Yamahamer

Got over 2000 miles on the Defender now and I've always kept track of the mileage. And I've found it depends on the terrain I'm riding. If I spend all day on steep, rough trails I'm in Low Range the whole time and my mileage has been as low as 12. But if I'm just out on dirt roads, driving 25-30 mph, my mileage will be 20 mpg or better.

Thank you for all the responses, they were very helpful. I also watched some YouTube videos on how to remove/replace the pump assembly and change the filter so I would know what to expect when pulling mine out of the tank. Unfortunately I could find nothing that would cause the problem I'm having. Everything looked exactly as in the photo of the pump assembly above, and I couldn't see any debris in the tank. I reinstalled the pump and took the Defender out for about a 10 mile drive this morning. No problem of any sort, even though I've not put gas in it since the stalling episode (fuel gauge still indicating 1/2 a tank or perhaps a shade under). So I don't know why the low fuel warning came on that last ride - it did not come on today. Guess I'll just carry extra gas on my longer rides. If this happens again, or if I find a solution, I'll post again.

Shuts down while I'm driving along downhill. Runs just fine on the level or going uphill...or even downhill if the tank is still full. For some reason the fuel pickup is not picking up any gas when the tank is less than half full and I'm driving downhill. "Low Fuel" warning comes on - and the engine shuts down. Yet the gas tank is still nearly half full.

A couple months ago I was descending a long downhill road when the "Low Fuel" light came on in the dash, then a warning that I was about to run out of fuel. When I fueled later (and after about 20 more miles of driving) the tank would take only 6.7 gallons so at least 3 more gallons were left in the tank. Two days ago once again I was descending a long (about 5 miles) downhill road, not very steep, when, about a quarter of a mile from the bottom of the hill, the "Low Fuel" light came on again. A few seconds later the engine quit...and would not restart. I coasted to the bottom of the hill. Coming down the hill the fuel gauge was indicating about a quarter of a tank. When I coasted to a stop on the level at the bottom of the hill the fuel gauge was back to nearly half a tank. After several attempts at starting the engine finally fired; I drove it home (about 10 more miles) with no more problems. This scared the heck out of me - I live in a remote area and ride some very remote country and can't be using a rig that shuts off like this. Anyone else have something like this happen to them, and if so, what did you do to fix it. I'm open to any ideas!