I am having chronic problems with my 2006 Vulcan 500. I fill it up and at 163 miles (2.7 gal to fill)and later 133 miles (2.2 gal to fill) it runs out of gas and has to be switched to reserve. It is getting 60 mpg, which is great, but it is HELL to restart after it runs out. It has taken 15-20 minutes to start. This could get you killed on the highway. The tank is supposed to hold 4 gal with .8 gal. reserve, so there should be 3.2 gal. available, which would give me 180+ miles to fill. Only in my dreams. Kawasaki customer service had no solution or help, but admitted getting calls about this problem. ****UPDATE***My latest "run-out" was aT 50 miles - hit the choke first and switched to reserve and didn't have to stop. Vacuum controls the flow of gas through the tank switch/petcock.

Anybody ot there having this problem?

 

First thought would be a lack of a vent tube or a restriction.

 

My 2007 Vulcan 500 LTD does exactly the same thing. I have to switch to reserve after about 120 miles and fill up soon thereafter. I don't think I've ever put in more than 2.25 gallons to completely fill the tank so it also makes me wonder what's happening to the rest of the 4 gallon tank. I'm also getting about 60 mpg. I wonder if the spec is right about the 4 gallon capacity for the tank.

Switch to prime and use the choke (full) to restart if the bike runs out of gas. This seems to do the trick. It is very scary when the bike dies cause of unexpected gas shortage. When this happened to me, I had just rounded a blind curve and I'm thankful the car behind me was paying attention because there was barely any room on the side of the road.

I've had my bike for just over 4 weeks and I'm already logged over 2700 miles on it.

 

dang, some good road time there geronimo. Congrats

 

This is some pain in the ***, isn't it? Thanks for teh feedback! Harry

 

I tried the trick of full choke and prime. IT WORKED QUITE WELL. Thanks for the tip! Harry

 

I just picked up an 07 Vulcan 500 this past weekend and logged 280 miles. An excellent bike with plenty of power. Felt comfortable on it the moment i left the dealership. I did also run out of fuel at one point over the weekend and pulled over to the side of the road. I moved the fuel lever to prime and left it there for about 10 seconds, then switched it to reserve and the bike fired right up and I was on my way to a gas station. Stopped at a gas station about 8 miles down the road and the tank only took about 2.6 gallons. Not sure what the point of advertising a 4 gallon tank with .8 reserve when you can only get around 3 and change with the reserve. Anyway, love the bike and I suppose I can deal with the short changed fuel tank although I would prefer if I could get the 3.2 before having to fill up.

 

The Vulcan 500is a great bike - just wait till you have it broken in; it runs even better. If you do a lot of cruising on your bike as I do, I highly recommend getting a windshield (I have a Memphis shade installed) and saddle bags!

I logged about 270 miles over the long Labor Day weekend. I'm fortunate to live in an area which has a lot of great roads for biking. Over the weekend, I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco to ride the 49 mile scenic route. The next day, I drove down the beautiful Sonoma coast on US-1. And yesterday, I rode down Napa Valley on the Silverado Trail. I think I've covered all the back roads (and main roads) of Marin County and Sonoma County (and most of Lake County). I'm starting to cover Mendocino County and Napa County!

 

I bought an '09 in Aug. and I have the problem of the main tank running out of gas early. I'm getting 50 mpg so I run out at about 130 miles. It takes about 2.7 gallons to fill back up. I have taken the bike back to the dealer for this but so far they can't figure out why it is doing this. Anyone else have a solution?

 

My 2007 has the same issue. I hit reserve at 140 mi and put 2.95 gal in to fill er up. Does anyone know how far you can go before the reserve is empty?