Fuel Tank

[EWT]

Hi Guys,

I noticed something very interesting today. Last week when my tanks were very low (red line) range was only like 29Km (I know i shouldn't have left that low, but couldn't find one at that time) i put in 52.xx Litre of petrol into the tank from a BP servo.

Today It wasn't even redline, but close with range around 100Km and I put in 53Litre of V power.

Just wondering if its a doggy shell servo that i went or sometimes the gauge can be out (which is not likely right??) I had always been adding my petrol at that shell there for years.

What are your thoughts?

[Idle]

Might be nothing wrong at all — the car's metering is at best an estimate that varies with the camber of the road, the amount you put in can vary from pump to pump depending on the angle the car is on and the sensitivity of the pump's auto shutoff.

The only way to get an even reasonably accurate measurement is to always fill from the same pump, have the car in the same position and always fill to the same level (trickle the last bit into the tank until you can actually see fuel) — this applies even more to TDI's, where a fast fill will leave you with a lot of foam when the pump triggers off.

I find I can get up to four or five litres more diesel into the tank after the pump shuts off by using a slow flow to break down the foam.

You might occasionally find an out-of-kilter pump, but in most States there are regulations, random checks and severe penalties for major errors, so it's fairly rare.

[kennyc]

I can't remeber how many liters i put in last week but i did not have much left in my car and filled up from BP and i could only manage like 55 odd liters in the tank before i was struggling to fit more in.

[cameronp]

I can't remeber how many liters i put in last week but i did not have much left in my car and filled up from BP and i could only manage like 55 odd liters in the tank before i was struggling to fit more in.

Given that it's nominally a 55-litre tank, you're unlikely to ever fit more that in it

The Golf trip computer's distance-to-empty seems to place me a lot closer to actually having an empty tank than some other cars do.

[kennyc]

Given that it's nominally a 55-litre tank, you're unlikely to ever fit more that in it

The Golf trip computer's distance-to-empty seems to place me a lot closer to actually having an empty tank than some other cars do.

I actually have not read now many liters the tank is, i did assume it was over 60 liters though...

[nau]

lets put it that way
I think Current affairs will have something to talk about if they do random test on patrol stations

I had 57l in 55l tank ones..... and pretty close to 55 on few occasions whn I had a bit left... not sure how patrol station work and if they do calibration now and then...

[Brian916]

Looking at a fuel receipt I have after filling the GTi before a 200km trip.... car was on 1/4 tank so I filled it. And kept filling till it would take no more - this is safe to do IF you are going to drive 50 - 100km immediately. And it was VERY cold too... 1.5 according to the temp guage.

So, with 1/4 of a tank on the guage, and 200km theoretical range, I managed to put 56l in the tank. I guess the filler neck and expansion space are huge on the Golf. Assuming the guage is nearly correct, I had about 12l left, so with the 56 I put in, that's 68l I can have for a long trip. Should give nearly 1000km easy, maybe more depending on terrain.

No, I would not recomend people do this if they are driving to/from work only as it will damage the emission systems and other sensors on the car. In fact, I will probably never do this again due to the danger of not being able to travel the distance needed in one go to recreate the expansion space..

Oh yeah, the 50l capacity is from the brochure - I think the fuel flap says different?

[Corey_R]

The Golf petrol tank is 55L on all models except the R which is 60L. Seems hard to believe that you could put 68L into a 55L tank, even accounting for the filler neck etc...

[Brian916]

The Golf petrol tank is 55L on all models except the R which is 60L. Seems hard to believe that you could put 68L into a 55L tank, even accounting for the filler neck etc...

Which is why I said 'assuming the gauge is correct'. 1/4 of a tank, to use the magic escape word, 'should' be around 12l. If the fuel light had come on, thats supposed to be 5 - 7 l, which makes the trickle fill a more acceptable 61 - 63l, as there is usally 10% space for expansion of fuel, pluse a couple of l available in a filler neck - my old series 1 discovery would click off at the pump, then I could trickle another 20l into it, but you need to remember that the diesel had to defoam and then I could fill to totally full for long trips.

What I'd like to know then is why the brochure says 50l if it's 55? I'm wondering if it's a miss interpretatation of the stuff from VW. A hunt around in the forum showed me a sticker on a Mk VI golf that says 55l AND 7l reserve which means I'm pretty well on the money for having 10l left in the tank.

It's no big deal really, just an observation.

Oh, and if I can believe the 'distance to empty' I'm going to travel around 890km on this tank of fuels

[Corey_R]

I'm not sure man.
I have the following brochures which all say 55L:
Golf Oct 2009
Golf Dec 2009
Golf Sep 2010
Golf Oct 2010
Golf GTI Oct 2009
Golf Wagon Feb 2010
Golf Wagon Oct 2010