Hi. I’ve just got hold of an ex Italian Police V50 Mk3 with solenoid fuel valves & a low fuel warning light (-which doesn’t, as I found out on the M3 yesterday). Part No GU31105481
Assuming the bulb is good, does anyone have experience with fettling these?
Quite tempted to revert to manual taps (off/on/reserve), assuming they fit what appears to be a standard tank.
All experience/advice gratefully received
If it’s anything like the one on my California, it is a switch to earth. Check the circuit by disconnecting the 2 wires and touch them together. if the wiring on the bike is working, then the light should come on. Mine had failed so the light was permanently on.
Repair of the sensor looks very fiddly
http://archive.guzzitech.com/FuelSensorFix-Andy.html
I bought a new sensor for the cali as there wasn’t a reserve tap option, but I would go that route if you can.
All the pictures I can find of V50 Mk3 have the standard manual on/off/reserve taps, so I would do that.Then you’ve got a reserve. My own experience of low fuel lights has been erratic at best. NB: the low fuel light on my Ural packed up after less than two months of actually using the bike from new, neither myself nor the dealer think it worth repairing. So it’s still unplugged. (The fault is, it’s permanently on. It’s an optical level sensor with a combined amplifier chip inside.)
Oh joy. A reed switch & a teeny tiny magnetic float. How spectacularly, brilliantly Heath Robinson… Is there a tiny little gnome in there as well?
And there was me thinking it would be something reasonably robust like a thermistor.
Love to swap/fix/adapt it, but I smell a pair of nice mechanical fuel taps coming into play shortly…
Thanks for help & especially thanks for the link.
Love to hear any other experiences.
Cheers, Matt
Gutsibits sell a fuel tap with warning light sensor. They are suggesting this is a replacement for an earlier discontinued version. Might be your answer if you are wanting to get the light working again.
https://www.gutsibits.co.uk/pr/TheShop/index.php?q=fuel+level&f=d&Model=0&search=SEARCH
Quite typical though.
Even the thermistor ones can pack up too when they get too old.
Yeah - nice idea but just swap to BAP taps. 10 - a penny.
Yes, change to manual taps. Genuine type taps are easily available. I haven’t found any listings online for the electric ones so I don’t know why the police couldn’t turn a tap!
That’s great folks. I’ll switch to manual taps plus a small gnome float fishing rod thingy to get that warning light up & running again. Can’t resist a good fiddle…
if you fancy having a go at fixing your gnomes fishing rod, then Pyro Dan’s your man to supply replacement reeds for your switch, he does good relays as well.
This is his website. Apparently the costs are quite reasonable, even when you take int account shipping from the states. The cost is so low it shouldn’t attract the big charges from the Post office,
http://www.dpguzzi.com/
Pyro Dan it is then…
Although I may try hunting down a miniature thermistor, just to see if it’s possible. Downside is that it needs to be heated to some extent, which means it’ll probable be too fat to go up the fuel port We use tiny unheated thermistors at work, but they’re single use & not meant to be soaked in fuel for 20 years. Maybe gnome technology makes some sort of perverse sense…
Well, Gutsibits have combined fuel tap & low warning sender, but there 's no reserve position. Asking Those Who Know, going to dump fuel warning light & revert to manual reserve taps. There. Done.
A good decision. 