[karishh]

The past two days my fuel gauge has been going a bit haywire. Fuel tank is full and yet all of a sudden the fuel indicator shows completely empty tank with blinking indicator light. I have noticed that this only occurs when the engine gets warm. Sweden has lately had an extreme heat wave (praise the lord) and when I drive the bike to work (around 18 deg C, no traffic) there is no problem, but when I drive back home (around 25-30 deg C and traffic) and the engine gets up to about 90-100 deg C, thats when the fuel indicator shows empty. After I got back home yesterday I parked the bike for about an hour and then headed out again. First 3 minutes fuel indicator was fine but then showed empty again once engine got up to 80 deg C.


Has anyone else encountered this issue? Ideas? I've contacted my dealer.


/Kara

 

[Ed K]

As I recall, there was only one other reported issue with the fuel gauge, but cannot locate it at the moment.

I’ve ridden my bike in very hot and humid weather, without issue.

Sounds more like a sensor issue, but have you had the under-tank wiring warranty service done yet?

 

[Hugg727]

Sounds more like a sensor issue, but have you had the under-tank wiring warranty service done yet?

I must have missed this one....was there a recall or issue with the wiring??

 

[psyopper]

I must have missed this one....was there a recall or issue with the wiring??

There was a TSB issued for wiring inspection under the tank for a potential pinch. TSB calls for inspection of harness for damage, and rerouting the harness to prevent future damage. It's not a recall, and it can be performed during your next normal servicing at a Ducati dealership at no additional cost to you.

 

[OffAxis2018]

As I recall, there was only one other reported issue with the fuel gauge, but cannot locate it at the moment.

I’ve ridden my bike in very hot and humid weather, without issue.

Sounds more like a sensor issue, but have you had the under-tank wiring warranty service done yet?

That’d be me.

OP: “Stored in my living room for the winter: First ride of the season (Michigan), I’d gone to put in fresh gasoline, putting on 20+ miles, continued to ride and just after 30 miles, my low fuel warning light came on (continued to flash) and the bar gauge also kept flashing empty. Rode home, got off the bike to open the garage and all that went back to working properly. Informed the dealer I was coming down and after just 8 miles, again with all that. Picked it up today and maybe ten miles, again. I was told that the sensor wasn’t plugged in all the way/properly. So much for that!”

 

[Ed K]

That’d be me.

OP: “Stored in my living room for the winter: First ride of the season (Michigan), I’d gone to put in fresh gasoline, putting on 20+ miles, continued to ride and just after 30 miles, my low fuel warning light came on (continued to flash) and the bar gauge also kept flashing empty. Rode home, got off the bike to open the garage and all that went back to working properly. Informed the dealer I was coming down and after just 8 miles, again with all that. Picked it up today and maybe ten miles, again. I was told that the sensor wasn’t plugged in all the way/properly. So much for that!”

Thanks. Btw, still need to bring it back to be fixed?

 

[Ed K]

I must have missed this one....was there a recall or issue with the wiring??

http://www.ducatisupersport939.net/...8-gas-tank-fitment-check-december-2017-a.html

 

[OffAxis2018]

Thanks. Btw, still need to bring it back to be fixed?

Yes. Dealer is ordering a new fuel level sensor. I stumbled upon the TSB mention here after they decided to place said order.
My instance happened before the fuel tank mounting recall check inspection happened, which was mentioned to me before I put it away for the winter. That was the second reason I’d gone to the dealer, for both issues. Oh... & to add the disc lock too. Haha! Ugh!!

 

[sunstar557]

This happened to me today! I got caught in a tortuous crawling traffic for four miles, a good 15-20 minutes and the engine got up average about 215F, hitting 220F. After getting past the accident which snarled traffic, I got to speed and got the engine about 190-200F but again back on the street it cliimbed to 210ish and the then the fuel light started blinking and the fuel gauges was all dashes. I was thinking to myself, there's no way I should've been this low on gas. I pulled into a gas station and sure enough, I could see the gas in the tank, about half full. I filled up, turned on the bike and it showed a full tank.

The manual says this this level sensor error, but why would prolonged heat trigger this? My 939 has been inspected for the gas tank fitment TSB.

 

[klev]

Man...this suckks. I had a similar incident, not flatlined though. I had my fuel gauge showing full or close to full, maybe one bar short. I rode to my dest., less than 3 miles, parked and got on with my stuff. When i came back, and started her up again, the gauge was at the half way mark. Thats 3 bars from when i parked! I have seen the bars drop randomly, not sure what it is.

 

[OffAxis2018]

I’ll add that I do not feel mine was an issue with heat. I very well could be wrong though. While I don’t recall the exact weather conditions, I know it wasn’t overly warm. S.E. Michigan and roughly about a month ago. What I do know is where and how I was riding. Casually, not aggressive and on 55-45 mph roads, pretty continuously. Unless something else was going on that I wasn’t noticing with the cooling mechanics... I wasn’t monitoring the temperature gauge.

 

[se7en]

I'm with Ed. Luckily I've not yet noticed any issues with the fuel. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread though.


Its interesting, too, that for almost a year, there were hardly any reports of issues, and now we seem to have a few. Typically, I find that issues are immediate.

 

[Ed K]

Several reported occurrences...hmm...

I haven’t experienced this, exactly. But a couple of times last year, after topping an almost full tank off before a trip, had a one-bar-off reading. With normal filling and extreme heat conditions have not had any fuel gauge errors.

Do you guys have the sensor replaced yet?

 

[Derek]

Do you guys have the sensor replaced yet?

Not yet, but wouldn't be surprised. The 1200 Multis have had a lot of problems with failing fuel sensor and they are now on the 4th or 5th version for them. I doubt if the technology for the SS is any different.

 

[ZA_SS]

Sweden has lately had an extreme heat wave (praise the lord) and when I drive the bike to work (around 18 deg C, no traffic) there is no problem, but when I drive back home (around 25-30 deg C and traffic) and the engine gets up to about 90-100 deg C


/Kara

ROTFLMAO - 30Deg an extreme heat wave - with the global warming issues, here, thats just a warm winters day :surprise:

My 2c = I have noticed that the SS runs much hotter than my Multistrada, on my daily commute my Multi runs between 62-65Deg C whereas the SS runs at 75-80deg C both at an ambient of 25-28deg C.
However the radiator in the Multi is much bigger than the one in the SS.

 

[Biff]

Same here. I recently had my SS in for the recall for the central heat guard on the vertical exhaust pipe (the shock is damaged). They also did the fuel tank inspection. Like others on this thread my fuel gauge goes into error mode in hot weather (25+ C). Returns to normal function when engine cools. I’ve been asked to take a picture for warranty replacement of the sensor.

 

[Ed K]

Same here. I recently had my SS in for the recall for the central heat guard on the vertical exhaust pipe (the shock is damaged). They also did the fuel tank inspection. Like others on this thread my fuel gauge goes into error mode in hot weather (25+ C). Returns to normal function when engine cools. I’ve been asked to take a picture for warranty replacement of the sensor.

Thanks Biff for reporting, please keep us advised as it’s fixed.

 

[OffAxis2018]

I’ll add that I do not feel mine was an issue with heat. I very well could be wrong though. While I don’t recall the exact weather conditions, I know it wasn’t overly warm. S.E. Michigan and roughly about a month ago. What I do know is where and how I was riding. Casually, not aggressive and on 55-45 mph roads, pretty continuously. Unless something else was going on that I wasn’t noticing with the cooling mechanics... I wasn’t monitoring the temperature gauge.

So... I just took a ride, since the first attempt fix fail ride home (May 23rd.)
It was merely 70 degrees here (according to the S3), all seemed normal/functioning properly. Engine temperature had eventually gotten up to over 200 degrees (I think 219/21max, while sitting/ideling at an ATM) & then rode on. The low fuel warning light came on as expected (according to the bar guage) for a few plus miles and then on came all the flashing [guage empty]. When this happened, I was looking at 190 degrees. Mind you, this was still on the same tank of first fueling of the season. The same tank this initially happened on the ride to/from the dealer fix fail.
Rode on to get fuel, turned the bike off, filled up and all was OK. Rode a good 40 plus miles and all is normal/as should be(?). I did notice that I was getting a range reading of more than I’d ever seen, around 185 miles (vs. 175), but this was after already riding 20-25ish miles (after fill up). After a few plus more miles, I again looked at the range and it’d suddenly dropped down to where expected miles wise (around 150-55). Looking at the trip odometer and the range, everything again (yet finally) seemed to calculate accordingly. I continued to ride to see the bar guage start to drop and it eventullly did.
At the moment, all seems OK, but... I’m really uncertain. Could it just have needed to cycle through a full tank of properly showing the actual low fuel level and is now good after filling up?!? I don’t know.
I’ll see what the next ride brings and hopefully before going to the dealer unnecessarily (doubtful). Still waiting on an ordered new fuel level sensor.

Looking back through the thread here, the mention of the Multis... when I’d called about this issue initially, it was said they were aware of one similar sounding problem with a Diavel.

Also... I’ve been riding my recently Termignoni equipped ‘17 M821 to/from work almost as much as possible and ****... what an absolute thrill it was the ride the S3 again! Love it!!

 

[Rhino]

This happened to me today! I got caught in a tortuous crawling traffic for four miles, a good 15-20 minutes and the engine got up average about 215F, hitting 220F. After getting past the accident which snarled traffic, I got to speed and got the engine about 190-200F but again back on the street it cliimbed to 210ish and the then the fuel light started blinking and the fuel gauges was all dashes. I was thinking to myself, there's no way I should've been this low on gas. I pulled into a gas station and sure enough, I could see the gas in the tank, about half full. I filled up, turned on the bike and it showed a full tank.

The manual says this this level sensor error, but why would prolonged heat trigger this? My 939 has been inspected for the gas tank fitment TSB.

I read recently that this has happened to quite a few 1098 and 959 where the wiring loom gets too hot from the engine and effects the signal on the Cam bus loom ? And all sorts of signals are sent. Extra heat shielding and re-routing cables seemed to solve those problems.

 

[Biff]

Issue resolved

Since I last posted on May 30, the dealer has taken a couple of tries at resolving the issue. On the first visit they dis/reconnected and repositioned the loom running from the fuel sensor. Not sure where they positioned it. Seemed to only make a difference on how long before the guage went to error. On the second visit they replaced the sensor. I’ve been riding in some pretty hot weather, 32 Celsius, the last week and all is well.

I was discussing this with a local Ducati repair shop. As noted in other posts, fuel sensor problems aren’t unique to SSs. Multis and Diavel too. I had a fuel sensor failure with a 2015 Multi. The shop said their Ducati rep claims it may relate to ethanol content. Ducati notes the failures are in clusters where ethanol levels are higher. A little research shows that there may be some truth in this. The manual states a max of 10% ethanol. In Canada they started looking at raising the content to 15% in 2017. I use Esso premium and do not know what the ethanol content is, but i’m going to find out and post here.