Hi everyone,

Thought I'd raise a question...
I have twin tanks in my car, this I believe is equivalent to 11 gallons(50.0 Litres) or I've also heard of it being 10 gallons(45.5 Litres).
The other day my car pretty much ran out of fuel - had to turn the car off and wait for the fuel to pump through to get it to the petrol station.
My point is that when I filled up I put in 35.3 Litres. If my twin tank setup is only 10 gallons, I am still 10 litres short on the capacity of my petrol tanks.
I know there will always be a certain amount that is unreachable due to the position of the pickups, but I think 10 litres is a bit excessive.
My question is, How many litres does everyone else put in their car if they are running on empty?
Does my 35 litres sound like a familiar amount?

I have had a couple of different fuel pumps on my car, these both had exactly the same symptoms, so my first thought is that its not the fuel pump.
Any other ideas?

Jonesy

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Michael Jones
Minis In The Gong
[email protected]
www.minisinthegong.com.au

I can usually only put about 18 - 19 litres in my car (just the single short range 5.5? gallon tank) whereas the tank capacity is about the 24litre mark (I have actually put 22 litres in it at one stage - but the tank was almost empty).

So I guess (to me) that 10 litres seems a little bit much - I'm assuming you went to the second or third click? I some times don't put the petrol handle into the tank all the way.

I have no idea what could be causing it - could it be the sender in the tank - it could be showing "E" when there is actually quite a bit of fuel left in the tank - it might need to be bent a bit? Do you know for sure that the tank was extremely empty or did you just take the gauge's word?

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"In two years time your car will be like a lady's clothes, out of date, my car will still be in fashion when I am dead" - Sir Alec speaking to Pininfarina

Hey Jonesy...

How far do you fill your tanks? I pull the nose of the filler out so it's just sitting on the lip of the tank filler and fill them right to the top (well about half way up the filler tube)... I've never had cause to drain the system completely and I've never run out of fuel... but I did come close... I managed to put 46 litres in... since I've always thought there was meant to be 50 litres in there I thought myself lucky...

So despite the bable... I know I've managed to put 46 litres into my twin tank setup...

Hope that helps

I usually put the nossle right in, wait for a click, and then pull it out further and add another Litre approx.

In regards to the needle, when my car starts to run out (car cutting out) the needle has only just gone under the 1/4 line (this is probably closer to about 15% than 25%) but as soon as it goes under that line the petrol runs out very soon after.

miniobsessed - where does your gauge go down to before you HAVE to fill up?

Jonesy

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Michael Jones
Minis In The Gong
[email protected]
www.minisinthegong.com.au

just a thought the conection hose does it run between the two tanks?? so therefor it would be making boh tanks sit level so you would need to fill one up wait for it to seettle fill the other one up, and keep topping it up and vise versa??

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-jamie-
1963morris 850
1965 solid side van
1994 rover racecar

What's a fuel gauge?

It's one of those things I keep meaning to fix up... but I know the sort of return I get from the fuel I put in and usually get a nice surprise when I go and fill up because I haven't used as much as I thought.

But I can't say that any of the mini's I've had have had a particularly accurate fuel gauge... it's more like a loose estimate But it's never concerned me...

But yeah... to get the most into your tanks I think you really need to pull out the filler and watch the fuel going in... if you fill them up to the base of the filler on the tank (so they're full) you should get closer to 45 litres in them

They cross-feed, but ever so slowly. I fill up one, then go fill the other and the guage reads full. Most I've ever pu into my car was around 46 litres and my guage was sitting just above zero (clubman guage). The fuel sender is able to be calibrated. Simply wait til;l you fuel level is below half way, so you can get your sender out on the LH tank. Then bend the metal arm that hold the flaot up or down to adjust what "full" is in relation to actaully being full. I didn't really adjust mine much, I just fill up when it hits 1/4. I mean My car is over 40 years old you can't expect anything to be accurate.

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1964 Morris 850, 1330 Supercharged - 81.8hp atws.
1975 Leyland Mini S 1100S powered - Nice and reliable.
1977 Leyland Mini LS - Project LS-T

Hi Jonesy,
It is a good time to ask because I actually coasted onto a forecourt (engine dry) on Monday after I forgot to fuel up. The docket shows 47.7 litres and that was full to the bottom of the necks. I guess a little more could be added if they were filled to the top of the neck.

Regards
Al

My tip is to first fix the dodgy guage reading. Have you got the correct sender unit? If not, experiment by (gently) bending the float arm when the tanks are empty & you are able to remove it. If this doesn't work, the sender unit may be faulty.

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1967 Cooper S - new front bearings to do.
1965 Cooper S shell - Slow progress. No time or money!
1966 Deluxe- next rustoration!
Mk 2 & XJ6 Jags. Less said the better.

And a faulty voltage stabiliser can make things bad I've heard. To test if mine worked I took a multimeter and put in on the positive side on the tank sender at the tank and it gave me continuously changing voltages. Although you amy have to test the negative side I think as your car may be positive earth. To find out which it is look at the battery and the end closest to the boot lid is the 'earth' end.

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1964 Morris 850, 1330 Supercharged - 81.8hp atws.
1975 Leyland Mini S 1100S powered - Nice and reliable.
1977 Leyland Mini LS - Project LS-T