500KM out of a full to the brim tank?

[Silver-Aurion]

Is it normal to only get 500KM out of a tank that was filled right up to the very top. Last fill up filled the petrol right to the very brim and of course using BP Ultimate and only managed to get 500KM out of it then the fuel light came on. I was at least expecting 550 to 560KM before fuel light came on.

This is city driving.

Should I suss out my spark plugs?

[DJKOR]

We have discussed this a few times already, but I will start from scratch.

Let's put it this way. The fuel light tends to come on when your ""Cruising Range" is at about 40km-50km. Now considering that after your cruising range gets to 0km, you can easily get at least 80km of travel out of the tank, and even after 80km, you typically have about 5 litres left in the tank.

So if you add all that up, lets say your fuel light comes on at 500km, if you keep on driving an additional 130km, that would equate to 630km of travel with about 65 litres of fuel used.

That adds up to just over 10L/100km which would be considered normal for these cars with a little bit more city driving.

Everything is normal mate. If you want reassurance, take not of exactly how much fuel you put into your tank when you fill up and post the results.

[httttt]

Perfectly normal, I concur completely with DJKOR as the experience with my Aurion is exactly as he mentioned.

If your fuel usage/cost conscious I recommend non-ethanol blend 92 or 95 RON. 98 is a waste of money in my opinion because it is expensive and the engine doesn't require it.

[DJKOR]

On a side note, I need someone more experienced to comment here but I have heard things along the lines of "you should not fill your fuel to the brim". This is to do with the charcoal canister that is responsible for taking care of the fuel vapour in the fuel tank. By overfilling it, you can make fuel flow into the charcoal canister and wearing it out quicker.

But that's just what I heard. I can't comment as to whether this is accurate or something that should really be considered.

Either way, the way I fill my tank is to wait till the first click then pull the nozzle out. Wait 15-20 seconds and then put the nozzle back in, pump till it clicks again, and then round the cents figure. When I fill this way, I will typically get about 1-1.5 litres of extra fuel in the tank after the first click. It may not be precise measurements, but by following the same standard, I can make sure my fuel usage calculations are somewhat comparable to each other.

Edit: Also, this is just personal opinion, but the fact you use BP Ultimate doesn't exactly mean you will have better fuel economy. Everyone thinks that higher octane just equates to more power (and in turn equates to better fuel consumption) but I tend to think differently. Your octane rating is essentially the fuel's "resistance to igniting due to compression" (ie. knocking/pinging) and I believe that it doesn't really matter unless you are redlining your engine all the time. So realistically, premium unleaded should not improve your fuel economy under normal driving conditions.

[Steven]

I get 300-400km around town <_<

[STYLSH]

I get 300-400km around town <_<

Hoon!

[u54mot]

[DJKOR]

Conveniently I had to go for a drive earlier and since I was already just below 1/4 of a tank on the gauge, I figured I will take some notes for the purposes of this thread. For this tank, my driving distribution was about 75% city and 25% highway compared to my usual 60/40 split:

This was a couple of kilometres after the fuel light came on:

And this was within a kilometre of the "Cruising Range" reaching 0km:

When I fill tomorrow, I will post the total distance travelled and the litres used. But basically all this means is that what you are getting is not unusual.

[Tofuboi]

I tend to get around 600km per tank.

I use BP Ultimate 98 and have done since I got the car at 33,000km. I agree with Daryl regarding the octane rating and the fact it doesn't really improve your economy at all really. I just use it because well, piece of mind I guess.

Mind you I drive around 80km per day and 70 of that is freeway/highway driving, hence where the 600km figure comes from. But that doesn't usually stick depending if I decide to go on a spirited drive or not.

[Beep Beep]

Conveniently I had to go for a drive earlier and since I was already just below 1/4 of a tank on the gauge, I figured I will take some notes for the purposes of this thread. For this tank, my driving distribution was about 75% city and 25% highway compared to my usual 60/40 split:

This was a couple of kilometres after the fuel light came on:

And this was within a kilometre of the "Cruising Range" reaching 0km:

When I fill tomorrow, I will post the total distance travelled and the litres used. But basically all this means is that what you are getting is not unusual.

Daryl, do you usually run your tank dry before filling up? I was told that it was bad to do so because the "dregs" might get sucked up and mess up your sensors, etc.

Personally, I figure this would be more true for diesel rather than petrol.

Edited September 5, 2011 by Beep Beep

[DJKOR]

Daryl, do you usually run your tank dry before filling up? I was told that it was bad to do so because the "dregs" might get sucked up and mess up your sensors, etc.

I don't run it dry so to speak. Looking at my trends (TRD_Fuel_Consumption.xls), I tend to fill up with about 8-12 litres left in the tank.

Personally, the only issues I imagine would be burning out the pump since it relies on the fuel to keep it cool. But this would only be a big issue if I let it run completely dry which I don't. As for picking up all the bad stuff in the fuel, the pump collects the fuel from the bottom anyway so I wouldn't imagine it being much worse than leaving the car sit overnight then starting it in the morning after all the sediment (if any) has settled at the bottom.

Besides, there is a fuel filter for a reason.

[httttt]

Personally, the only issues I imagine would be burning out the pump since it relies on the fuel to keep it cool. But this would only be a big issue if I let it run completely dry which I don't. As for picking up all the bad stuff in the fuel, the pump collects the fuel from the bottom anyway so I wouldn't imagine it being much worse than leaving the car sit overnight then starting it in the morning after all the sediment (if any) has settled at the bottom.

This is exactly my argument when people think I'm stupid for filling up when I have approx. 10 ltrs left.

I look at it this way, if the theory of not letting your tank run below 15% because it will suck through rubbish past that point is true then not only will that 15% threshold increase over time but when you actually have to keep driving below 15% because your running late or there is no station nearby then you are gonna take a whole bunch of that rubbish all at once instead of the dribs and drabs you would have if you run the fuel low every time.

Plus, I don't know about you but I like driving with as little weight as possible in my car.

[Beep Beep]

Is it normal to only get 500KM out of a tank that was filled right up to the very top. Last fill up filled the petrol right to the very brim and of course using BP Ultimate and only managed to get 500KM out of it then the fuel light came on. I was at least expecting 550 to 560KM before fuel light came on.

This is city driving.

Should I suss out my spark plugs?

It might also depend on your driving style. All it takes is for a slightly heavy foot to push your fuel consumption up and your driving range down.

I get anything between 453km @ 14.36L/100km up to 889km @ 7.31L/100km. As you can see the range of difference is quite HUGE.

For me, what range I get depends on whether I'm stuck in almost gridlock conditions in peak hour traffic to/from work, or if you're cruising on the open road out in the country.

Maybe as an experiment, fuel up, go for a short drive around town in typical city driving stop start conditions, then refuel. Work out your fuel consumption, and based on that, the estimated range out of the 65L you'd have on board.

Then repeat with a cruise at speed (to simulate country/rural driving). You'll probably need to find gas stations from point to point with a decent, long stretch of road in between which you can cruise at country speeds (eg 110km/h) without having to stop and start for traffic congestion and traffic lights..

You should then be able to tell if your fuel consumption is excessive or not.

[Beep Beep]

Personally, the only issues I imagine would be burning out the pump since it relies on the fuel to keep it cool. But this would only be a big issue if I let it run completely dry which I don't. As for picking up all the bad stuff in the fuel, the pump collects the fuel from the bottom anyway so I wouldn't imagine it being much worse than leaving the car sit overnight then starting it in the morning after all the sediment (if any) has settled at the bottom.

This is exactly my argument when people think I'm stupid for filling up when I have approx. 10 ltrs left.

I look at it this way, if the theory of not letting your tank run below 15% because it will suck through rubbish past that point is true then not only will that 15% threshold increase over time but when you actually have to keep driving below 15% because your running late or there is no station nearby then you are gonna take a whole bunch of that rubbish all at once instead of the dribs and drabs you would have if you run the fuel low every time.

Plus, I don't know about you but I like driving with as little weight as possible in my car.

Yeah, I didn't think it was such an issue because this advice was given to me by, shall we say, a person who is a "senior citizen" who was driving back in the days when fuel WAS probably dodgy.

I do still try to keep to this rule for my diesel Landcruiser though, only because even with two stage fuel filters, I don't quite trust the diesel that comes out of a bowser which looked like it came from the early 80s with the old school rotating numbers on it rather than a propoer electronic display.

It's not so much a concern in the Metro area, especially with busy gas stations that regularly turn over their fuel stock.

I should post a pic of the pre-fuel filter and main fuel filter I changed after a trip through the goldfields 3 years ago. The Pre-fuel filter was grotty with sediment and god knows what, but it did a fantastic job because the main fuel filter had very very very little crap in it. All it would've taken was a few particles to slip through the filters for it to sh.itcan fuel pumps.

[Pah]

I just filled up this afternoon, put 52.73 litres in and the odometer read 536.2 klms. I do the same as Daryl in that I fill until the first click then take out the nozzle wait 20 seconds then fill again until it clicks to try to get it as accurate as possible each fill. Over the last 3000 klm I have averaged 10.67lt /100klm which is pretty good I think for the size of the car and considering that I only have to drive 5klm to work and back which is not very good for economy.

Cheers

Peter

[Beep Beep]

I just filled up this afternoon, put 52.73 litres in and the odometer read 536.2 klms. I do the same as Daryl in that I fill until the first click then take out the nozzle wait 20 seconds then fill again until it clicks to try to get it as accurate as possible each fill. Over the last 3000 klm I have averaged 10.67lt /100klm which is pretty good I think for the size of the car and considering that I only have to drive 5klm to work and back which is not very good for economy.

Cheers

Peter

I normally just fill until it clicks, then pull out a little bit and keep going at a much slower rate of flow, wait for air to be vented from the tank then keep filling until I can physically see the fuel and just short of overflowing. Then I close the cap.

I figure by the time I drive a couple of kms , any excess would have been consumed so it's not really a biggie I don't think, about the fuel tank being too full for extended periods of time.

[DanielV]

I usually fill up every 2 days and usually get 550kms at 1/4 tank mark and I usually do 120kms freeway and 130 kms city a day

I have tried the E10 a few times but only ever manage 450km out of a tank. Now I just stick to 98, Usually shell or BP more for comfort than anything else

my 2 cents anyways

[Silver-Aurion]

Thanks for the replies. Good to know that it's normal. I really thought I could push at least 550 before I even saw the fuel light come on.

I ended up filling up at about 520 and at that time on the trip computer it said I have about 13KM left.

[DeafDave76]

Thanks for the replies. Good to know that it's normal. I really thought I could push at least 550 before I even saw the fuel light come on.

I ended up filling up at about 520 and at that time on the trip computer it said I have about 13KM left.

Actually I had just filled my car up with Shell V-Power 98 RON and I can say it isn't all that cracked up to begin with. True you might get a bit more performance out of it but it comes at an expense to fuel economy. I agree with that spreadsheet above here.

I had 91 RON from Shell 3 weeks ago and it lasted me that long for 3 weeks around town! I am switching back to Shell 91 RON then BP Ultimate to "clean" the interior then switch back to 91 RON and so on.

[Beep Beep]

Thanks for the replies. Good to know that it's normal. I really thought I could push at least 550 before I even saw the fuel light come on.

I ended up filling up at about 520 and at that time on the trip computer it said I have about 13KM left.

Actually I had just filled my car up with Shell V-Power 98 RON and I can say it isn't all that cracked up to begin with. True you might get a bit more performance out of it but it comes at an expense to fuel economy. I agree with that spreadsheet above here.

I had 91 RON from Shell 3 weeks ago and it lasted me that long for 3 weeks around town! I am switching back to Shell 91 RON then BP Ultimate to "clean" the interior then switch back to 91 RON and so on.

Waitaminute. I'm confused now. Do you consume less fuel over the same distance if you use 91 RON as opposed to 98 RON? I thought with the higher octane rating, you use less?

Anyway with Shell V-Power 98 RON fluctuating between $1.07 and $1.25 per litre, I'm probably going to start using 91 RON more and more now. Fuel costs are starting to get stupid :( .

[httttt]

Thanks for the replies. Good to know that it's normal. I really thought I could push at least 550 before I even saw the fuel light come on.

I ended up filling up at about 520 and at that time on the trip computer it said I have about 13KM left.

Actually I had just filled my car up with Shell V-Power 98 RON and I can say it isn't all that cracked up to begin with. True you might get a bit more performance out of it but it comes at an expense to fuel economy. I agree with that spreadsheet above here.

I had 91 RON from Shell 3 weeks ago and it lasted me that long for 3 weeks around town! I am switching back to Shell 91 RON then BP Ultimate to "clean" the interior then switch back to 91 RON and so on.

Waitaminute. I'm confused now. Do you consume less fuel over the same distance if you use 91 RON as opposed to 98 RON? I thought with the higher octane rating, you use less?

Anyway with Shell V-Power 98 RON fluctuating between $1.07 and $1.25 per litre, I'm probably going to start using 91 RON more and more now. Fuel costs are starting to get stupid :( .

Where do you live? I'm lucky to get 91 without E10 for $1.35!

[Beep Beep]

Thanks for the replies. Good to know that it's normal. I really thought I could push at least 550 before I even saw the fuel light come on.

I ended up filling up at about 520 and at that time on the trip computer it said I have about 13KM left.

Actually I had just filled my car up with Shell V-Power 98 RON and I can say it isn't all that cracked up to begin with. True you might get a bit more performance out of it but it comes at an expense to fuel economy. I agree with that spreadsheet above here.

I had 91 RON from Shell 3 weeks ago and it lasted me that long for 3 weeks around town! I am switching back to Shell 91 RON then BP Ultimate to "clean" the interior then switch back to 91 RON and so on.

Waitaminute. I'm confused now. Do you consume less fuel over the same distance if you use 91 RON as opposed to 98 RON? I thought with the higher octane rating, you use less?

Anyway with Shell V-Power 98 RON fluctuating between $1.07 and $1.25 per litre, I'm probably going to start using 91 RON more and more now. Fuel costs are starting to get stupid :( .

Where do you live? I'm lucky to get 91 without E10 for $1.35!

Sorry, I should clarify that I was referring to what's shown on fuel card transaction records for a novated lease Aurion.

Edited September 9, 2011 by Beep Beep

[banksy]

Fuel costing between $1.07 and $1.25...

Out here in Goondiwindi we are paying $1.469 for 91, and $1.579 for a litre of V-Power with Coles fuel voucher. But on the country roads, I am getting over 740 Km on a tank. The V-Power is dear but the passing power and extra Km brings it in par with the 91 RON.

[DeafDave76]

Thanks for the replies. Good to know that it's normal. I really thought I could push at least 550 before I even saw the fuel light come on.

I ended up filling up at about 520 and at that time on the trip computer it said I have about 13KM left.

Actually I had just filled my car up with Shell V-Power 98 RON and I can say it isn't all that cracked up to begin with. True you might get a bit more performance out of it but it comes at an expense to fuel economy. I agree with that spreadsheet above here.

I had 91 RON from Shell 3 weeks ago and it lasted me that long for 3 weeks around town! I am switching back to Shell 91 RON then BP Ultimate to "clean" the interior then switch back to 91 RON and so on.

Waitaminute. I'm confused now. Do you consume less fuel over the same distance if you use 91 RON as opposed to 98 RON? I thought with the higher octane rating, you use less?

Anyway with Shell V-Power 98 RON fluctuating between $1.07 and $1.25 per litre, I'm probably going to start using 91 RON more and more now. Fuel costs are starting to get stupid :( .

Where do you live? I'm lucky to get 91 without E10 for $1.35!

I live in Victoria Park W.A. and the V-Power 98 RON is $1.40 to $1.58 a litre depending location of the cheapest to expensive Shell stations. With 98 RON from Shell I used up fuel in just 2 weeks but when I had 98 RON from BP Ultimate, the fuel range actually increases thus using less fuel. I don't know why they are different. I always goes to Shell for 91 RON petrol and they are usually $1.25 to $1.35 a litre, again depending on the location of the cheapest to expensive Shell stations. I would avoid Gull and Caltex petrols as both seems to be using more fuel than Shell or BP does when using 91 RON.

For the record, I get 9.5 per 100kms when going for a long drive on freeway to bunbury and back. In combined cycle, it's 9.8 to 10.5 per 100km. Right now since I have filled up just last wednesday, I am between 3rd quarter and half tank mark on the cluster. That was with 98 RON V-Power and I expect it to be gone by next wednesday (confirming the 2 week fuel usage)

[EC11WA]

Funny how people think they get better fuel economy from one company than an other.

FYI I work in the fuel industry in Perth and have done so for over 10 years.

Caltex, Shell, United, Gull, Peak, Caltex Woolies, Coles.......all comes from the same terminals......either Shell North Fremantle or Coogee Chemicals in Kwinana.

As of next year, Shell North Fremantle will be closing down and all fuel will be ex Coogee Chemicals.

The only exception to the rule is when buying BP fuels as this comes from a their own facilities.

All 91 ron is the same.......PULP95/Vortex 95 is just a different additive for each company but most of is in the know beleive it just prints out the paperwork differently.

PULP98/Vortex 98, once again just a different additive for each company, base fuel is still the same same.

Always buy fuel from busy servos..........a servo should never run tanks below say 20%. However......it is common practice for United sites to run their tanks dry.......now this is where it becomes interesting....all tanks have a certain percentage of water at the bottom so i will let you work out where that water goes..........

Caltex Woolies on the other hand have good management and never let the sites run below 20%. If they do, the person at the site will no longer have a job!

Handy bit of info for you all........i hope so!