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Technical Twin Air Fuel capacity

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Technical Twin Air Fuel capacity

chas379

chas379

72 Year Old teenager
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Went on a country walk yesterday not far from Goodwood about 27 miles from home. Initially the gauge was showing a quarter of a tank, which I was comfortable with. However we came across a serious accident which resulted in a lengthy diversion.

For the return home and dropping off a friend I was due to cover 30miles. At the onset of the journey the Low Fuel Warning message flashed up and shortly afterwards I was down to the 2 bar indication level on the gauge. The range indicator did not show a figure. I believe it fails to register below 33 miles.

Drove home (Economy Mode) and still showed 2 bars on the gauge. Filled up this morning with 30 litres.

Tank capacity, including 5 litre reserve, is quoted in the manual as 35 litres so all in all I still had the reserve to go at.

Letting the tank reach this low level is not my normal practice as usually fill up when down to a quarter of a tank.

But looking at what took place the end result gave me some comfort as what the mileage capabilities would be if I was ever in that position again.:shrug:
 
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The fuel gauge is designed to scare people into filling their tanks.
The capacity of the Fiat 500's fuel tank is 40 liters so you had plenty of petrol left. Some people on this forum have gone to what 42 all in including the fuel lines etc.

After the two gauge thing you described you still have down to one gauge (which is when the low fuel warning buzzer starts going off) and then you have the 'living life on the edge' style when there is no gauge whatsoever just a blank!
Even at this point id say you have 10-20 miles (depending on your driving) left before you end up on the side of the road! Ive gone down to no bars at all + 10 miles and i put in 39 liters in the tank.
 
ahmett said:
The fuel gauge is designed to scare people into filling their tanks.
The capacity of the Fiat 500's fuel tank is 40 liters so you had plenty of petrol left. Some people on this forum have gone to what 42 all in including the fuel lines etc.

After the two gauge thing you described you still have down to one gauge (which is when the low fuel warning buzzer starts going off) and then you have the 'living life on the edge' style when there is no gauge whatsoever just a blank!
Even at this point id say you have 10-20 miles (depending on your driving) left before you end up on the side of the road! Ive gone down to no bars at all + 10 miles and i put in 39 liters in the tank.
Click to expand...

Looks like the figure of 35 litres, including, the 5 litre reserve, quoted in the handbook really does err on the side of caution.

I did not get a handbook with mine, it's all on CD. Being of the old school I do prefer pages to thumb through.
 
chas379 said:
Looks like the figure of 35 litres, including, the 5 litre reserve, quoted in the handbook really does err on the side of caution.

I did not get a handbook with mine, it's all on CD. Being of the old school I do prefer pages to thumb through.
Click to expand...



haha stingy fiat. what good is a cd if you are stuck on the side of the road??
they want you to pay for your own ink!
if i was ordering one now i would say i want a printed copy with the car please.
my car salesman in greece was kind enough to supply me with an english language booklet without me asking for one.
 
chas379 said:
Went on a country walk yesterday not far from Goodwood about 27 miles from home. Initially the gauge was showing a quarter of a tank, which I was comfortable with. However we came across a serious accident which resulted in a lengthy diversion.

For the return home and dropping off a friend I was due to cover 30miles. At the onset of the journey the Low Fuel Warning message flashed up and shortly afterwards I was down to the 2 bar indication level on the gauge. The range indicator did not show a figure. I believe it fails to register below 33 miles.

Drove home (Economy Mode) and still showed 2 bars on the gauge. Filled up this morning with 30 litres.

Tank capacity, including 5 litre reserve, is quoted in the manual as 35 litres so all in all I still had the reserve to go at.

Letting the tank reach this low level is not my normal practice as usually fill up when down to a quarter of a tank.

But looking at what took place the end result gave me some comfort as what the mileage capabilities would be if I was ever in that position again.:shrug:
Click to expand...

I have on 2 ocassions had to drive in the 'no range' mode on the 500 and can testify that the 33 miles (on the 1.4) is a 'real' figure. On one ocassion when the car 'stopped' coming into the Garage I realised that I had 'cut it too close'. I had come off a dual carriageway which was clearly marked as a 'no stopping' zone. Petrol attendant mentioned that one car on a regular basis runs out of petrol on that particular dual carriageway (it's hilly & gets heavy traffic) and the tow charge is €80. :eek: I learned my lesson and now error on the 'safe side'. At least the tank on the 500 is plastic compared with the problems associated with the metal tanks of old.
 
I Managed to run out once in my old 1.2 Lounge, Got to 2 bars about 10 miles before arriving at the NEC, left the NEC drove into Birminghaqm for a Sushi Lunch, then up the A38 looking for a not too exhorbitent station, was in the outside land of the A38 when it coughed and died, managed to coast to the side and into a side road, 45Min walk followed to get fuel and back,

Reckon it was about 40miles in total from when it went to 2 bars before it died, but with city driving, I now dont let it go below 2 bars (Too Averse to walking to risk it again!!)
 
ahmett said:
The fuel gauge is designed to scare people into filling their tanks.
The capacity of the Fiat 500's fuel tank is 40 liters so you had plenty of petrol left. Some people on this forum have gone to what 42 all in including the fuel lines etc.

After the two gauge thing you described you still have down to one gauge (which is when the low fuel warning buzzer starts going off) and then you have the 'living life on the edge' style when there is no gauge whatsoever just a blank!
Even at this point id say you have 10-20 miles (depending on your driving) left before you end up on the side of the road! Ive gone down to no bars at all + 10 miles and i put in 39 liters in the tank.
Click to expand...

No No No No No!!!!!!!!!!!! , the capacity is 35 litres including the reserve. If you run the car completely dry and then fill it till the first click or two then you'll get 35-37 litres in. If you then fill the filler neck you will get up to 5 litres in depending on how low you've run it. You will only ever have 40 litres of fuel in the tank of a 500 if you brink the tank, the average person will probably only ever have 35 litres or so in their 500's tank.

Having run out of fuel myself I would say that the range calculation on the 500 is not to be ignored. I think I got about 10 miles on top of the 30 miles it had before it went blank and then it stopped :)
 
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306maxi said:
No No No No No!!!!!!!!!!!! , the capacity is 35 litres including the reserve. If you run the car completely dry and then fill it till the first click or two then you'll get 35-37 litres in. If you then fill the filler neck you will get up to 5 litres in depending on how low you've run it. You will only ever have 40 litres of fuel in the tank of a 500 if you brink the tank, the average person will probably only ever have 35 litres or so in their 500's tank.

Having run out of fuel myself I would say that the range calculation on the 500 is not to be ignored. I think I got about 10 miles on top of the 30 miles it had before it went blank and then it stopped :)
Click to expand...

It is good to see other's points of view on this, but taking everything into account I would adhere to 306maxi's observations. I don't mind country walks, but well past hiking with a petrol can looking for a filling station.
 
306maxi said:
No No No No No!!!!!!!!!!!! , the capacity is 35 litres including the reserve. If you run the car completely dry and then fill it till the first click or two then you'll get 35-37 litres in. If you then fill the filler neck you will get up to 5 litres in depending on how low you've run it. You will only ever have 40 litres of fuel in the tank of a 500 if you brink the tank, the average person will probably only ever have 35 litres or so in their 500's tank.

Having run out of fuel myself I would say that the range calculation on the 500 is not to be ignored. I think I got about 10 miles on top of the 30 miles it had before it went blank and then it stopped :)
Click to expand...

Doesnt 35 liters including a reserve of 5 liters equal 40 liters?
Or is my English not good enough.
Why would they mention the 5 liters if it was already 'included' in the 35 liters?
 
Thanks :)

I've done 36000 miles on 93 tanks (not finished my current one yet!) which makes for an average of 387 miles per tank so I'm well used to seeing no bars on my fuel gauge :) I've even had a few tanks above 500 miles but you do start to crap yourself then :)
 
ahmett said:
Doesnt 35 liters including a reserve of 5 liters equal 40 liters?
Or is my English not good enough.
Why would they mention the 5 liters if it was already 'included' in the 35 liters?
Click to expand...

No, if something is included then that means you don't add it on.

As I said, the overwhelming majority of 500 owners will only ever fill their 500's to the point where they have 35-37 litres at most. There is no way you can get more fuel in other than to pull the nozzle out of the filler neck and fill it up that way and that takes time, I'm forever getting evils off the car behind me at the petrol station.

To clear this up with facts/observations made over 90+ fuel ups.

If you fill till the first, second, third or thousandth click then you will only ever have about 37 litres of fuel at most in your tank. If you pull the nozzle out and spray fuel into the top of the filler neck then you can get up to 42 litres into the tank.
The fuel light comes on with 77 miles to go on the trip computer.
The range will go blank at 30 miles range left on the trip computer.
30 miles after the range has gone blank you will probably have about a litre of fuel left.
Running out of fuel in a 500 is not good.
Fill up when the range goes blank
 
306maxi said:
No, if something is included then that means you don't add it on.

As I said, the overwhelming majority of 500 owners will only ever fill their 500's to the point where they have 35-37 litres at most. There is no way you can get more fuel in other than to pull the nozzle out of the filler neck and fill it up that way and that takes time, I'm forever getting evils off the car behind me at the petrol station.

To clear this up with facts/observations made over 90+ fuel ups.

If you fill till the first, second, third or thousandth click then you will only ever have about 37 litres of fuel at most in your tank. If you pull the nozzle out and spray fuel into the top of the filler neck then you can get up to 42 litres into the tank.
The fuel light comes on with 77 miles to go on the trip computer.
The range will go blank at 30 miles range left on the trip computer.
30 miles after the range has gone blank you will probably have about a litre of fuel left.
Running out of fuel in a 500 is not good.
Fill up when the range goes blank
Click to expand...


maxi i put in 39 liters without any issues or clicks even! and i did not do that pull nozzle out stuff.
The US 500 is advertised as a 40 liter tank. Do you think they put in a bigger petrol tank and modified the car by that much? a bigger tank changes a lot of things with the design of the car i would assume.
 
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ahmett said:
maxi i put in 39 liters without any issues or clicks even! and i did not do that pull nozzle out stuff.
The US 500 is advertised as a 40 liter tank. Do you think they put in a bigger petrol tank and modified the car by that much? a bigger tank changes a lot of things with the car i would assume.
Click to expand...
Well perhaps in Greece they can't afford to maintain their petrol pumps :)
 
I can get just under 500 miles out of the tank of the 206 and just over 300 in the Leon, the small tank size on the 500 is something that puts me off it, i don't mind it using fuel, i just hate going to the petrol station !
 
SteveTDCi said:
I can get just under 500 miles out of the tank of the 206 and just over 300 in the Leon, the small tank size on the 500 is something that puts me off it, i don't mind it using fuel, i just hate going to the petrol station !
Click to expand...
It's not that bad :)

Brim it every time and you'll get at least 400 miles out of it. My average at the moment is 387 miles per fuel up. Bearing in mind my average fuel up is 36 litres then 400 miles on every tank is achievable :)
 
ahmett said:
maxi i put in 39 liters without any issues or clicks even! and i did not do that pull nozzle out stuff.
The US 500 is advertised as a 40 liter tank. Do you think they put in a bigger petrol tank and modified the car by that much? a bigger tank changes a lot of things with the design of the car i would assume.
Click to expand...

Referring to OP, I had 5 litres left in tank at fill up. Petrol pump filling cut off at first click which had delivered 30 litres. So as far as I am concerned I have a tank full as per the manufacturer's tank capacity information to be found on my bl**dy CD.

I'll have a look and my OH's proper handbook for her 1.2 pop as it may probably include information re all model variants.
 
chas379 said:
Referring to OP, I had 5 litres left in tank at fill up. Petrol pump filling cut off at first click which had delivered 30 litres. So as far as I am concerned I have a tank full as per the manufacturer's tank capacity information to be found on my bl**dy CD.

I'll have a look and my OH's proper handbook for her 1.2 pop as it may probably include information re all model variants.
Click to expand...
You have the same handbook, just in digital form. There are no different fuel tanks. The only vehicle on the Mk3 Panda/500/Ka range that has a different tank is the Panda 4x4 which loses 5 litres because the propshaft robs the tank of some space.
 
Maxi is spot on in what he says about the capacity of the fuel tank, though before filling it to the brim you might consider reading this and this.

If you follow the handbook advice on refuelling & don't want to be nervously chewing your fingernails as you frantically search for a filling station, reckon on 32-33 litres of usable fuel, which currently costs about £45 & gives me a range of about 430-460 miles in my 1.2 :):):).
 
jrkitching said:
Maxi is spot on in what he says about the capacity of the fuel tank, though before filling it to the brim you might consider reading this and this.

If you follow the handbook advice on refuelling & don't want to be nervously chewing your fingernails as you frantically search for a filling station, reckon on 32-33 litres of usable fuel, which currently costs about £45 & gives me a range of about 430-460 miles in my 1.2 :):):).
Click to expand...
Definitely good advice. Advice which I've chosen to ignore myself, but good advice nonetheless :)
 
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