Aliens In The Tank?

[GrahamST]

Hello all, this is our first post, but we've been lurking for a while now!

My partner has had a new IQ (since December 2009) and tells me that she believes that there might be aliens drinking the fuel!

The situation is that with a full tank, it takes approx 100 miles on the trip meter for the first "block" out of the four on the fuel gauge to disappear, and then only 50 miles for the second "block" to disappear.

She has not yet used the third "block", but will let me know how many miles it takes.

This is not the first tank of fuel used since December, but the first time she has been noting the number of miles per "block" on the fuel gauge!

Does anyone have any views or opinions on this?

Thanks,

GrahamST

[LA-LA]

The alien has a "problem" with the height of the tank.

The flat one is "only" 12 cm. So the blocks - to be on the "save" side - are blinking as early as possible to avoid missing the petrol station in countries with long distances between the pumps.

If two blocks are blinking you can drive on for one hour in highest speed. :P

[pterostigma]

Hello all, this is our first post, but we've been lurking for a while now!

My partner has had a new IQ (since December 2009) and tells me that she believes that there might be aliens drinking the fuel!

The situation is that with a full tank, it takes approx 100 miles on the trip meter for the first "block" out of the four on the fuel gauge to disappear, and then only 50 miles for the second "block" to disappear.

She has not yet used the third "block", but will let me know how many miles it takes.

This is not the first tank of fuel used since December, but the first time she has been noting the number of miles per "block" on the fuel gauge!

Does anyone have any views or opinions on this?

Thanks,

GrahamST

[pterostigma]

Ignore your blocks on the fuel tank-like all cars they vary a lot depending on the shape of the fuel tank and are only there for a rough guide. On your instrument cluster, press the MODE button until the display shows, for example, 375 miles. This is the computerised capacity of your tank at that moment in time, allowing for your change of fuel consumption when you accelerate. If you leave it on there, fill up when you get to '30 miles' left in the tank-you can go lower but you've got to be sure where your next petrol station is! If you're interested in the fuel consumption, press the MODE button until you see 'AV' appear and you can check your fuel consunption in miles/gallon. I've got my wife alternating between the two quite happy with the results-any problems-come back to me.

[Cyker]

The Yaris (At least my Mk1 one) has a similar thing, although not as extreme :)

Mine also changes quite wildly after the half way mark, being affected by temperature, gradients, camber etc

[jlstrange]

The Yaris (At least my Mk1 one) has a similar thing, although not as extreme :)

Mine also changes quite wildly after the half way mark, being affected by temperature, gradients, camber etc

We leave the "Range" showing on our Lexus all the time now. It shows how far we can expect to go. The warning light comes on when there's about 25 miles left. Very effective feature of Toyotas.

[timcrasher]

Hello all, this is our first post, but we've been lurking for a while now!

My partner has had a new IQ (since December 2009) and tells me that she believes that there might be aliens drinking the fuel!

The situation is that with a full tank, it takes approx 100 miles on the trip meter for the first "block" out of the four on the fuel gauge to disappear, and then only 50 miles for the second "block" to disappear.

She has not yet used the third "block", but will let me know how many miles it takes.

GrahamST

When you fill the tank until the pump cuts out at the filling station, you have filled the tank and the pipework from the tank to the filler cap. The first bar on the gauge will always take more miles to use as you are using the fuel in the pipe, before any of the tank capacity is used. It is a fairly long pipe on the IQ as the tank is under the floor. I would imagine it holds a few litres of fuel.

The rest of the bars on the fuel gauge will be fairly linear, as they are reading just the tank capacity being used at regualar intervals.

Simple really

[johnan]

Ignore your blocks on the fuel tank-like all cars they vary a lot depending on the shape of the fuel tank and are only there for a rough guide. On your instrument cluster, press the MODE button until the display shows, for example, 375 miles. This is the computerised capacity of your tank at that moment in time, allowing for your change of fuel consumption when you accelerate. If you leave it on there, fill up when you get to '30 miles' left in the tank-you can go lower but you've got to be sure where your next petrol station is! If you're interested in the fuel consumption, press the MODE button until you see 'AV' appear and you can check your fuel consunption in miles/gallon. I've got my wife alternating between the two quite happy with the results-any problems-come back to me.

I don't think my iQ2 has a "range" function as one of the display options on the on-board computer, or am I wrong?

[pterostigma]

Ignore your blocks on the fuel tank-like all cars they vary a lot depending on the shape of the fuel tank and are only there for a rough guide. On your instrument cluster, press the MODE button until the display shows, for example, 375 miles. This is the computerised capacity of your tank at that moment in time, allowing for your change of fuel consumption when you accelerate. If you leave it on there, fill up when you get to '30 miles' left in the tank-you can go lower but you've got to be sure where your next petrol station is! If you're interested in the fuel consumption, press the MODE button until you see 'AV' appear and you can check your fuel consunption in miles/gallon. I've got my wife alternating between the two quite happy with the results-any problems-come back to me.

I don't think my iQ2 has a "range" function as one of the display options on the on-board computer, or am I wrong?

You're write-sorry I was thinking of my old Yaris. Plan B then will be to set one of your trip meters to zero (trip A for instance) when you fill up and then drive until you get down to the last block on your fuel tank then note your mileage on trip A. You now know that you have at least that number of miles in the tank before you need to refill. Of course, you don't have to wait until you run down that low before you fill up-you only have to do it once-just remember to reset your trip A to zero each time when you fill up and then you can safely drive to the measured mileage.

[johnan]

You're write-sorry I was thinking of my old Yaris. Plan B then will be to set one of your trip meters to zero (trip A for instance) when you fill up and then drive until you get down to the last block on your fuel tank then note your mileage on trip A. You now know that you have at least that number of miles in the tank before you need to refill. Of course, you don't have to wait until you run down that low before you fill up-you only have to do it once-just remember to reset your trip A to zero each time when you fill up and then you can safely drive to the measured mileage.

Thought for a minute I had an iQ with a not fully functioning trip computer!

Glad to find out it is normal!

I actually use a Scangauge for my fuel/distance and engine monitoring, so I don't really use the in-car gadget except to keep a rough eye on the fuel level and the overall odometer reading.

[Zulley]

The situation is that with a full tank, it takes approx 100 miles on the trip meter for the first "block" out of the four on the fuel gauge to disappear, and then only 50 miles for the second "block" to disappear.

I thought i was getting better mileage last weekend, but not after my last fill up. I put £20 in the other day probably about 18litres, the forth block up gave me 50miles (driving steady, with slight boost at traffic lights, lol) the third block gave me 35miles, 2nd block gave me 30miles, now ive on the blinky block for the past 20 miles.

All in all, about 150miles for £20, thats **** *****. Aliens are in my tank too.

[jlstrange]

All in all, about 150miles for £20, thats **** *****. Aliens are in my tank too.

I'm going with the Alien theory :D