600 miles from a tank???

P

Phil Rusted

Member
Just wondered if anyone had managed to crack the 600 mile mark from a tank of fuel?
583 is the best I have to date, not sure how far to push the red section on the fuel guage!
 
577 miles on a 34 litre tank. I'd have thought with a 42 litre tank, that'd be coming up to the 700 mark.

I've gone 66 miles into the reserve, but keep in mind that since each car is slightly different, you don't know exactly how much reserve fuel is available until you've run dry (letting muck & air locks into your fuel system). Also keep in mind that if you are climbing a slope, the fuel will move to the back of the tank, allowing the inlet to suck air. My old A4 used to run dry between 2 - 20 miles into the reserve.

I note that your max refuelling is 36 litres which means that another 6 is available somewhere. Do you 'vent & brim' to get the final 3 litres into your tank? Open the little valve on the right-hand-side with your nozzle when you are refuelling, and it lets the air escape from the expansion tank. Only add the fuel very slowly after the first 'click-off' to allow the foam to die down, until you see it lapping at the very top of the pipe. You should easily be able to manage 600 after doing that.
 
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On the 42 litre tank it seems to me as if when the Defcon 5 klaxon goes off, there is at least 1 gallon /4.5 litres left in the tank, so 60miles in the reserve should be doable. Having said that, the best I've done is 510miles on my 42 litre tank before getting cold feet on the Petrol Station Roulette game, but as you can see from my Fuelly sig, I'm averaging something like 15mpg less than Mike!
 
Yeah.. I have done 580-600 miles just as the siren went off a few times in the past, so I am guessing I could have easily done another 50-60 miles in the red sector, making that close to 640+ miles.
 
I dont usually let my tank get so low but last week the warning came on and i ignored it as i wasnt expecting to make more trips before visiting my usual Tesco. Anyway, the guage itself ended up on empty and my reserve was saying i had 10 miles left when i pulled onto the forecourt. I was definitely getting worried lol. Cant remember how many miles i had done in total though.
 
Has anyone fitted a 42l tank to a 34l tank car ? (Petrol) I suspect I will soon need a new exhaust so was contemplating fitting the later one and getting a bigger tank. I understand that I will prob need a later fuel gauge, Is this a feasible swap ?? Colin.
 
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Colin Shurvell said:
Has anyone fitted a 42l thank to a 34l tank car ? (Petrol) I suspect I will soon need a new exhaust so was contemplating fitting the later one and getting a bigger tank. I understand that I will prob need a later fuel gauge, Is this a feasible swap ?? Colin.
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I don't know about the A2, but some people have fitted an auxiliary fuel tank to other VAG models. It goes in the boot. The false floor in the A2 could be an interesting location to fit one of these.
 
hightower76 said:
How the heck are you all getting that amount of miles I can only get around 360 before the light comes on
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It depends on several factors...
* TDI
* City (stop/go) or motorway driving (MPG in the city will always be poor)
* Length of journey (if your journey is shorter than 15m then your MPG won't be great)
* Terrain (mountains are bad!)
* Cruising speed on the motorway - keep it to 60 and you should hit 70mpg assuming the above factors are also OK.

Take a look at the VW link in my signature.

There are any number of things which will bring down your MPG, such as low temperatures, high winds, roof racks, big wheels (17" rims or wide tyres), low tyre pressures, binding brakes, short trips, city driving, A/C use, and many more.
 
I'm hoping I'll be able to crack averaging over 60MPG pretty soon as a forthcoming job change will see my daily commute change from 40miles a day of trafficjamming to 55miles of going against the traffic motorway cruising... Plus I'm planning to switch to narrower 15s at some point too.
 
I do mucho motorway miles (about 70%) in a rather ill prepared TDi (still no lower engine cover), smaller tank, 185 profile 16-inch wheels running 31 psi all round, not much gearbox oil and I usually stick at 75 mph on the speedo (70mph on the gps) until I'm late due to traffic and then its 80-85 on the Autobahn.....
Last 5 tanks have yielded somewhere between 345 and 380, all being filled to the brim and run beyond the klaxon....

Averaged 57.8 mpg on calculation. Not too bad....i think???

J
 
Hi Jason
I'd say that's pretty good to be honest given your description! That's about what I get too as you can see from my Fuelly.
Dan

Hooley said:
I do mucho motorway miles (about 70%) in a rather ill prepared TDi (still no lower engine cover), smaller tank, 185 profile 16-inch wheels running 31 psi all round, not much gearbox oil and I usually stick at 75 mph on the speedo (70mph on the gps) until I'm late due to traffic and then its 80-85 on the Autobahn.....
Last 5 tanks have yielded somewhere between 345 and 380, all being filled to the brim and run beyond the klaxon....

Averaged 57.8 mpg on calculation. Not too bad....i think???

J
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How can I tell what size tank I have? Its a 2005 tdi and we only get 400 miles before the light comes on! Seems like some people are getting nearly 200 more miles out of a tank, that makes my car look broken!
 
You will have a 42litre tank I'm sure, the change over was in late 2002/early 2003 I seem to recall.
 
Hi Mike.

I am pretty sure that only the 42 litre tanks were fitted after a certain date (2003 maybe?). I could be wrong. The simplest way to find out is to refuel to the brim when it's almost empty and if it takes about, say, 34-36 litres, then it's a 42. If it only takes, say, 26-28 litres, then it's the smaller tank.

400 miles for a 34 is not bad at all, but for a 42, it works out to about 55mpg-ish. Could be down to short, stop-start journeys, fat tyres, thrashing it, etc, etc

IIRC, the sticker in the boot gives you a code for the fuel tank size too.
 
Hooley said:
I do mucho motorway miles (about 70%) in a rather ill prepared TDi (still no lower engine cover), smaller tank, 185 profile 16-inch wheels running 31 psi all round, not much gearbox oil and I usually stick at 75 mph on the speedo (70mph on the gps) until I'm late due to traffic and then its 80-85 on the Autobahn.....
Last 5 tanks have yielded somewhere between 345 and 380, all being filled to the brim and run beyond the klaxon....

Averaged 57.8 mpg on calculation. Not too bad....i think???

J
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How much fuel are you putting in as 345>380 if your putting anywhere above 35Lts in you will be around the 50 mpg's mark than the top end of 50's

Most i've got was 590 miles but that was on 185's, not broke the 500 mile mark with my 215x 17" wheels but i have hit the 62mpgs mark with them on. So now i'm on my winter wheels running 195's should hopefully start getting up to the 60 mpgs again as i've got a lot of long journeys coming up
Phil
 
Lee S said:
Hi Mike.

I am pretty sure that only the 42 litre tanks were fitted after a certain date (2003 maybe?). I could be wrong. The simplest way to find out is to refuel to the brim when it's almost empty and if it takes about, say, 34-36 litres, then it's a 42. If it only takes, say, 26-28 litres, then it's the smaller tank.

400 miles for a 34 is not bad at all, but for a 42, it works out to about 55mpg-ish. Could be down to short, stop-start journeys, fat tyres, thrashing it, etc, etc

IIRC, the sticker in the boot gives you a code for the fuel tank size too.
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Hiya Lee,

Yeah I guess the fat tyres don't help, plus the fact my Mrs probably has fat feet being 8 months pregnant!
 
the grim reeper said:
How much fuel are you putting in as 345>380 if your putting anywhere above 35Lts in you will be around the 50 mpg's mark than the top end of 50's

Most i've got was 590 miles but that was on 185's, not broke the 500 mile mark with my 215x 17" wheels but i have hit the 62mpgs mark with them on. So now i'm on my winter wheels running 195's should hopefully start getting up to the 60 mpgs again as i've got a lot of long journeys coming up
Phil
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Anywhere from 28.5 to 29.4 litres
Depends how brave I'm feeling

J


Posted from my iPlop...
 
Can i just ask how do you know mpg? my a4 has option on the dash but her a2 has not ? unless ive missed it she wont let me use it since i got her it as a presant0_0 well she can keep off mine when i get 1
 
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