How much fuel left once the fuel warning comes on- MK4s?

I can add at least 2 gallons from first click off to visible in the filler neck.

That is one thing I like about the New Beetles. The filler neck is almost vertical and easy to tell when it is brimmed full.

Lightflyer1 said:

That is one thing I like about the New Beetles. The filler neck is almost vertical and easy to tell when it is brimmed full.

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The Jetta is easy to see when it's finally to the rim, it just takes a few minutes of slow filling to get it there.

My Manuals says 7 ltr. and I drive to the next Station, when the light comes on. In all the years of ownership (13 1/2 years) the light came on 3 or 4 x...

I've ran mind til the needle was on the bottom and I was getting nervous so I filled up. It took 15.6 gals. and I have a ventectomy.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

Vented my wagon holds right around 17 gallons. If I fill right when the low fuel light comes on I add 15.5 usually. So that's a 1.5 gallon reserve, maybe 1.6-7.

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I never really get the opportunity to fill mine right when the low fuel warning coms on, but I did this week. Fuel warning beeped on just as I was rolling into a station on I-90, and the car took 15.34 gallons to fill.

Now, I did have to climb a big hill at the same time, so I may have gotten a few more miles before the light came on IF I had been on level ground. I think on flat ground, or another few miles, it would have easily been 15.5 gallons.

I have put 16.4 gallons in the car before, so that means I have at least 1.1 gallons of "safe" reserve after the low fuel warning comes on.

I think I will stick to my usual 30 miles beyond the low fuel warning, and 50 miles if I absolutely must. At least with 30 miles, I have a larger margin for error...in case I would get stuck in traffic for any reason and could not get to a gas station...LOL.

Rem

well today I ran out of Diesel 76 miles after my low fuel light came on. It took 1.5 gal from a jug, and another 15.1 gallons to fill it to the brim vented at the pump 1.5 miles away. At 46mpg avg. on this tank that calculates out to 1.65 gallons remaining when the light comes on in my car! A 17mm wrench out of my trunk, and about 5 minutes to crack each injector and crank until fuel came out and I was back on the road!

mxracer291 said:

well today I ran out of Diesel 76 miles after my low fuel light came on. It took 1.5 gal from a jug, and another 15.1 gallons to fill it to the brim vented at the pump 1.5 miles away. At 46mpg avg. on this tank that calculates out to 1.65 gallons remaining when the light comes on in my car! A 17mm wrench out of my trunk, and about 5 minutes to crack each injector and crank until fuel came out and I was back on the road!

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Man, thanks for doing the research for everyone!

I think I'll just aim for a max of 50 miles post-fuel-light. I did, however, consider carrying some more fuel and my injector wrench, but I'm not certain it's worth the hassle just to say that I made it into the 800 mile club!

Getting the fuel to the visible point on the Golf(s) is a pain. Now that I just started trying to do this I'm re-thinking whether this too is worth it.

Haha no problem! I think 50 miles is my new safe number now too! It was 80 before!

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

UhOh said:

Man, thanks for doing the research for everyone!

I think I'll just aim for a max of 50 miles post-fuel-light. I did, however, consider carrying some more fuel and my injector wrench, but I'm not certain it's worth the hassle just to say that I made it into the 800 mile club!

Getting the fuel to the visible point on the Golf(s) is a pain. Now that I just started trying to do this I'm re-thinking whether this too is worth it.

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You are vented, right? Shouldn't be too hard to get it to the visible point in filler neck, although I guess the fuels I use don't foam much.

I don't know what this has proved. It has been known for some time that there was about 1.8 gallons left. I start looking for a place to fill when the light comes on. I easily get 600 to 650 miles at that point. No point running it near empty unless you have to. One thing I like about the Beetles is the filler neck is almost vertical, easy to get full and topped off.

SFHGolfTDI said:

You are vented, right? Shouldn't be too hard to get it to the visible point in filler neck, although I guess the fuels I use don't foam much.

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Yeah, my Golf (and the previous Jetta) aren't bad to fill to the brim, but I don't think my usual fuel foams up all that much. Once the pump shuts off on it's own, it usually takes me about four more fills-to-foam until it settles with clear fuel at the filler cap. Maybe a couple extra minutes.

With the tank vented, I REALLY like the range of these cars. I'm on the highway all the time, and usually burn about 4 tanks of fuel per month @ 50mpg. For me, it's kind of cool to be able to cover my entire work territory, and almost always buy my diesel at the same station. I can drive 400 miles away, and then 400 miles back, and fill-up at my usual spot.

I had an 09 Mk4 Golf (2.0L gas 5spd) that I used for work for a while, and the very best it ever got was a little over 30mpg with a 400 mile or so range, and I had to go easy on it to get that.

I just love the MPG and fuel range of these old ALH TDI cars.

Rembrant said:

Yeah, my Golf (and the previous Jetta) aren't bad to fill to the brim, but I don't think my usual fuel foams up all that much. Once the pump shuts off on it's own, it usually takes me about four more fills-to-foam until it settles with clear fuel at the filler cap. Maybe a couple extra minutes.

With the tank vented, I REALLY like the range of these cars. I'm on the highway all the time, and usually burn about 4 tanks of fuel per month @ 50mpg. For me, it's kind of cool to be able to cover my entire work territory, and almost always buy my diesel at the same station. I can drive 400 miles away, and then 400 miles back, and fill-up at my usual spot.

I had an 09 Mk4 Golf (2.0L gas 5spd) that I used for work for a while, and the very best it ever got was a little over 30mpg with a 400 mile or so range, and I had to go easy on it to get that.

I just love the MPG and fuel range of these old ALH TDI cars.

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Once the pump clicks for me, I just go at a slower trickle with the fuel (if your pump will allow) with the nozzle pulled halfway out so I can watch for it. Some pumps will automatically shut off if you pull out like that, but if you put a finger on a small hole near the bottom end of the nozzle, it will let you keep filling and decrease the foam. too.

SFHGolfTDI said:

Once the pump clicks for me, I just go at a slower trickle with the fuel (if your pump will allow) with the nozzle pulled halfway out so I can watch for it. Some pumps will automatically shut off if you pull out like that, but if you put a finger on a small hole near the bottom end of the nozzle, it will let you keep filling and decrease the foam. too.

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Yeah, I pull the pump nozzle almost all the way out, and then fill the last bit pretty slowly. I really don't mind, it only takes a minute or two. It keeps my fill-ups really consistent as well.

I use the car pumps most of the time though. The big nozzles on the truck pumps take a little more patience. I had to use one 2 days ago. Our stations typically have only one diesel pump...with a car nozzle on one side, and a big truck nozzle on the other.

Not sure why, but it seems like I'm getting more foam than others are. I think that I re-clicked about 4 times before giving up (and getting some fuel to splash back at me). I fill containers fairly regularly for my tractor, so I'm no stranger to working the pump to get max fuel. I'm just not certain that the extra fiddling is worth a small amount of additional fuel.

Personally, I have never done a ventecomy on any of my TDI's. MPG is the same and I still get plenty of range, compared to most others anyways. If I regularly needed to have the extra range on-tap I'd do it in a second but... I can count on one hand the times when I wished I could go a few more miles before fillup. The rest of the time, the extra miles just aren't needed and filling up a day earlier isn't an inconvenience.

I recently ran my 2003 Golf dry... I thought I was close enough to home when the light came on, but the engine stopped three miles shy. That was about 80 miles after the light came on, yet I remember driving further than that in the past. Difference this time was extra passenger, loaded with gear, driving fast, and A/C was on.

As noted, a dry fuel system will not start, a couple of the lines need to be cracked to burp the air out, and let the fuel reach the injectors. My 17mm wrench wasn't convenient, but the tow truck was...

About 17.5 gallons to fill it... yes, car had a ventectomy.

When I had my 2002 Jetta TDI, I figured each mark on the fuel gauge represented 7.5 liter or 2 US gallons.

I'm waiting to pick up my '06 sedan (dealer is doing a timing belt before I get it)... and I'm doing some research here on the forums.

Reading through this and some other threads, I'm realizing I have a lot of lingo, info to learn and some mental 'gears' to shift.

I'm buying my '06 to use as a work car. I'm an independent contract Courier, so I'm looking for long term durability, FE and 'bang for the buck.' The car will be a rolling office, and is going to replace an 07 Prius.

I'm and old hand at the 'fuel light lottery' game. My best tank in the Prius over the past 3.25 yrs was 580 miles. Keep in mind that the gen 2 Prius has a fuel bladder, not a tank. Full on the gauge means anywhere from 7.5-9.6 gallons. I generally didn't go more than 40 miles once the light was on. I suppose given the larger tank in the '06 that'll translate to 60-80 miles.

Stay safe out there! See you on the boards!

Ned

With my 2000 Jetta auto, I filled up in almost Chicago (Meriville, IN) and made it almost home to Commack, NY (Jericho, NY) when I ran out at 808 miles! I drove to a station right by the on ramp of the interstate so everything was already warmed up (Coolant, oil, trans, bearings & me!) filled it right to the top of the neck and jumped onto the highway. It was cool out so I kept my windows up, A/C off, and had my tires up to 45 psi. If I didn't get stuck in rush hour stop & go traffic at the tunnel into NYC I would have made it home! But alas I came up 20 miles short. And it's no joke trying to get it primed when you've sucked it dry! I got it to start by removing the temp bypass valve from the filter and filling the filter manually. It still took alot of cranking, and as someone else said... I swore I would never do that again (and I haven't, but I have gotten close!). Besides acheiving the proverbial '800 mile tank', the thing I remember is driving almost 200 miles until the fuel gauge pointed exactly at the 'F' mark! That sucker was pinned on over-full for over 100 miles! I drove 60 on the flats, 65 downhill and crested the hills doing 55 mph. Needless to say I was the slowest thing on I-80.

I recently rung up a 800 mile tank on the third Golf. However, MY Golf just ran up the most impressive tank we've had in any of our cars: my car is recently back from the body shop and is now even more impressive! Ran down south to catch the eclipse. Got stuck in LOTS of traffic coming back home (despite my attempts at trying to time things). I figured that any hopes of achieving a "best tank" were out the window so I pretty much drove like I didn't care anymore. After getting back home and the wife driving it to work and back it was time to fill the tank. I drove it a bit and after 800 miles the fuel light still wasn't on! 56.4 mpg! Pretty sure that things will moderate a bit with the current tank, though I don't think it'll moderate all that much. I can only imagine what FE I'd have gotten if we hadn't hit all that traffic (much of the time was taking detours, but those detours rang up lots of stop-and-go driving, lots of accelerating).