Reserve

[antsaint]

I've got a 2007 Ural Patrol, and had 2 questions about reserve:

1) Can you switch from regular/on to reserve while driving, or do you need to pull over and cut the engine first?

2) When I gassed up today, I forgot to take the switch of reserve. Does this matter? Are there any consequences? (Switched it over when I got home, though)

[S 854]

2) When I gassed up today, I forgot to take the switch of reserve. Does this matter? Are there any consequences? (Switched it over when I got home, though)

Your engine didn't BLOW UP??? Man, you must have made it just in time... I wouldn't start you bike for at least 36 hours, gotta make sure all the reserve gas that was mixed with the main tank gets vented and dissipates into the atmosphere before being ignited by an errant spark...

[antsaint]

OMG, I knew it must be serious! Crap, I hope I didn't void the warranty!

Thought I'd catch some flak for such an obvious question, but hey, what's a n00b to do?

I do really have no idea with switching while in motion though.

[Big Mike]

I have switched to reserve while going down the street many times and as of yet I haven't exploded or come to some other dire end.....

-Mike

[S 854]

It's not really a big deal switching from reserve to main and back... actually, may be something you "practice" from time to time... so when the need presents its self, you can automatically reach down and flip the little lever without thinking... nice thing to know when your engine starts sputtering in the middle of a busy intersection...

As far as leaving it in the reserve position... just make sure you don't run out of gas on what you assumed to be the "main" tank as when you go to flip the lever, there won't be anything left to flip it to...

[gec343]

I ran my Tourist on Primer for the first 900KM. Stupidity, yes, but hope I didn't harm anything.

[catfish]

On prime is a whole different thing.Prime is an open gravity feed from the fuel tank.Regular on requires vacumn to open the fuel valve.This is because some people forget to shut off the manual fuel valve and if the carbs have bad seals on the float needles the engine will over a few minutes flood with gasoline.You also could hydro lock a cylinder and bend a crankshaft trying to start the engine. Running in prime will not bother an engine while it is running but will still be able to feed fuel when the engine is off if left in that position.Never leave it in prime wioth the engine shut off.

As far as reserve or on goes all this is is in on position the fuel valve is open and there is a pipe going up into the gas tank coming off of this opening in the fuel valve. Maybe the pipe is 2 inches long. The gas stops flowing when it gets low enough in the tank to equal this pipe height. On reserve it opens a different openinmg in the fuel valve this opening has either no pipe connected to it or a short pipe maybe a half an inch long. This allows the fuel in the tank to still flow at a level lower than the normal on position. You can change back and forther between the two settings all you want. You can also run on the reserve setting even if the fuel tank is full it doesn't bother the motor but if you turn on the reserve and ride around a lot you can run out of fuel and then there is no more fuel no reserve fuel you have used it all.

CATFISH

[antsaint]

Thanks for clarifying that, guys. I thought maybe you could switch it while in motion, but thought I'd ask before trying.

Wondered how reserve works - thanks for the explanation, catfish.

[Big Mike]

Anthony,
When you remove the petcock to check the filter screens during your scheduled maintenance, you will see that reserve is nothing more than a secondary, shorter intake tube on the petcock. Switching over simply allows the fuel to flow from the shorter intake as opposed to the higher standard intake, picking up the rest of the fuel near the bottom of the tank. The switch over is simply changing the fuel flow input from one tube to the other like a plumbing valve.

-Mike

[cpres]

I advise learning how to swicth onto reserve on the fly because you will need to do it if you ride enough.

[markhas]

I think I first learned this with my VW beetle back in the early 60's. There was a little bent rod under the dash or something. Ain't nothing new.

[Hoot Owl Pete]

Another question for a wannabe of the Reserve Fuel Tank:

How far can one go once you are in a no Sh-- situation on the reserve tank.

It would always be my luck that it will take you 29 miles and the nearest gas passer is 30 miles out....Not that it has ever happened to me ahhmm!

Hoot Owl Pete.

[pigdog]

Another (hopefully) helpful tip about Reserve. Every so often, switch your petcock to reserve to make sure it will flow fuel. Last year when I pulled my tank to repair a crack, I found that the reserve part was so gunked up that fuel would never have flowed through it.

[greenmachine]

I always make sure my cross-over tube is clean and petcock is more or less clean at the screens.

I have NEVER used the reserve position that I can recall other than the one time I THOUGHT I had run out of gas but I actually had melted the end of the tank vent shut .... so actually I DID run out gas ....

I've seen guys that couldn't go 5 miles on reserve. I've seen guys that reserve didn't work at ALL. Pilot goes down the road and turns the tap to the reserve position for a while then switches back... BUT didn't wait long enough to see if the bowls would stay full ...

Reserve = jerry can ... Works like a charm.

kermitski

[uraldog]

the reserve works till you run out of gas--does that clarify things