3.0si How many litres left when the fuel light comes on?

R

R26Andy

Member
 Newcastle upon Tyne
Does the fuel light on the 3.0si come on too readily?

I found myself in a situation where the light come on (Just above 1/8th of a tank and range 50-60 miles) and I had to go drive and the journey ended up lasting much longer than I expected so I ended up with the computer showing 0miles range. I made it to a petrol station and couldnt believe it when I only managed to get 45 litres into the tank - thats nearly 2.5 gallons and a further 75miles+ of driving!

This means that the fuel light came on when there was 125miles (50 on the trip computer + 75 miles which it had when it thought it was empty) still left in the tank. Is this the same as everyone elses?

Cheers

Andy
 
fuel gauges are ever more pessimistic these days...

our Mazda 2 zooms down the last half of the tank gauge, then starts shouting for fuel when there is about 150 miles still left :o

even when it say 0 miles left you still have about 50...

damn annoying

not noticed it too much in the zed though :?
 
The other day I had about 7 miles left on the range counter ( light comes on at about 60 miles ) I filled the car with a little over 48 litres of petrol.

I have always wondered if the tank is 55l + 8l reserve or if the 8l is part of the 55l ?
 
I once covered about 60 miles with the fuel light on.. and the range indicator said 1 mile left.. however when i filled up it took 53 litres.
 
I'm the same with respect to the light coming on a little over 1/8th left and the miles left reading ~50 miles. Too early IMO.
 
isn't the fuel light distance specific, so it will come on at 50-55 miles regardless of consumption? meaning it may come on earlier if your MPG is particularly low. so it relates it to the distance you have left based on how much your burning??

Am I making sense? coz it makes sense in my head.
 
If the tank / logic is the same as a 3.0i then

Tank Capacity: 55 liters (capacity INCLUDES the reserve amount)
Low Gas Light: 15 liters remaining
'Empty' (unable to calculate range): 8 liters remaining

Note that while it is good once in a while to burn up any remaining fuel in your tank that may have accumulated moisture (water), it's typically not good to do because the fuel pump is immersed in the fuel tank and gets quite hot. The fuel around the pump helps to passively keep it cool.
 
I'm of the opinion that it's best to fill up before the light comes on anyway, reasoning being to avoid all the accumulated crap in the bottom of the tank from being drawn through and potentially blocking things. Probably being completely over-cautious in this day of modern fuel and filters, etc. but better safe than sorry.

Edit to add: the most I've squeezed in my 3.0i (which I assume has the same fuel tank) is 48.40 litres according to the spreadsheet I keep...
 
a11y said:
the most I've squeezed in my 3.0i (which I assume has the same fuel tank) is 48.40 litres according to the spreadsheet I keep...
Click to expand...

most i have done is 50.83
 
I've had the fuel gauge down to --- a couple of times... it's quite scary :D .

I always do wonder how much further it would go though. I remember the top gear where they drove from France to Blackpool (or somewhere similar) on one tank. I think it said Jeremy's jag still had enough fuel left in the tank for about 100 miles even though the computer was saying "0 miles".

On the other hand though, we have a Citroen Picasso that we use for our day to day dirty jobs, and the range reading on that is bang on, much to mine and my dads suprise on a couple of occasions - It's even ran out of fuel before when the range said 2 miles! :rofl:
 
th30d0r3 said:
isn't the fuel light distance specific, so it will come on at 50-55 miles regardless of consumption? meaning it may come on earlier if your MPG is particularly low. so it relates it to the distance you have left based on how much your burning??

Am I making sense? coz it makes sense in my head.
Click to expand...

I know exactly what you mean and i'm inclined to agree. Although its also possible that the fuel light comes on with XX number of litres regardless but the range is different depending on how you drive it.

I have run my car VERY low on at least 4 occasions, so low that i daren't drive to the petrol station next day to fill up - instead i'll fill up a jerry can and bring it back. In my car it never reaches 0 on the range computer, instead it just goes blank at a certain point. Depending on how you are driving it could be with 4 miles to go or with 15 or so. Obviously it gets to a point where its too hard to accurately judge how much is left. Even driving it off the scale i still haven't run out yet!

The initial fuel light warning is a total joke though, easy 50-60+ miles left when it comes on.
 
Cheers guys looks like mine is normal but one of the more cautious ones. My mpg was 27 at the time.

Just to clarify.

Fuel light came on at 1/8 of a tank, range showing circa 50 miles

I drove around 50miles until the guage was showing empty and range was showing ----

At this point I filled up and it only took 45 litres so there was still 10 litres left in the tank.

Seems way too cautious but even so Im not going to risk it again.

Thanks everyone.

Andy
 
mine this morning, warning light came on at about 1/8 left (50-something on the range)
was only about 2-3 miles from the petrol station where I was already intending to fill up
only got 44.3 litres in

so quite a bit different to R26Andy
 
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