85 spree poor gas mileage?

[jakubman1]

Will a bad fuel petcock give me bad gas mileage ? Gas gauge goes down a little after 10 miles of riding . Thanks
Jakub

[vintagegarage]

No.. your gas mileage may be good, and you need a longer test period. Don't expect the gas gauge to be completely linear either. You should get around 75 to 85 mpg in a stock spree when everything is right. The gas tank holds .66 gallons, so you should only get about 50 miles to a tank of gas. So if you went 10 miles and the gauge only went down a little, you sound about right on your mpg.

[jakubman1]

Ok I just came back from a 14 miles trip. The indicator is saying half a tank. Could a faulty bystarter be to blame. I can feel/hear like the bystarter when it's nice and hot full throttle. When I stop and go it'll sputter like it's not warm enough when it is. Usually on long WOT it'll stop sputtering .

[patthesoundguy]

A bad just after can cause strange issues like that for sure. You can test it very easily. In the manual there is a vacuum test. The first test to do is pull it from the carb touch the terminals to the battery for a few minutes polarity doesn't matter. Watch to see If the needle moves out. A battery charger will also work. An obstruction in the exhaust will also give you poor milage. Insects love to make nests in tailpipes. I had an issue once with a bad set of reeds that ate a lot of fuel became it was getting blown back out of the carb at anything less than full throttle. Also confirm the actual level of the fuel in the tank, maybe the sending unit is off.

[kuromi]

Fuel gauges aren't that accurate.
Even on my 2010 VW a full tank takes me about 400 miles, yet it always shows half a tank after 300 miles.
And we all know how trustworthy VW are with gas mileage

If you get an accurate mpg you can figure out if you have a problem or not.

Stop start town driving will give you worse fuel economy. Riding style will also have an effect.

Fill your tank to the top and make a note of your mileage.
Then go for a long ride until the tank's nearly empty.
Fill your tank to the top again and make a note of the amount of gas you put in and your mileage again.

Use these to calculate your actual MPG

[jakubman1]

Alright more testing coming soon

I replaced the old bystarter with a new one from amazon a while back. A Cheapo. If this one is faulty after testing whats the "Good" one to purchase?
Jakub

[patthesoundguy]

I used a $12 eBay bystarter it was fine.