Mistake 1: Leaving for the 80 mile round trip to work with only 1/8 tank and the trip computer saying 80 miles remaining.
Mistake 2: Getting caught in the chaos that afflicted junction 20 of the M25 yesterday.
Mistake 3: Forgetting wallet in the rush to leave.
Made it home after going 25 miles past the "zero" point on the computer (so there's at least 25 miles of slack in the system) but on getting out of the car at 2am I thought "What the hell is that noise?" (whining, pulsating, screeching sound from engine bay).
Turns out it's the electrically powered fuel pump running dry. Fuel lubricated, of course. Glad it's got a 3 year warranty. :-|
Fortunately the filling station is only a mile away and the car's pointing downhill...
Last edited by: Fursty Ferret on Sat 19 Dec 15 at 10:37
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Chaos? I saw something about congestion that way as I crossed on the M4 (J15 of the M25) but there's something like that most evenings. I was earlier than usual yesterday; was this something special?
Would be fun to fill your tank from zero to the brim and find out its true capacity. My old S60 claimed 60 litres but I'm pretty sure it held more than that.
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Sat 19 Dec 15 at 10:56
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The M25 was closed between 20-21, and the diversion took people onto the A41, which means it took 45 minutes to cover about 3 miles. That wasn't particularly fuel-inefficient, sadly the speed I then went down the M25 to get into work on time was.
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Most tanks do hold more than quoted capacity;it's to leave some space for expansion.
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The fuel gauge lies.
Only managed to get 65 litres into 67.5 litre tank.
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Hope you don't do that kinda thing in your day job! ;-)
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>> Hope you don't do that kinda thing in your day job! ;-)
>>
No, gliding the last bit is frowned upon by management.
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>> >> Hope you don't do that kinda thing in your day job! ;-)
>> >>
>>
>> No, gliding the last bit is frowned upon by management.
>>
Unless the management is Ryanair! :-)
tinyurl.com/hk9lt4y (sorry it's the Mail!)
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Did you try rocking the car vigorously from side to side FF? Sometimes that will release an air bubble and leave room for a couple of litres.
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It was possible to tap into a reserve on my MGf by taking a corner fast on tight lock (I can't remember if it was left or right). This was because there were in fact two equally-sized tanks side by side, with a connecting bridge between them, so the fuel spilled over.
It reminded me of a trick with my ex-WWII Ariel motorbike. I ran out of fuel in a village about 10 miles from home. A old resident told me to push the bike a few yards up a bank. This caused a similar spillover, enough to get me home.
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BMW (bike) has a yellow triangle that comes on....it then counts the miles down....been down to 12 before I bottled out.
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>> The fuel gauge lies.
>>
>> Only managed to get 65 litres into 67.5 litre tank.
>>
It must. I've put 70 litres into my S60 which was still reporting 50 miles to empty. My previous S60 with a 70 litre tank took 78 plus the gallon which was supposed to be in there.
I'm not sure about the VEA engine, I know the 5 cylinders are pretty robust, mine has had 20 litres of 98 RON mixed with 50 litres of diesel with no side effects. Guess who'll be pushing on Monday.
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>> The fuel gauge lies.
>>
>> Only managed to get 65 litres into 67.5 litre tank.
If diesel, it'll foam while filling if you do it too fast, fooling the nozzle to cut out before the tank is actually full.
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The computer on the Lexus is rubbish - light comes on and range shows between 30 - 40 at that point, but drops to zero much more quickly sending you into a panic.
The reality is that even at zero it takes 10 litres less than the quoted capacity to fill it up, and there are a few on forums who claim to have driven 100 miles past zero. I have pushed on past a bit - maybe 10 miles, but not that brave
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Don't know if Old Navy has found similar with his Yaris, but I've never got more than 36 litres into the, supposedly, 42 litre tank and that's twenty-odd miles after the range display has dropped past zero.
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FF, talking of running on empty, I recently flew out from LBA to meet friends who were on Tenner Iffy. outbound they had to refuel at Faro. Strong headwinds. My same scheduled flight, same timings, three days later, was delayed. We sat on the aircraft for almost two hours whilst the pilot waited for the runway to dry out. We could have taken off with a smaller fuel load & refuelled at Faro, or taken off with a full fuel load and made it non stop, but for safety reasons needed a dry runway in case of an emergency before rotate speed was reached. I found it quite an interesting scenario, never experienced by myself before.
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Quite common, especially at places with dinky runways like Leeds.
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>> Quite common, especially at places with dinky runways like Leeds.
Way back when the runway was even dinkier at 5400 feet Britannia would have passengers weighed individually in order to calculate whether a tech stop, usually Luton, was needed.
Aircraft was 737-200ADV.
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>> Don't know if Old Navy has found similar with his Yaris, but I've never got
>> more than 36 litres into the, supposedly, 42 litre tank and that's twenty-odd miles after
>> the range display has dropped past zero.
>>
No idea, I consider quarter full to be a hint that it needs fuel, filling up is less hassle than running out.
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So you have a small tank and make it effectively smaller still by filling up with - what? - 120 miles of range remaining, probably another 60 before you'd even get the fuel warning? Over a 9,000 mile year that makes five more 30-litre fuel stops than if you used those extra 60 miles and bought 36 litres. I suppose if you're retired and your time is your own...
...or are you feeding a secret charcoal habit?
};---)
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In average use the car gets filled up weekly whether it needs it or not. My excuse for not getting involved in the weekly food shop. I really can't get exited about wringing the last few miles out of a tank of fuel.
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The size of the tank on the CT is a bit of a bugbear for me. I'm only getting about 35 litres in on average which can be as often as every 3 days. Not a massive issue but an irritation. A bigger tank would make things a bit more pleasant
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The Outlandish "ran out" of fuel today, i.e. 0 miles remaining. 5 miles on I filled it bung full, it took 53.02 litres.
According to the Manuel, the tank is 60 litres.
Armed with this useful knowledge...I am now more likely to run out in future.
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Nothing quite beats the thrill of a game of Fuel Gauge Roulette. Needle resting against the stop, light glowing for the last 30 miles and the petrol station you were gambling on making before the stuff ran out closed on Sunday afternoons.
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>> Nothing quite beats the thrill of a game of Fuel Gauge Roulette. Needle resting against
>> the stop, light glowing for the last 30 miles and the petrol station you were
>> gambling on making before the stuff ran out closed on Sunday afternoons.
>>
Whilst your backside pulses between Half Crown and Threepenny bit!
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You can spice up the game by adding a few extra rules. You mustn't use stations on the wrong side of the road, where there is any sort of queue or if you deem the price too high.
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With a manual gear box you can coast if conditions are favourable but what can you do with a slush box? Foot off the gas , select neutral or just slow down and pray ?
Urban motoring returns well under 300 miles per tank so I have less "spare" in the tank at well under 30mpg.
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The autobox on the V60 automatically selects neutral when you take your foot off the accelerator.
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>> The autobox on the V60 automatically selects neutral when you take your foot off the
>> accelerator.
really? you sure? The revs drop to tick over?
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They certainly did in an S60 D5 Geartronic I had as a courtesy ride in about 2004. Weird experience; my MB diesel auto doesn't do it.
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I don't think it follows that it's in neutral, though it would be possible since the box is electrically actuated.
The Honda 4 speed auto I had 13 years ago was quite smart at changing down when going downhill for example, off throttle. The last thing you'd want in those circumstances is to freewheel. I had a Saab with a freewheel and tried it, it was terrifying.
The advice with all TC autos used to be, maybe still is, that the driven wheels must be raised for towing. I took that to mean that coasting was not good for them.
Perhaps OK in short bursts, I imagined that it was to do with heat build up in the fluid.
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you really dont want revs dropping to idle and into neutral during driving, throttle pick up is reduced and its dangerous on descents.
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I really didn't like it in that S60. More recent Volvo autos I've driven (V70, V40, C70) didn't do it.
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My car has a "countdown to empty" on the instrument panel and it will go into minus figures without running out-got full can in boot.
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>> >> The autobox on the V60 automatically selects neutral when you take your foot off
>> the
>> >> accelerator.
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>> really? you sure? The revs drop to tick over?
>>
You have to turn on Eco mode, but yeah, it puts the box into neutral when you lift off above 30mph. It's inhibited on steep slopes or if you touch the brake. Pickup again from idle is pretty much instantaneous.
You have to take your foot off the accelerator completely, though. It actually selects neutral so revs drop to tickover, not just 1200 or so like autos of old with no lockup.
Last edited by: Fursty Ferret on Mon 21 Dec 15 at 11:44
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>> With a manual gear box you can coast if conditions are favourable but what can
>> you do with a slush box? Foot off the gas , select neutral or just
>> slow down and pray ?
I once famously overtook a fellow competitor on an unobserved economy run, downhill.
I was in neutral with the engine off, he was in an auto.
Some folk can bear a grudge for over forty years!
Last edited by: bathtub tom on Mon 21 Dec 15 at 16:49
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>> With a manual gear box you can coast if conditions are favourable but what can
>> you do with a slush box? Foot off the gas , select neutral or just
>> slow down and pray ?
With the Jazz, lift off and the toque convertor drives the engine. at 800rpm. You get convertor slip so accelerate down hills.
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Oops - WillDeBeest
