Whenever the trip computer says I have 20km to empty, I figure I must have a couple of litres in my tank (80L). yet when I fill up I only put in 64L. Does anybody else find this true? i mean I hate to fill it if I have 4 gallons of fuel left, thats a lot of mileage left.<P>Right now on my way to work, the computer went from 30km to 20km to empty (three lines..."--- to empty"). The station I go to is 5 miles away, it is just unnerving when you are told you are empty if it isn't the case.<P>Any feedback or insight would be excellent.
When is empty really empty?
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by coladin:<BR><B>Whenever the trip computer says I have 20km to empty, I figure I must have a couple of litres in my tank (80L). yet when I fill up I only put in 64L. Does anybody else find this true? i mean I hate to fill it if I have 4 gallons of fuel left, thats a lot of mileage left.<P>Right now on my way to work, the computer went from 30km to 20km to empty (three lines..."--- to empty"). The station I go to is 5 miles away, it is just unnerving when you are told you are empty if it isn't the case.<P>Any feedback or insight would be excellent. </B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><BR>Well, let me add some insight since nobody else did...<P>I ran the car another 15 kilometers after the computer said it was "empty". When I went to fill up (I didn't run out of gas!) I only put in 68 litres, well short of empty (3 gallons or 12 liters left). <P>So, I guess I answered my question, I just don't want to be brash on the highway and keep driving and then run out of gas! <BR>
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FYI...Cars with in tank fuel pumps should not go below 1/4 tank. The fuel in the tank provides cooling to the pump. If you do run it down to empty every time, the pump will overheat and wear out prematurely.<P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by 745TRBOBRK:<BR><B>FYI...Cars with in tank fuel pumps should not go below 1/4 tank.<BR></B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>That is interesting, and it seems like most trip computers are on the <B>safe</B> side of calculations.<P>Just make sure not to pull a <I>Cosmo Kramer</I>... <IMG SRC="http://www.swedespeed.com/ubb/smile.gif"><P>-Drew<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by coladin:<BR><B>Whenever the trip computer says I have 20km to empty, I figure I must have a couple of litres in my tank (80L). </B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Are you sure your tank is 80 litres?<P>My S60 has 70 litres. When the tripcomputer indicates "--- to empty" I can fill it up with app. 70 litres (the piping etc can take some additional fuel on top of the 70 litres).<P>The indication is based on your average consumption over the last ** kilometres (do not know how far back). This can lead to the funny experience after filling up and driving for 150KM on the Motorway, you actually have a larger distance left then when you started.<P>And to answer your question, in my case empty really means I have to fill it up within the next 5 to 10 Kilometres<BR><p>[This message has been edited by Potter17 (edited 06-19-2002).]
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Potter17:<BR><B> Are you sure your tank is 80 litres?<P>My S60 has 70 litres. When the tripcomputer indicates "--- to empty" I can fill it up with app. 70 litres (the piping etc can take some additional fuel on top of the 70 litres).<P>The indication is based on your average consumption over the last ** kilometres (do not know how far back). This can lead to the funny experience after filling up and driving for 150KM on the Motorway, you actually have a larger distance left then when you started.<P>And to answer your question, in my case empty really means I have to fill it up within the next 5 to 10 Kilometres<P><BR>[This message has been edited by Potter17 (edited 06-19-2002).]</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>The T5 has an 80L tank, but I don't know if this is with all S60s. All turbo Volvos have the 80L tank, while the NA engine has 70L.<P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by coladin:<BR><B> The T5 has an 80L tank, but I don't know if this is with all S60s. All turbo Volvos have the 80L tank, while the NA engine has 70L.<P></B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>In the Netherlands all models have a 70 litre tank (at least acording to pricelist and manual)
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by shanbrom:<BR><B>I seem to be having the same problem on my AWD. The tank is supposed to hold 21 gallons and when I'm on empty I can only fill it with about 16 gallons. Very strange.</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><BR>Annoying actually is the word!<BR>
With regards to the size of the tank, my S60 with the 2.4L has a 70 litre tank. I usually fill it up when the light comes on and I usually put in about 50 L. When I picked up the car from the dealership they told me to fill the tank when the light comes on and not to let it get too empty. They also told me not to overfill it. So I stop fueling when the nozzle cuts itself off.
Ahhh-hate to admit it but I think they're right.<P>I drove my S60 around a lot with the light on and it said "20km left" --- then parked on a very very very slight incline and could not get the car started again later when I came out....had to use those little gas cans ...filled it up and away she started....so I've started to fill it up when the light turns on from now on.<P>
shanbrom - <P>hey totally agree with you. Just tellin' everyone what happened.<P>I recall someone mentioning a software fix for this....can't find the thread....anyone know about that? It appears that some S60's have a glitch that tells the engine that there is not enough fuel when there a still a few gallons left...<P>
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You are never on "empty". Even if you drive the car until it "runs out" of gas and the engine stalls, if you took apart your gas tank you would probably find at least 1/2 gallon (~1.85l) of gasoline in there. <P>Why not avoid all of this crazy discussion and fill up whenever your indicator shows 1/4 tank? I never let mine below 1/2 tank (after you make the initial "investment" to fill it up it costs much less to fill 1/2 a tank rather than fill up all of it!), worse-case scenario 1/4 tank. Plus if you ever have to leave in an emergency situation (and in this world you never know when that might come) you will never have to worry about finding an open gas station to fill up. <IMG SRC="http://www.swedespeed.com/ubb/wink.gif"><P>Yannis<P>
Why should I have a 21 gallon tank if I only use 10 or 15 gallons? I'm carrying around an extra 100 pounds of fuel for no reason and I then limit my range by half. I just want to know when I can expect to run out of gas to the point where the car either doesn't run or the level where parts will not be damaged.
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Well once again my friend Yannis is making some sense here. Basically, the fuel pump does need a certain amount of fuel in the tank to avoid fuel starvation problems when on inclines or in high g turning situations. Fuel tank design isn't something that's treated lightly by the engineers. The pumps need some method of cooling and the shape of the tank must comform to a shape that enhances the safety of the car as well as the weight placement. Also keep in mind of the various vehicle configurations, AWD and FWD ets, that must be cnsidered for the same platform. To add to this, of course there is some marketing value to advertising a 19 gallon tank over a 17 gallon tank for instance. Running your car all the way to empty isn't the greatest idea anyway. Not a signigant problem when the car is new, but as they age more and more impurities make their way into the fuel tank... by runnning all the way to empty you can run the risk of sucking this "junk" into the fuel filter. A potential clog or making the pump work harder can leave you on the side of the road... Just my two cents... By the way in my GTI race car, I have to run at least a half tank out of the 14.5 gallons to insure that I have enough fuel for the turns sloshing around etc. JOE
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