Ducati Monster Forum

Hey guys I'm having trouble with my gas tank capacity. I just picked up my bike from the shop today, and It had no gas at all. So I rode straight to the gas station for a fill up, and the tank topped off at 1.6 gallons. I literally could see the gas at the top of the gas cap. It's still like that right now as I rode it straight home. I recently painted the bike myself , with the help of some friends that work at a auto paint shop. They have no experience with bike being I was the first. The paint job came out great, and I plugged all the gas lines on the tank . However there was still gas in the tank even after I Used a gas suction pump to clean it out. So I'm thinking I need to bleed the tank out. Has anyone done this before ? Will it help my situation ?

i'd like to take a shot at helping but you're going to have to explain this a little better.

so far we've got;
a. you sucked the tank dry but it still had gas in it
b. you painted it and that gas disappeared
c. then the gas that disappeared came back because now you can only get 1.6 gallons in.

Looking back I see that I explained it little wrong. Excuse me.
I tried to drain all the gas out. It still had gas in the tank while we were painting it.
Then we placed the tank back after painting, refilled the tank up with the gas we drained out. Then drove it to the machanic for service. So as I was leaving the shop today I went to the gas station cause the gas light was going on and off. I tried filling up the tank and it only allowed me to put about 1.5 gallons . Maybe the floater in the gas tank moved or disconnected ? Or is it a sensor indicating that you have low fuel? Cause at first when we put the tube for suctioning the gas , we didnt go in as careful as we should. We could have moved some stuff around now that I think about it. I been outside trying to figure out what it is.
I just thought it would be easier to Actually drain all the gas out like I was trying to do in the first place.
So how would I bleed all the gas out of the tank, DRY?

Okay...

The sender units are known to fail. The one on my (dearly departed) M900 died shortly after I bought it. The one on my 998 doesn't work at all, at the moment.

Did you do anything that might cause it to fail, or become disconnected? Maybe, maybe not...

Anyway.

My 998 has a very convenient drain plug. Some of the Monsters, or so I've read, do not. I'm not sure what the specifics are for each model. It might be helpful, therefore, to know what specific Monster you have.

I use a boat fuel hose/primer ball with a foot of 1/4" steel tubing clamped into the hose on the suction side.  With this setup I can siphon all but an ounce of fuel from the tank.  One of the best shop tools I have.

I might just have moved the sender unit by putting the tube in the gas tank while trying to siphon out the gas. It could be that possibility. Cause moving around the tube may have caused it to malfunction ?
And for the siphon technique explained by 'carbon 14' that really helps. You placed the tube for suctioning on the bleeder side? Where it's labeled bleeder??
And will there always be a lil gas left over no matter what method used?

Not connected to the bike at all.  Just an outboard engine fuel hose with apiece of steel tubing to stick down into the lowest spot on the tank.  Squeeze the ball to start the siphon.