Reserve indicator inaccuracy?

[rgaus]

In my 40,000 miles of driving the 450 (should be the same size tank), my highest fill (no top off) was 9.2 gallons. May have something to do with the angle of the car on the concrete at the pump.

Ron Gaus, asmartcar.com

[amyrob5]

I'm really confused.... Got Marta on 5/27 ..... Filled up on 6/1 and it appeared there were about three bars left on the readout . hubby put in 8.24 gallons ....

Today I filled again and there were four bars left and I put in 7.921 ..... seems like the gauge is not accurately measuring the fuel left.

BTW first fill up was about 30 MPG and second was 36.53 I do village to city driving on 15, 25, 35, 45 and 55 mph roads with one stop light, 4 4-way stops and one 2-way stop on an 8 mile drive to work. I guess thats not too bad. I'm going with the BP silver (89) gas as that is what is at the end of my block! The gold is 93.

[SmartCard]

something is wrong with your display amyrob- with those fillup amounts, you should have NO bars on your gauge! Has the little fuel pump indicator on you display flashed when you got this low; did the reserve countdown come on?

Originally Posted by smarteepants

Maybe someone will volunteer to run out of gas and then see how much fuel it takes without topping it off. That might help with all the confusion.

yeah, your name fits!

[MichaelJ]

Originally Posted by spdickey

The variable here is when the nozzle shuts off. Do not assume that all nozzles will shut off at the same level of gas in your tank. The difference may be one gallon or more.

Also don't assume that any given nozzle will be consistent (although it should be close).

[The_Q_Man]

Originally Posted by SmartDigger

also the volume of gas changes with temp. gas volume expands as temp goes up

Ah, good ol' pivnert. At least that's how we affectionately called P x V = n x R x T.

[amyrob5]

No Flashing fuel pump and no reserve indicator alerts.... I guess I better pay close attention and figure out where the problem is. Unitil then I better fill up at 1/2 tank!

Thanks!

[SmartCard]

Originally Posted by The_Q_Man

Ah, good ol' pivnert. At least that's how we affectionately called P x V = n x R x T.

yes, that's the ideal gas law - its applies to gases only (not to be confused with gasoline!;) )

[ShoshTrvls]

Originally Posted by unicycle

Here is a link with really technical info: smart fortwo pure, passion, and passion cabriolet

To paraphrase this other page: The fuel tank holds 8.7 gallons INCLUDING 1.3 gallons in reserve. That's INCLUDING ** not PLUS!

That's what it says, but I'm betting that someone in Germany needs a vocabulary refresher course. 8.7 + 1.3 very handily equals 10 gallons, a reasonable tank size. And I put just over 8 gallons in mine with 2 bars left. It seems that enough people are reporting being able to fill the car up with 8.5 or more gallons (without running it dry) that I suspect its really a 10 gallon tank.

[paul c]

Originally Posted by ShoshTrvls

That's what it says, but I'm betting that someone in Germany needs a vocabulary refresher course. 8.7 + 1.3 very handily equals 10 gallons, a reasonable tank size. And I put just over 8 gallons in mine with 2 bars left. It seems that enough people are reporting being able to fill the car up with 8.5 or more gallons (without running it dry) that I suspect its really a 10 gallon tank.

German engineers don't spend their time thinking about US gallons. But 33 liters equals 8.7 US gallons.

[Tinman2000]

I'm beginning to think my gauge is inaccurate and have been filling every 250 miles or so. I recently filled up at the beginning of a trip to PA and the gauge read full until I reached 108 miles, mixed driving.