How many gallons in tank

I vented my tank and I am trying to figure out how many gallons it will hold when filling to the top of the neck. I know this may be a guess since we usually always have fuel in the tank when we get to the pump. I just want to know if I can push it a few more miles.

Thanks,

AUG

Fully vented, I believe the tank should around 17 gallons.

It's usually always about 17.

Just keep driving until you are out of fuel. You will find out.

You can drive with the gauge on empty for quite a while.

thanks guys

When the light goes on, you have about 2.5 gallons of fuel, give or take. You can use at least 1.5 gallons of that. I have gone 60 miles after the light goes on.

Yup 16.9-17 is what I have heard.

I always try to fill up <50 miles after the light goes off, typically filling after 40-50 miles. The least distance I have ever heard of a car making it after the light went off was a little over 50 miles. Don't know what was going on there.

Realistically, based on that I rarely get over 15 gallons in after driving 50 miles post-light, my car has at least 2.5 gallons left when the light goes off, maybe more like 3 gallons. But I think there are small differences between cars.

50 miles is very safe, 70-80 and I would be sweating it, but you can probably go 100 if you want to get into the 800 or 900 mile club.

Don't try stretching it unless you have spare fuel on board and a Mity Vac to purge the lines. And if you run out, be prepared to drain the filter because you will stir sediment when sloshing the sump of the tank.

Since you have an auto, as do I, 50 miles after the LFL goes on may be pressing your luck too far. Mileage varies considerably between the manuals and the automatic transmissions. I've gone 30 miles after the with the LFL one time during the Summer. It took 16.4 gallons IIRC.

I've always used 17 (for my 2003 Golf) when I calculate the current percentage of biodiesel in a blend, I forget where I read that number, it was here and referenced some VW spec. Ventectomy was the very first thing I did to the car.

AUGSX said:

I vented my tank and I am trying to figure out how many gallons it will hold when filling to the top of the neck. ..

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I've never seen a fuel pump yet that didn't tell you how many gallons you have pumped, and most of them these days go to the thousandth.

If you bother to keep the receipt, it should have that information on it also.

I also figure that you have a while after the low fuel light goes on. I tried an experiment after mine went on once, and went 125 miles before it stopped going up a hill. That was nearly 100% highway, at 55mph, in the summer with no a/c. And it was a manual. Please note that I don't recommend this method of experimentation, as it is really hard on the pump and starter to run it dry.

Other cars vary, and there has been a thread on this site that detailed how to set the level at which the light goes on, so YMMV.

I know how much I have pumped into the tank and I know pumps tell you how much you pump. Thanks but that was not my question.

Powder Hound said:

I've never seen a fuel pump yet that didn't tell you how many gallons you have pumped, and most of them these days go to the thousandth.

If you bother to keep the receipt, it should have that information on it also.

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Wow, talk about a rude answer.

Sure there is a PURCHASED amount on the slip, but it doesn't magiclly know how much is already in the tank. Unless you show up with zero fuel left in the tank. The slip is useless.

Oh, I don't know. Using the slip will remind you of fuel consumption, what the needle is doing, and how the indicator on the fuel gauge compares to what is really going into the tank.

Besides, the answer wasn't rude so much as sarcastic.

The topic of how big the tank is has been beat to death. Volkswagen AG makes one size tank for all that year's cars, and probably doesn't change it for that body style and generation, yet there's lots of different answers to how large the tank 'really' is.

OK, if you really really want the definitive answer, there's one and only one way of doing it, since it has been established by others that the low fuel light turns on at different times.

1) drive until the low fuel light turns on.
2) Stop driving at that point.
3) disconnect the fuel line coming from the tank at the fuel filter (since that is probably the most convenient point.
4) suck out all the fuel in the tank. This will tell you exactly how much is available to the engine when the light goes on.
5) pour that fuel back into the tank.
6) drive to a station and fill the tank to the level you are accustomed to using.
7) Addition will tell you everything you want to know.
8) enjoy the fact that you don't have to wonder and read other peoples guesses or rude answers from persons such as myself.

remapping the fuel gauge

I have vented my tank and have noticed that my gauge doesn't move very consistently. I was wondering if there is a way to remap it with the adjusted volume of the tank or if i just have to deal with the inconsistency. or should i have someone check out the fuel sending unit?

It won't read past 55L, but you can calibrate it if you want.

The fuel sender has to be precisely in the correct position, the fuel tank totally dry, and then you add 7L from graduated cylinders or some reasonably accurate measuring tool. Then the gauge is checked and adjusted until the needle is right at the warning threshold and the block shows 7L.

I found I needed only +1 to the correction, and the needle moves very consistently, except at the top (when the fuel is past the float's maximum reporting point).

It's probably more of a pain than what it's worth unless you're changing fuel senders.

thanks for the speedy response. really appreciate it. maybe the fact that its been...pretty much 0 is the reason my mileage is kinda down a little bit.

The first two replies were exactly what I was looking for but thank you for adding your opinion and rude / sarcastic reply. If it bothered you so much why not just move on to the next thread.

Keith_J said:

When the light goes on, you have about 2.5 gallons of fuel, give or take. You can use at least 1.5 gallons of that. I have gone 60 miles after the light goes on.

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Ive gone 80 miles regularly on my 2003 Jetta, 104 miles was the max without running out of fuel.

eb2143 said:

(snip) Realistically, based on that I rarely get over 15 gallons in after driving 50 miles post-light, my car has at least 2.5 gallons left when the light goes off, maybe more like 3 gallons. But I think there are small differences between cars. (snip)

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__. As I've written (in most of the 47 other threads exactly like this), the point that the "ding" and light comes on is adjustable and like most things adjustable, it's usually adjusted wrong. I had a chance to fill up my '02 sedan within a mile or so of the ding about half a dozen times - each time was 14.9 gallons. My wagon (and MzLauraLee's - also an '03) seems to burn lower into the tank (maybe about 15.7 or so) but I've been topping up where fuel is cheapest in the last year and a half or so, not burning down to full tanks so I haven't been able to get a precise idea.

__. If an A4 Jetta sedan or Golf is "dry", it takes about 17 gallons to fill, based on a number of experiments that people have done. The Jetta wagon *seems* to hold a bit more (maybe .1 or .2 gallons) but there is not good data on this. The NB hasn't been measured enough to get reliable data either. (According to the parts books, all these models use the same part numbers for tanks, etc [the filler on the NB is different but similar enough so that it shouldn't make a differenct to capacity] but for some reason, they seem to work diffently in wagons.)

__. Do a search for more info. There's good data in the archives.

squire89 said:

I have vented my tank and have noticed that my gauge doesn't move very consistently. ...

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It has got to have something to do with the arc of a float and the way it is connected to a resistor that drives the fuel gauge. Or the shape of the tank itself. I do know that when my vented tank is fully filled, half the miles in that tank is right at one tick above half on the gauge. So yeah, the second half seems to go a lot quicker than the first, because it does.