is there a trick to accessing the Res. fuel?

i ran out of gas again over the weekend. i know i know. i'm still a newbie. but anyways, just like the other times this happened, i tried unsuccessfully to get it to run on reserve. i personally don't think there was any gas obviously in the main, but also the reserve. i didn't hear any when i rocked the bike side to side. but i don't know the tank is built inside like some experts on here might.
is there a trick, or does my tank just use up all the gas in the main and reserve as i ride? luckily i wasn't far from home, but it would have been nice not to have to wait for the gf, to swing by to fill my tank up.

 

If your petcock is missing the internal "fuel filter", then there will be no main and reserve settings, since it is the different heights of the suction tubes embedded within the fuel filter unit that actually creates a "main" and "reserve" setting on the petcock. Turning the selector lever simply changes which fuel port that the petcock draws through; without the filter in place, either setting is the same, and both are basically "reserve" settings, meaning you can suck the tank dry without be "alerted" that you are about to do so!

"Reserve" settings are actually artificially created only by the fuel filter; the petcock operates exactly the same in both the main and reserve positions. The only purpose of "reserve" is to alert you that you're running low on gas.

 

my seca wont restart on reserve also but i DO have the filter and i know there is fuel because you CAN hear it sloshing around...

if i let it get to chugging, im dead....

any thoughts on this?

 

clogged petcock filter. Thus "reserve" is at a higher level than it used to be; OR it's simply "out of gas." (There'll always be SOME left.) The fish finder doesn't have a gauge, does it?

 

you might have been on reserve the whole time, i'm still not sure which way it goes.....(help)
i just get gas at 150 miles

 

My bike runs better on res than it does on "on"

 

Exactly what I do.
150 miles get gas.
I don't think there is a screen on mine as it is a replacement petcock.

 

yes but its a 4 segment LCD...

when it hits the 1/4 mark, it continues to read 1/4 until it hits the empty mark...

i know that the main will run out before the indicator shows empty but i never really can tell. i tried to watch the tripmeter but quickly found out that it didnt track properly and after about 48 miles on it, it would just flip the 10s and soon i was back to 48 miles again. i then started to use a grease pencil on the gauge pack to write the regular odometer mileage...

ill have to pull the petcock and look at the filter. i thought it was pretty clean last time i looked at it (way back when i bought it)...