Petrol Tank

[EmmaG]

Hi,

Does anybody know approx how many miles you have left when the petrol light starts to flash?

This is for a 1.3 Yaris

Thanks

[Bibbs]

On most cars it's a gallon ..

[EmmaG]

Hi Bibbs,

Thanks for that mega speedy response.

[Chappers]

How many miles in a gallon?! ;)

[Bibbs]

How many miles in a gallon?! ;)

for me about 20 .. :( for your guys about 40 .. :)

[Chappers]

for me about 20 .. :( for your guys about 40 .. :)

20!... Suppose it beats the GT40 on 11

[jaxx]

yeah you have roughly 40miles although i believe when the gauge goes off completely you still have roughly 25miles on reserve

[vmail]

as soon as it starts flashing you should fill up, and not leave it to the last minute (I managed to get 60 miles on reserve, that is because I wasnt driving as I usually do)

[jaxx]

ideally you should drop below 25% capacity to stop the engine dragging in any crap

[Chappers]

ideally you should drop below 25% capacity to stop the engine dragging in any crap

should or shouln't?

[jaxx]

SHOULDNT! :P

[Chappers]

Haha, thought so

I dont go below quarter (mostly)..

[dolce vita]

In theory, wouldn't it be better to always run down the tank to the reserve to prevent the accumulation of crap in the tank? Seems like you're just allowing it to get worse if you don't flush it out through the engine every time.

Just a thought.

[Viper_7]

Yup...good comments there...never let it run down to low if you can.

Also in winter...keep her full when ever you can...as this stops any condensation build up inside the tank....tank is steel...water and steel = rust...hence the crap in the bottom of ya tank!

Trouble is...fuel is weight.... much denser than water...perhaps 50% more so?? dunno just a guess so a full tank could mean an extra 75 Kilo's or so...not insignificant!

However.....this is not as important these days...fuel is better refined so there's less impuritities in it.....but it still contains water....and it's really this that does the damage.

If you really want to be keen...avoid using a garage that has recently received a delivery....as the garages own tanks will be shaken up...and there's plenty of crap in there!

Vipes

[alanbradley]

Yup...good comments there...never let it run down to low if you can.

Also in winter...keep her full when ever you can...as this stops any condensation build up inside the tank....tank is steel...water and steel = rust...hence the crap in the bottom of ya tank!

Trouble is...fuel is weight.... much denser than water...perhaps 50% more so?? dunno just a guess so a full tank could mean an extra 75 Kilo's or so...not insignificant!

However.....this is not as important these days...fuel is better refined so there's less impuritities in it.....but it still contains water....and it's really this that does the damage.

If you really want to be keen...avoid using a garage that has recently received a delivery....as the garages own tanks will be shaken up...and there's plenty of crap in there!

Vipes

Hi Vipes,

I don't mean to question you as you obviously know your stuff, but would fuel (petrol or diesel) not be less dense than water as oil floats on top of water?

Feel free to correct me...

Cheers,

Alan

[Viper_7]

no..you are right! I got it all ***** about face!...

If you take Water as 1 g/ml , then petrol is 0.7g/ml

now...let me get back to this bottle of wine!

but.... still weight... or Mass if you drive in Space.... or is that back to front too?!Vipes

[SuperRetard]

Hmmm... I just rely on the inline fuel filters! ;)

But I hear what you're saying with the full tank thing... it's something that becomes more apparent on 10yr-old cars tho'...

[jaxx]

some good points here!

indeed fuel is less dense than water, remember its a lot more volatile aswell and is constantly evaporating itself

[yvvan]

Hi,

The biggest reason for not going too low on fuel is that when you drive up- or downhill with an almost empty tank is that your fuelpump will suck in air, and they wear very fast when they're running dry.

The little condensation that forms in a fuel tank is not really a problem for the combustion process, just think of it as a free water-injection setup. ;)

Most modern cars have their fuel tank lined with a plastic these days or even an outright plastic fuel tank, or in the case of the Prius an expandable bladder tank, not much to worry about rust on these. Most of the crap now comes from when you fill it up.

If you really want to be keen...avoid using a garage that has recently received a delivery....as the garages own tanks will be shaken up...and there's plenty of crap in there!

About a year ago a friend and I were given the first chance to take out the left behind equipment from a Peugeot garage that had moved to a new location, my friend wanted the pump from the oil tank, we couldn't get it undone so whe had to bolt the lid from the tank to see where it was stuck, on the bottom of that tank was a layer of bog and crap some 4-5 inches thick. Not sure it's those kind of things dealers think about when they tell you they will take good care of your car.

Cheers, Yves.