Technical How big is the tank?

Currently reading:
Technical How big is the tank?

306maxi

STOP! Hammer time!
Joined
Mar 3, 2008
Messages
24,547
Points
3,703
Location
The Welsh Riviera
I know someone's going to say RTFM but anyhoo

I filled up today when the fuel light came on with it showing a 1/4 tank left and filled it up and got 35 litres in with it being totally brimmed. Now obviously there's an extra capacity in the filler neck and probably a bit extra in the tank but it seems like a big margin for there still be to a complete 1/4 tank left.

Now the manual says 35l including a reserve of 5l which doesn't seem right. What's the most fuel anyone has ever squeezed into a 500?
 
Ouch thats expensive for the higher octane stuff, its £1.02 at my local and the normal unleaded is 99.9p.

Thats really steep for the good stuff, but it will run better and give better economy. I have decided my Sport 1.4 is gonna get the good stuff for a tank full tomorrow to see what its like. Havent been driving economically since I got the car on Tuesday and want to see what difference the good stuff makes.

Ken
 
The fuel tank capacity is a bit of a sore point with me as the computer is a bit odd to say the least! I usually fill up by putting in about 32L, this is when the orange light has come on when the computer says 79 miles left. Then within about 2 miles, the readout says 50-odd miles! So I reckon I usually have about 3L in there when I fill up if I let it run down to the orange light. The fuel tank shows 1/4 tank when the orange light comes on ... i've never let it get past 1/8 tank as I don't trust it. When I fill it up, it always reads 439 miles. I'd say the tank is about 35L, but beware of the last 5L - it goes very very quickly!
 
Last edited:
wow, you've run LOW !! I often run a good 60 miles after the light comes on (460 miles on a tank) and the most I've put in is just on 32 litres.

35 litres is the answer though.
 
wow, you've run LOW !! I often run a good 60 miles after the light comes on (460 miles on a tank) and the most I've put in is just on 32 litres.

35 litres is the answer though.
Well I had a 1/4 of a tank left so unless there was something very much wrong with the gauge I doubt I was going to run out. With fuel tanks you can usually get a few litres in the filler neck of the tank which is why I got 35l in with the gauge still saying 1/4 of a tank. Going from the handbook I think the light comes on when there's 5l left so I think if I get creative with my maths there are about 38-40 litres in the tank and filler neck if you brim it properly. I got 72.5l of diesel into my old 406 once which had a 70l tank.

Has anyone ever run out of fuel in a 500 or a Panda? :)
 
Well I had a 1/4 of a tank left so unless there was something very much wrong with the gauge I doubt I was going to run out. With fuel tanks you can usually get a few litres in the filler neck of the tank which is why I got 35l in with the gauge still saying 1/4 of a tank. Going from the handbook I think the light comes on when there's 5l left so I think if I get creative with my maths there are about 38-40 litres in the tank and filler neck if you brim it properly. I got 72.5l of diesel into my old 406 once which had a 70l tank.

Has anyone ever run out of fuel in a 500 or a Panda? :)

I've not run out, but I got the 'miles left' display down to ------ in my Panda :eek:


Trev
 
I've managed to get 37 litres in, and I'd covered 405 miles since the last fill. I did manage just over 430 on a tank which needed 36.5 litres to fill. I reckon 38 litres is about the limit

The 'miles left' gives up when it reckons you've only got 30 miles left in the tank so it's mental maths and careful driving to get you to the next garage. I the example above i drove 25 miles after the '30 mile' warning.

I realise it's not good to brim the tank since there's no room for the fuel to expand, but I'm 25 miles away from the garage so I figure I'll have some space in the tank by the time I park up ;)
 
The last quarter of the tank splits into 3, one large chunk then 2 smaller ones. It goes down quite quick at this point but i usually wait until it's on the last small notch and the dash is beeping saying "warning low fuel" before i fill up. There's still a fair bit left, i can drive it to work for 3 days or so on the last notch, but annoyingly it doesn't disappear completely.
 
The last quarter of the tank splits into 3, one large chunk then 2 smaller ones. It goes down quite quick at this point but i usually wait until it's on the last small notch and the dash is beeping saying "warning low fuel" before i fill up. There's still a fair bit left, i can drive it to work for 3 days or so on the last notch, but annoyingly it doesn't disappear completely.
I think next time I'll run it till I'm down to the last segment and see how much I can squeeze in.
 
I've let mine go to -------- loads of times, once on the motorway with no idea how close the next services were, I was really worried but I got there with no problems. I forgot to look how many litres I managed to get in though.
 
I've squeezed in 36 point something litres before now, must have been running on fumes! Filled up last night with over 33 litres, but put in 98 RON by mistake £1.07 a litre, oops. Doesn't last very long in the Abarth unfortunately...

Just out of curiosity, what sort of range/mileage do you get out of the Abarth?

Troy.
 
yea depends where most of your journeys take place too. my abarth has mostly urban mileage - im averaging 29mpg after 1600 miles.

however, will easily do 45mpg+ on a motorway trip.
 
Last edited:
Well after running the 500 down as far as I felt confident I brimmed it today and got 39.26 litres of unleaded in. I reckon it probably still had at least a couple of litres of fuel in it as well as the wife said it was showing 37 miles to go and then all of a sudden nothing and we probably only did a couple of miles to get to the petrol station.

Anyone ever filled up with more fuel than that? :)
 
Back
Top