I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: __ tank capacity
This morning I drove while fuel was low and the range indicator arrived at 0miles
Shortly after I stopped at a station and filled. 37.5L until the pump clicked.
Then I added a bit more ending up at 39L.
The spec says that the tank is 45L.
What is the actual capacity?
Was the range indicator way too pessimistic and likely still had a few litres in the tank?
6L are good for a bit more than 0 miles …
If so, it’s ridiculously safe.
It’s at the opposite side of the safety spectrum compared to my other ‘car’ - a VW California …
Years ago I was coming back to the UK and wanted to refill in Calais, where I arrived and stopped with an indicated 30km of residual range. The engine didn’t restart and I had to take the bike off the back and cycle to a station where they did not stock jerry cans … they gave me an empty 2L WATER bottle
which was not really dry …
A couple of years ago I pulled up at Sainsburys after getting 375 miles out of my NBFL’s 50 litre tank which was now showing empty. Went shopping got back to the car it wouldn’t start. Luckily I had an empty 5 litre spare fuel can and only had a short walk to the Sainsburys fuel pump !
Well the NB is not as sophisticated as the ND and the Petrol Warning Light comes on in my girl when she’s showing just under a quarter of a tank on her simple dial
First time it happened I was on a motorway in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere…PANIC !
But got home just fine and re-fueled following day no problem
I’m old school though and was taught not to ‘drain the tank’ as it wasn’t good for the Engine
I suspect things have moved on since my day !
And as everyone knows ‘tank capacity’ depends on how you drive the vehicle and a load of other variables that I like my NB are too numpty to comprehend
If we are using E10 it’s more likely to cause condensation in the tank. This will sink to the bottom over time, particularly if the car is laid up over winter. (am I right so far?)
Best not to run it too low?
How many miles had you driven since the reserve light went on?
Only thing I can think of is for the ‘range remaining’ it was basing that on a cold start, short journey so was reckoning on higher consumption?
I used to laugh at the ‘range remaining’ on Renault/Nissan cars. It would tick down and below 20 miles or so, just display ‘—’. So right at the time point when that information would be quite useful
I recently filled my ND1, got to the station and the range just ticked over to 0 miles as I pulled in, just managed to squeeze in 38.74 litres according to the receipt so it looks pretty conservative. Probably due to not wanting to be sued by the 'mericans if they run out at exactly 0 miles.
I tried a similar trick on my GR86 and went passed 0 miles by about 12 miles and rough estimate said I could probably go 25 to 30 miles passed 0 miles before I am in danger of actually running dry.
I had an R53 MINI that I got down to single figures on the range meter before filling and by my estimate there was only about 1.5 litres left in the tank so the MINI was far more accurate.
On the NC when the fuel light comes on there’s around 1 gallon left. I’ve tested this out once and let the gauge go past the actual empty mark and slightly to the right of it. I wouldn’t advise it’s the same on every NC though, it makes for interesting driving that last few miles. BTW I didn’t want to do that, rather like the nearest fuel (Super unleaded) was back near home, over 20 miles away and I didn’t want E10 in it.
On my ND1 (2L) I have think I managed to get ~50 miles after it hit 0!
You can also get the needle to go past the last marker on the dial and past the 0 itself
I don’t have any photos of that far but do have these:
The day I went to look at what is now my NC, I noticed that the fuel light was on when we went for a test drive. Everything was good, so arranged to buy it and collect the next day. Turned up the next day, chap kindly collected me from the train station in the car - fuel light still on - and took me back to his place to complete the formalities. Well, not a big deal, as at the end of his road was a huge Sainsbury’s with a very large petrol forecourt (which I had scouted the previous day, just to be sure). So Muggins jumps in his shiny new car, drops the roof, and heads for Sainsbury’s… where I discovered a small problem; the petrol forecourt was now completely cordoned off and diggers were starting to rip out the old tanks.
This caused some consternation, as you might imagine. Pulling out the phone, the nearest petrol station of any kind was a Tesco about 4 miles away. Well, there was nothing for it, so off I went, rather painfully conscious of the orange glow on the fuel gauge. As well I might have been, because after a couple of miles the engine started to splutter, and eventually cut out on a busy 4-lane road with the Tesco sign just visible in the distance! So near and yet, so far…
Thankfully, after a quick phone call, the chap rescued me with a jerry can of fuel. I don’t recall exactly how much I put in when I finally made it into the Blue Stripy Forecourt, but it was probably one of the few times I didn’t look at the price on the pump first
Thus ends the first - and so far, only - time I have ever managed to run a car out of fuel
Similar tale when I bought my NB in 2007 from Car Craft Leeds [You’d think they’d have given me some Petrol after what I paid plus they were very bullying and wouldn’t give me the keys until I’d paid for a ‘turned out to be useless’ warranty]. Like you the Test Drive went great and I fell in love and had noted the nearest Petrol Station
It turned out to be a ‘Drive Through’ and Car Craft Leeds had NOT shown me how to open the Petrol Cap and it was Rush Hour
Imagine my embarrassment [angry motorists honking their horns]. Fortunately someone in the queue knew that to open the petrol cap there was a switch under the arm rest]
Finally made it to Whitby to move in as Carer for Dad. In the dark in a car I’d driven for about 10 minutes
But she was brilliant…like she had been ‘purpose built’ just for me in every respect
Which is why I still have her - despite loads of money re corrosion
And sure she has her ‘foibles’ but doesn’t every car
But after over 16 yrs together we kinda got to understand each other and she will go for miles after the Petrol Warning Light comes on but I wouldn’t want her to do this
I am less interested in mpg and stats etc
Just that she is ‘telling me’ when she is an unhappy bunny because I ‘listen’ to how she sounds
Had the same experience here, could not get more than 39 litres in once the mileage indicator got down to zero.
Since then I’ve played with the MazdaTweaks software and can view the number of litres remaining in the tank (best done when the car is stationary). It never shows more than 44.1 litres even when brimmed. It’ll do about 50 miles until the 44.1 starts reducing. Then with 0 miles remaining it says there’s typically between 4.5 and 5.1 litres remaining.
I got 46.5 litres in a Mazda 3 at the weekend (tank capacity 50 litres). The fuel light was flashing.
Low fuel can catch you out on steep hills, when the fuel sloshes to one end of the tank and the pickup tube starts sucking air. On the level, the fuel remaining indicator is quite conservative.
Not sure if you are lucky or not having a warning light, at this point Madge did not restart in the Sainsburys car park I mentioned earlier. I got her going with 4 litres from a can and filled her with another 44 until the pump trigger repeatedly refused to let any more in which makes 48 litre usable capacity.
