Yamaha 2021-2023 Low Fuel Alarm, Reduced Fuel Tank capacity?

[svhooo]

I ran out of fuel on my last ride (should have had 12 litres left - thanks Yamaha), so my next fill will be from zero. I will measure exactly how much I can get in and report back.

As an aside, surely some of you must know people in Yamaha corporate? Forward them this thread to read for 5 minutes and they'll see the exact problem. It's also great that prospective Yamaha buyers are now posting their concerns in here. What started out as a tiny snowball (zero acknowledgement from Yamaha/dealers/etc) is slowly growing!

[Mr. GP1800]

Here’s a little update. I just pumped out the tank using the fuel pump on the ski. I have a rig that I can directly power up the fuel pump. I have a hose with the correct fitting on the end so I can pull the fuel hose off the fuel rail and directly connect my drain hose to it.

I first pumped exactly 10 gallons out of the tank. This is what the gauge showed after pumping out 10 gallons. Where it says Analog input (Fuel) that’s a percentage of full in the diagnostics menu of the dash.



I was able to pump out another 5.5 gallons for a total of 15.5 gallons. When I got close to filling the third 5 gallon fuel container the fuel pump started sucking air. In reality there’s probably 13 gallons of usable fuel in this machine. You’ll be on the buzzer after 10 gallons or so of fuel use according to everything I have measured. The buzzer threshold is 10% remaining fuel according to the gauge. That’s just pathetic. This isn’t what I believed to be just a simple gauge calibration error on the part of Yamaha. This is a much bigger deal. To have a ski of this size with a supercharged motor and have an effective cruise range of 50-60 miles is completely unacceptable.

[Mr. GP1800]

I ran out of fuel on my last ride (should have had 12 litres left - thanks Yamaha), so my next fill will be from zero. I will measure exactly how much I can get in and report back.

As an aside, surely some of you must know people in Yamaha corporate? Forward them this thread to read for 5 minutes and they'll see the exact problem. It's also great that prospective Yamaha buyers are now posting their concerns in here. What started out as a tiny snowball (zero acknowledgement from Yamaha/dealers/etc) is slowly growing!

According to what I have figured out so far that sounds almost exactly right. 60 liters is what I could get in the tank. If you are basing your math off of 70 liters, Im assuming your fuel used was 58 liters. That leaves 2 liters in the tank, almost exactly where I noticed the fuel pump sucking air when I drained my tank.

[K447]

I ran out of fuel on my last ride (should have had 12 litres left - thanks Yamaha), so my next fill will be from zero.

I will measure exactly how much I can get in and report back-

How did you calculate that 12 liters remaining number?

[Mr. GP1800]

How did you calculate that 12 liters remaining number?

My guess is he based that off the advertised 70 liter fuel capacity

[Mr. GP1800]

I ran out of fuel on my last ride (should have had 12 litres left - thanks Yamaha), so my next fill will be from zero. I will measure exactly how much I can get in and report back.

As an aside, surely some of you must know people in Yamaha corporate? Forward them this thread to read for 5 minutes and they'll see the exact problem. It's also great that prospective Yamaha buyers are now posting their concerns in here. What started out as a tiny snowball (zero acknowledgement from Yamaha/dealers/etc) is slowly growing!

Any updates? How much fuel did it take?

[musubi]

Any updates? How much fuel did it take?

FWIW, I'm just planning to install the Garmin GFS so I can monitor the fuel continuously, even after the engine shuts off. https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/11561
I'm going to connect it to my Garmin Chartplotter and monitor from there. As I recall reading, the accuracy only goes down to 2 gal/hr. So at idle, it won't track accurately. However, I'm rarely at idle for long anyway and normally running 3+ gal/hr.

For my activities I'm frequently shutting off the ski and it really sucks trying to remember and add how much I used in my last run.

Also, I did a long run this past weekend and compared my "Fuel Used" to my actual usage. According to the computer ski, I used 15 gallons. When I filled up, I put in 12. So this is sort of an opposite problem from svhooo.

This is just my guess, but because I stop and go a lot, I think the ski is misreading how much fuel I use when I get up to plane. Meaning, I think it's over measuring. Anyway, that's just my observations.

[svhooo]

Any updates? How much fuel did it take?

Haven't managed to get out again yet, will post here for sure though

[Mr. GP1800]

FWIW, I'm just planning to install the Garmin GFS so I can monitor the fuel continuously, even after the engine shuts off. https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/11561
I'm going to connect it to my Garmin Chartplotter and monitor from there. As I recall reading, the accuracy only goes down to 2 gal/hr. So at idle, it won't track accurately. However, I'm rarely at idle for long anyway and normally running 3+ gal/hr.

For my activities I'm frequently shutting off the ski and it really sucks trying to remember and add how much I used in my last run.

Also, I did a long run this past weekend and compared my "Fuel Used" to my actual usage. According to the computer ski, I used 15 gallons. When I filled up, I put in 12. So this is sort of an opposite problem from svhooo.

This is just my guess, but because I stop and go a lot, I think the ski is misreading how much fuel I use when I get up to plane. Meaning, I think it's over measuring. Anyway, that's just my observations.

The Garmin GFS 10 wont handle the fuel pressure put out by the fuel pump to the fuel rail. You can install the GFL 10 and calibrate it to show fuel level on the garmin to make the fuel gauge more accurate. I have done this before. It allows you up to 8 calibration points so you should be able to make it pretty accurate. You can then set up the garmin to show percent remaining right on your navigation screen.

[musubi]

The Garmin GFS 10 wont handle the fuel pressure put out by the fuel pump to the fuel rail. You can install the GFL 10 and calibrate it to show fuel level on the garmin to make the fuel gauge more accurate. I have done this before. It allows you up to 8 calibration points so you should be able to make it pretty accurate. You can then set up the garmin to show percent remaining right on your navigation screen.

Ah shucks. I thought the GFS 10 wasn't compatible with only high-pressure fuel pumps, which I assumed the one we have wasn't. In any case, the only ace up my sleeve is to finish my 13 gallon auxiliary fuel tank which I'll mount in my front storage. I run a 6 gallon now, which great at giving me extended range.

I'll revisit the GFL 10 and see how to go about wiring that in.

[musubi]

Here’s a little update. I just pumped out the tank using the fuel pump on the ski. I have a rig that I can directly power up the fuel pump. I have a hose with the correct fitting on the end so I can pull the fuel hose off the fuel rail and directly connect my drain hose to it.

I first pumped exactly 10 gallons out of the tank. This is what the gauge showed after pumping out 10 gallons. Where it says Analog input (Fuel) that’s a percentage of full in the diagnostics menu of the dash.



I was able to pump out another 5.5 gallons for a total of 15.5 gallons. When I got close to filling the third 5 gallon fuel container the fuel pump started sucking air. In reality there’s probably 13 gallons of usable fuel in this machine. You’ll be on the buzzer after 10 gallons or so of fuel use according to everything I have measured. The buzzer threshold is 10% remaining fuel according to the gauge. That’s just pathetic. This isn’t what I believed to be just a simple gauge calibration error on the part of Yamaha. This is a much bigger deal. To have a ski of this size with a supercharged motor and have an effective cruise range of 50-60 miles is completely unacceptable.

So how is Yamaha getting 18.5 gallons? Are they assuming we can fill it up to the tippy top of the fuel tank?

While I don't plan to remove that fuel check valve, I can see that it limits my fuel going in. I'm curious how much more fuel we could fill in if the front of the ski was tilted up some. While not practical at the pump, I'd certainly do it at home with a separate fuel can.
EDIT: I can see how that's a bad idea as we wouldn't have any air pocket margin for gas expansion.

So after re-reading this thread, it seems like the fuel gauge might actually be more accurate than we thought, but the tank size is the problem. The easiest solution I can see is to just add a 6 gal. aux. tank like I do. https://www.amazon.com/Scepter-10511...58646455&psc=1

I'll say, when the ski depletes the 6 gallon tank, it's nearly empty, so there's hardly any fuel remaining/wasted. Put in 3 or 4 gallons, and you're back to stock levels. And, the 6 Gallon fits in the pocket next to the fuel tank, hardly taking up room.

I appreciate you doing the testing and I agree is F@!&'n sucks that we're missing out on the additional capacity. It means I needed to redo my range calcs for my adventures.

[svhooo]

I ran out of fuel on my last ride (should have had 12 litres left - thanks Yamaha), so my next fill will be from zero. I will measure exactly how much I can get in and report back.

As an aside, surely some of you must know people in Yamaha corporate? Forward them this thread to read for 5 minutes and they'll see the exact problem. It's also great that prospective Yamaha buyers are now posting their concerns in here. What started out as a tiny snowball (zero acknowledgement from Yamaha/dealers/etc) is slowly growing!

It took 62 litres… however the Coastguard gave me 5 litres to get home when I ran out. Say I used most of that to get to the boat ramp and had 2 litres left in the tank. It means the fuel tank has a max capacity of 64 litres. Not good enough for a thirsty SVHO! And combined with the fuel sensor issue, which is still very much a thing, a recipe for disaster

[Mr. GP1800]

It took 62 litres… however the Coastguard gave me 5 litres to get home when I ran out. Say I used most of that to get to the boat ramp and had 2 litres left in the tank. It means the fuel tank has a max capacity of 65 litres. Not good enough for a thirsty SVHO! And combined with the fuel sensor issue, which is still very much a thing, a recipe for disaster

How much fuel did your dash say you used in the trip meter? 58 liters?

[svhooo]

How much fuel did your dash say you used in the trip meter? 58 liters?

We stopped so that was reset. Another issue

[svhooo]

I ran out of fuel on my last ride (should have had 12 litres left - thanks Yamaha), so my next fill will be from zero. I will measure exactly how much I can get in and report back.

As an aside, surely some of you must know people in Yamaha corporate? Forward them this thread to read for 5 minutes and they'll see the exact problem. It's also great that prospective Yamaha buyers are now posting their concerns in here. What started out as a tiny snowball (zero acknowledgement from Yamaha/dealers/etc) is slowly growing!

Realised I got my maths wrong on this - I had used 63.5L according to the computer. So should have had 6.5L left in the tank, not 12L as I said.

This number (63.5L) is closer to the figure I came up with in this post https://www.greenhulk.net/forum/personal-watercraft-performance-skis/yamaha-pwc-performance/yamaha-pwc-performance-4-stroke/283533-/page6#post6154654 (64L)

So, it seems the actual fuel tank capacity of these skis is around 63.5 litres / 16.75 gallons.

It's also worth noting that I fuel my ski up immediately before launching it before a ride, and fill it right up to the top (going very slowly, allowing for burping, etc, etc). I know you should allow for expansion, but with the stupid low fuel capacity on these SVHOs what are we meant to do!?

So, the question is, how the @!#$ did Yamaha manufacture and roll out a fuel tank that is 10% smaller than advertised?