[ekim189]

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I am getting 19 MPG... any thoughts as to why on an 81 GL1100? Carbs have been cleaned and re cleaned. Sorry to those who have seen this posting twice... I wanted to create a new one so that you guys will see it. Thanks for the help.

 

[Ken Bergen]

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ekim189 wrote:

I am getting 19 MPG... any thoughts as to why on an 81 GL1100? Carbs have been cleaned and re cleaned. Sorry to those who have seen this posting twice... I wanted to create a new one so that you guys will see it. Thanks for the help.

Have you checked for dragging brakes?

 

[ekim189]

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How do I check for that?

 

[William_86]

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get the bike on the center stand, rear wheel should be off the ground, see how hard it is to spin by hand then lift the front and do the same. both wheels should spin freely.

if they dont then you have a problem with the brakes stiking or maybe the bearings are worn out and dry

 

[Bernieswing]

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ekim189 wrote:

How do I check for that?

See if you can turn the wheels by hand, check for blue brake rotors, caused by dragging and overheating. 19mpg is very bad, I've never heard of such low mpg, there must be something seriously wrong. Dragging brakes is a good place to start looking.

 

[mad4plyn]

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Did you Sync you carbs after cleaning? Mine was running fine but found that the carbs being out of Sync was shorting me about 7 MPG. Just a thought. Hope you get it worked out.

 

[Ken Bergen]

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ekim189 wrote:

How do I check for that?

Take it out on the highway for ten - fifteen minutes then coast to a stop and carefully feel the rotors. If one or more are hot not just a little warm you've found a problem.

And as I said be careful, if they're dragging they will be hot and I have the scar to prove it.:shock:

 

[ARKnapp]

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Besides the 19 MPG, how does the bike sound, and feel at idle, off idle at full throttle. How does the exhaust smell? Are you running cool, all cylinders firing?

Beside brakes sticking look for leaking gas, soft tires, fouled plugs.

What about your compression, raw gas in exhaust?

So you get about 100 miles to reserve, are you doing real fast speeds? 19 MPG is very low:
brakes
timing
no compression
carbs
low tires
too much weight
old fuel
no air, plugged filter
too much crankcase mixing in

just thoughts

 

[bcassel]

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I've noticed my 1100 will drop to 19 or so if I leave the bike parked in the garage with the fuel **** open. The floats seems to stick, extra gas pours into the air box and evaporates. Due to plenty of ventilation, I didn't smell it till I tried to start it up after a few days while I was doing belts and radiator and it flooded out. Pulled the air cleaner and there was a lake in the bottom of the box. Couple of taps on the #3 carb and the the pumping/leaking stopped.

Just an idea.

 

[DaveO430]

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It doesn't matter how clean the carbs ar if the floats are set too high the mileage will suffer.

BTW, just reply to your old thread and it will come back to the top. No need to add another one to the zillions of useless threads already here.

 

[ARKnapp]

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Running your bike at a stand still will cause your MPG to be off as well as leaking fuel on the ground. So the 19 MPG that you have mathematically figured is not your true MPG. The 1100 series of bikes are an older set from 1980-1983 the usual running around and average MPG are assumed while actually driving the bike. Most get about 40 miles per gallon based on a US gallon, some get higher some get lower, but a true reading of 19 MPG is cause to investigate.

Spillover and /or slopping gasoline to the ground by virtue of mal functioning carbs is expensive, dangerous and an environmental hazard. Since you have discovered this leak, it looks like a carb job is in your near future.

When these 1100s are in good order they are a joy to ride and they perform nicely, good luck in fixing your problems.

 

[DGrant]

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I've got an '82 1100.. I get about 34mpg.. a bit higher if I'm careful with the throttle.

How does this bike run at 19mpg? It would seem there would/should be some other symptoms, such as sluggish performance, missing, maybe even backfiring, etc..

I mean if thats the case... the gas would be flowin.. alot.. and fumes ..etc.. I'm just sayin..

I'm wondering how this 19mpg was arrived at and what formula was used to get there... I may be way off.. but these are questions that come up in my mind. I wish you luck with your bike.. I hope you get to the bottom of it.

 

[ARKnapp]

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DGrant, from what I read between the lines also what was said, it appears that a leaking bike will screw up the MPG even if the bike is in perfect tune. Gasoline on the ground does not help mileage. When fixed his MPG should get better.

 

[CaptainMidnight85]

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Yeah, 19mpg should show obvious performance issues.

If my timing is off by a hair, I'll notice it in lower mpg (amongst others things).

 

[RB]

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Gas leaking into plenum... is draining into your oil change it. Dragging brakes, stuck floats , floats set to high, bad tuning/timing, low compression..valves/rings, gasket? LEAKING GAS SOME place, 19 is way off average.

 

[dougbo]

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How is it running? A bad ignition coil did the same for me. New coil fixed it.

 

[littlebeaver]

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What's your air filter look like? What about your spark plugs, how do they look? Something isn't right with your milage that low..On a bad day you should get at least 30 mpg...Are you running on all four cylinders?...Have you checked your timing with a timing light? Good luck...