Another 1000 mile tank

The low fuel light came on at 898 miles so I was pretty much obligated to go for the 1000. The total was 1001 miles on 16.26 gallons or 61.5 mpg. This was the first time after getting the 6-speed that I kept my foot out of the throttle and knocked the speed down a bit. The tank was driven at indicated 67-68 mph which is really more like 62-63 mph. My odometer is reads about 2% high, I guess I didn't technically go 1000 miles but it appears I had enough fuel to go 20 more miles so I would've made it. For some reason the 6-speed signal must be slightly different than the 5-speed. Anyone else noticed this? I'm pretty impressed with this milage at that speed. I used to have to drive just under 60 mph to get that kind of milage. The previous tank I got 58 mph going indicated 72 mph. I wonder how it would do going indicated 60 mph. 60 is about as slow as you want to go in 6th gear.

Technically you DID go 1001 miles. Although our speedo's are over-optomistic, typically the odometers are very accurate if tire sizes are stock. Just because your speedo reads "fast" doesn't mean the odometer is racking extra miles.

By the way, CONTRATS! I miss the mileage from the ol A4.

MyAvocation said:

Technically you DID go 1001 miles. Although our speedo's are over-optomistic, typically the odometers are very accurate if tire sizes are stock. Just because your speedo reads "fast" doesn't mean the odometer is racking extra miles.

By the way, CONTRATS! I miss the mileage from the ol A4.

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__. Yeah, you're right about the odo's being much more accurate than the speedo's but they can vary a bit. My stock tires seemed to give me an odo reading of 98.7 miles per 100 miles driven* (i.e. I actually went 1013 for every 1000 miles shown on the odo) and when I went to MX4-Series * Michelins, it was 99.4-5 (so it was 1005 miles traveled for every 1000 miles shown). But that's nothing compared to the 5-7% variation in speedo at 60-65 mph.

(*That's off the roadside mile markers late at night, driving consistently for 100 miles and in the right lane. I didn't have a lot of faith in that as a totally accurate way to measure, but 3-4 trials proved quite repeatable.)

__. Oh, yeah, welcome to the Club, Marcus. Going 102 miles after the light proves to me that you're wearing loose trousers! And I've never heard of someone going 102 miles and still having about .8 gallons of fuel left. My '02 sedan did it's first 1000 mile tank and I drove about 60 miles after the light and it took 16.2 -- and I was sweating that. But that car consistently took about 14.9 gallons to fill if I filled just when the light had come on. I'd guess your light is coming on a little earlier.

Guys read carefully, it appears he believes his odo is off because of the 6-speed

Nice job on the tank, I'm going for 900 next tank.

Odometer accuracy

I did check my odometer twice. First against Mile markers on 100 Miles long stretch of I-95 and a second time against GPS and in both cases the odometer was showing about 1.4% less distance then actually traveled distance. At the same time my speedometer is about 3% too optimistic

I did a 900 today with the longer fifth, I bow to your six speed.

__. What is the 6-speed, Marcus? Did you convert this car? What's the tranny out of? What's the final drive ratio? How does it drive? And about what was the bill$$$??? If the whole thing was transferred, it would seem likely to me that the road-speed-sensor would be appropriate to the transmission, tire rolling-ratio etc. But I don't know exactly what setup you have.

I haven't tested the odometer for 100 miles against the mile markers, I think it was more like 20 miles. It read about 0.4 miles too many. A longer test would be better to be more accurate. I haven't heard of any one else noticing the error, but maybe they just haven't checked it. My set up is an ERF which isn't quite as tall the DRW. The trans. would have come from a PD130 or PD150. I did do the swap myself. I'm not exactly sure what I have in it, I'm guessing between $2000-$2500. Maybe I'm better off not adding it up! At indicated 70 mph it reads a shade over 1900 rpm. Going off of GPS, at 70 mph I'm really going closer to 65 mph. Seems to me before the swap it was more like 2-3 mph fast. One thing that makes it read somewhat higher are my worn out tires. I have 50k on OEM Conti's. The transmission is pretty awsome. It's great cruising at such low rpm's. Fuel economy doesn't seem to be near as sensitive when speed goes up. I have RC4 so it still pulls just fine in top gear.

I was a little nervous about going that far with the light on but this was the 3rd time I've done it and I've always had "plenty" of fuel left.

marcusku said:

(snip) I was a little nervous about going that far with the light on but this was the 3rd time I've done it and I've always had "plenty" of fuel left.

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__. Thanks for info on transmission. Sounds like a truly awesome swap. Do I gather that you bought the transmission in Europe and had it shipped to the US?

__. I haven't driven my wagon to get a really good idea, but with my sedan I filled up about five times within a mile or two of the light coming on. Every time it took 14.9 gallons (within a hair) to fill -- that's ventectomied and carefully waiting for foam to go down. Since most people who have filled A4's (OK, at least Jetta sedans and Golfs; I don't think there have been enough NB or Jetta wagon data points) have found that a "dry" tank will hold 17.0 gallons (within a hair), that meant that my tank was set with 2.1 gallons in the tank when the light came on. So, I should have been good for ~130 miles after the light but I never got closer than 16.2 once and 16.3 another time. And I was sweatin' bullets then! Sounds as if you may have as much as 2.5 gallons left when the light comes on.

marcusku said:

. I have RC4 so it still pulls just fine in top gear.

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Now the truth comes out,
What injectors, and turbo are you running? (if VNT-20 or hybrid, whos?)

woofie2 said:

Now the truth comes out,
What injectors, and turbo are you running? (if VNT-20 or hybrid, whos?)

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I'm running a VNT-17 and PP520's. I've found it to be a nice set up though for some reason at WOT the computer cuts at 3800 rpm...still working with Jeff to get this resolved.

mrGutWrench said:

__. Thanks for info on transmission. Sounds like a truly awesome swap. Do I gather that you bought the transmission in Europe and had it shipped to the US?

__. I haven't driven my wagon to get a really good idea, but with my sedan I filled up about five times within a mile or two of the light coming on. Every time it took 14.9 gallons (within a hair) to fill -- that's ventectomied and carefully waiting for foam to go down. Since most people who have filled A4's (OK, at least Jetta sedans and Golfs; I don't think there have been enough NB or Jetta wagon data points) have found that a "dry" tank will hold 17.0 gallons (within a hair), that meant that my tank was set with 2.1 gallons in the tank when the light came on. So, I should have been good for ~130 miles after the light but I never got closer than 16.2 once and 16.3 another time. And I was sweatin' bullets then! Sounds as if you may have as much as 2.5 gallons left when the light comes on.

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I got the trans. from Europe and sourced all the other parts needed for the swap here in the states.

It's been awhile since I noted how many gallons went in right when the light came on. Seems to me it was more like 14.6-14.7. I always fill to until there is liquid fuel to the brim. I was surprized when I could only get 16.2 gallons to go in on this last tank. I got a normal amount of miles after moving from the "1/1" on the following tank so I have no reason to think that it wasn't full. I think I was getting really good fuel economy for that last 100 miles. I was extra carefull to get good mpg's to ensure I wouldn't run out. I have an ETG so I have an idea how much load is on the engine as various speeds. I'm not sure if that exactly translates to fuel economy but it gives me some idea I believe.

marcusku said:

I got the trans. from Europe and sourced all the other parts needed for the swap here in the states.

It's been awhile since I noted how many gallons went in right when the light came on. Seems to me it was more like 14.6-14.7. I always fill to until there is liquid fuel to the brim. I was surprized when I could only get 16.2 gallons to go in on this last tank. I got a normal amount of miles after moving from the "1/1" on the following tank so I have no reason to think that it wasn't full. I think I was getting really good fuel economy for that last 100 miles. I was extra carefull to get good mpg's to ensure I wouldn't run out. I have an ETG so I have an idea how much load is on the engine as various speeds. I'm not sure if that exactly translates to fuel economy but it gives me some idea I believe.

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__. Yeah, it sounds as if you did indeed have about .8 of a gallon of fuel in the tank. Good driving to do 1000 miles - it's all about long-term economy and enjoyment, but that's a great tank!

__. I figure that if an owner knows pretty much how much is left in his tank and how far he can go, that's better than blindly following numbers in the owner's manual. As I frequently say "anything that can be adjusted will often be found to be mis-adjusted". Sounds as if you know your car well and have figgered out how to use it.