BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

I pulled my bike's tank yesterday in preparation for removing the starter motor to check my clutch free play. In the process, I cleaned the air filter with compressed air. That blew out dust and removed some dark deposits, but it didn't seem excessively dirty.

I rode it about 250 miles today, including a fair amount of semi-agressive canyon riding and 80 mph stretches. My low fuel light usually comes on at 150 to 160 miles into a tank, but not today. As the miles climbed past 180 with no light, I thought I had broken a wire somewhere. It finally came on at 183 miles and when I filled the tank, that mileage been 47.6 miles/gallon. Normally, I get 41-43. The air cleaner blowout was the only performance-related thing I had done to the bike. The moral is: Clean your air filter for better mileage.

BTW, the clutch free play was about 3/32", which seems to be a normal amount for the 41,000 miles on the bike. I have decided not to worry about clutch spline failure.

That's cool. I need to get in there and pull mine and clean it or replace with a K&N

I don't even want to think about clutch spline failure lol. I have the mechanical know how to do it I just don't want to take the time when I could be riding lol.

It finally came on at 183 miles and when I filled the tank, that mileage been 47.6 miles/gallon. Normally, I get 41-43.

That's great mileage. I struggle to get better than low 40s, and sometimes wish the Rockster had a tall 6th gear.

Will take a look at old filter when doing tune-up later this month.

harveyrawn

Good catch......a dirty air filter is a major contrubutor to reduced fuel economy.

I had a similar experience on a long trip; mileage went over 190 before light came on; gradually worked back down & stabilized @ around 40 mpg. I'll be cleaning or replacing that air filter right after I'm done w/ that rear brake bleeder.

I just went over 41K a little while ago; CSF hasn't gotten me yet, nor FDF, but what do you mean by 'clutch free-play'? Are you referring to backlash in the spline fit measured @ the fly-wheel?

DLS

Daryl.Stamp wrote:I just went over 41K a little while ago; CSF hasn't gotten me yet, nor FDF, but what do you mean by 'clutch free-play'? Are you referring to backlash in the spline fit measured @ the fly-wheel?

DLS

Yes. Mine had unrestricted movement of about half the width of the screwdriver blade I was pushing it with, later measured at about 3/32". Very scientific.

Speaking of mileage. I had a bump myself on the last tank. Usually I run midgrade 76, Chevron or Shell. This day I was in a hurry so I bought it from Arco, whom I don't like very much. I put in Premium because it had been Very Hot, and my bike tends to ping a bit on midgrade in conditions like that. Normally the fuel light comes on at about 140 miles. Last night it lit at 168 and it took just short of 4 gallons, which translated into about 42 mpg. I had been getting as little as 35. I am at a loss to explain it. The only deviations were the temperature and the Arco fuel.

Sometimes you can get shady fuel from some suppliers. Either that or the tanks may have been recently filled.

And temperature can also play a part in it.

Compressed air should never be used to clean a dirty air filter. It embeds the dirt and damages the paper filter media. It's especially destructive to cleaning or drying K&N filters.

Clean the paper OilHead filter by tapping the gasket surface flatly, parallel to the floor, about a dozen times from a 3" (76mm) height. Do it on a clean surface and you won't believe what comes out!! Then flip it over and do the other gasket end for the final holdouts.

.

CycleRob wrote:Compressed air should never be used to clean a dirty air filter. It embeds the dirt and damages the paper filter media. It's especially destructive to cleaning or drying K&N filters.

Clean the paper OilHead filter by tapping the gasket surface flatly, parallel to the floor, about a dozen times from a 3" (76mm) height. Do it on a clean surface and you won't believe what comes out!! Then flip it over and do the other gasket end for the final holdouts.

.

I hear you. Filed for future implementation.