I've got my newish to me NT, and have some operational questions

[jfear]

Hey all

So the NT700V i got is lovely overall, but mine has some quirks that I attribute the PO. For one, in the first couple weeks (i hadn't been riding it) I decided to change the airfilter: it was missing. Second was the time I tried to take it out and it only ran on one cylinder: it was that the PO hadn't replaced the plug caps from the recall.

I've mostly ridden it around town so far and my MPG is garbage - I was trusting the MPG estimator on the display (bad idea) and for the second time in 25 years I ran dry. What's the real world experience of MPG around the town vs Hwy?

As I've never owned an NT-based bike before I don't know their sounds and is what sounds like intake honk at appx 4k rpm common?

Does your temp gauge wander or hit it's set and stay? I'm beginning to suspect the PO removed the thermostat for some reason. He was running a blue coolant(Supercool? the Radiator-ice mix?)

There may be more but those are the ones off the top of my head. Thanks in advance for any information

-j

 

[cliffh]

Hummm....no air filter, bad idea. Hopefully he didn't run it long that way.

Yep, the bike changes sound for sure at around 4,000. The sound makes a good shift point for me.

My temperature gauge does NOT wander. You may be correct about the thermostat.

I use the gas gauge. When my gauge is really bottomed out, I still have almost a gallon left.

Off the top of my head, I don't exactly remember the gas mileage. I live in Ohio and haven't gotten gas for a while. I think it was around 50 mpg though.

Cliff

 

[jfear]

Hummm....no air filter, bad idea. Hopefully he didn't run it long that way.

Yep, the bike changes sound for sure at around 4,000. The sound makes a good shift point for me.

My temperature gauge does NOT wander. You may be correct about the thermostat.

I use the gas gauge. When my gauge is really bottomed out, I still have almost a gallon left.

Off the top of my head, I don't exactly remember the gas mileage. I live in Ohio and haven't gotten gas for a while. I think it was around 50 mpg though.

Cliff

I got gas last night after sticking to highway for a couple days and I was showing 52mph

I forgot to mention the gas gauge is off-scale low/INOP. I suspect rust since there is visible surface rust in the tank. reading around it sounds like the sensor/pump unit is a PITA and expensive at that. May just guesstimate/refill at 150mi to be safe.

Thanks for the response!

 

[cliffh]

The tank holds 5.2 gallons. If you leave enough to keep the fuel pump cool, let's say you have 4.5 gallons to work with, so at 50 mpg, you should be able to go an easy 225 miles before fill up. So the 150 mile mark keeps you quite safe. That is when I start looking for gas on a trip.

Cliff

 

[Sunny]

i have the big wind screen, and when I am at 60mph, I get like 55-60mpg, as I hit 80mph it drops to 35-40mpg....

I have noted that for the top half my fuel gauge drops slowly, and when it hits the half way mark its a mad dash to empty ..... so I too try to fill up at half way mark ...

 

[jfear]

Now I'm curious how to resolve the fuel gauge - need to find the connector location so I can read the values and see if I can rule out locations of the issue.

 

[mikesim]

Looks like most of your questions have been addressed. Regarding the blue coolant, OE Honda coolant and the recommended coolant is blue, If you don't want to pay for the OE Honda stuff, Zerex Asian Blue coolant is the same stuff. It is already pre diluted. You describe your fuel gauge as off scale low/INOP. What is it? Off scale or inoperative? It can't be both . The mpg reading on the instrument cluster is wildly optimistic so I would never rely on it, just use the old fashioned math to figure fuel economy.

Mike

 

[jfear]

hmmm...it definitely sweeps the dial on startup but remains in the E section, typically 'bending the pin'.

 

[mikesim]

It could be either the gauge itself, the sender or the wiring. First make sure you have a good connection at the sender, many times a little corrosion will cause a faulty reading. Then you can take a dummy resistor and connect it to the connector to simulate the fuel gauge. When you get ready to do this, let me know and I will look up the proper resistance values for you. If the resistor shows that the fuel gauge is reading correctly, then your sender is likely the culprit which based on your discussion so far seems very likely.

Hope this info helps.

Mike

 

[mikesim]

According to the service manual, the fuel sender should read between 8-12 Ω at full and 270-276 Ω when empty. This is measured at the black/white and red/black wires. To test the gauge, connect a corresponding resistor to the terminals of the harness and you should get a reading that corresponds to the values above. I looked on Amazon and a cool decade box with adjustable resistors is available for $18.95 for Prime Members with free shipping. It is adjustable from 1 - 9999 Ω in one ohm increments.

Hope this helps.

Mike