rheostat in the sensor? Maybe a bad gage? Just ride 150 miles or so and see how much it holds. I have a 3.8 gallon tank and I get 58ish miles per gallon. I consider terrain and speeds into it and gas up when I think I have burned around three gallons. Not real accurate but neither is the low fuel warning light on anything I've ever seen.