I have a 95 lx sedan. When I fill up at the pump I can put in at most 8.5 gal. and thats with the car running on fumes...or atleast thats what it looks like. The needle is on or near empty. But I read the specs online someplace that the tank holds 11.9 gals. How can this be? Could something be wrong with the gauge?

 

It all depends on how you drive it, weather conditions, does the engine need work? Many different factors cause bad gas milage. Where I live, my gas milage gets a little worse in the winter. Whatever you do, do not put isoheet in your tank, it can start to ruin valves and seals.

 

how many miles to a tank do you get my civic gets between 330 and 360 and it will take about 10.5 gal

 

I get between 300 and 320 on a full tank. I have been tracking my fuel and milage for a couple years and never been able to put more than 8.5 gals in the tank. That was my question....why does the specs for this car say the tank capacity is 11.9 gals and I can only put 8.5 in it?

 

Ok I did some searching online and found a good site that explains whats going on in the tank and how a fuel gauge works. Makes more sence to me now.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-gauge.htm

 

Are you positive that you're "running on fumes," or is that an assumption due to where the needle is? I read somewhere (maybe here..) that after the needle goes past empty, and the light comes on, most civics still have damn near 2 gallons in the tank. That's a REALLY rough figure, as I've never experiemented, just trying to remember exactly what the article said... BUT, if that's true, and you're only getting 8.5 gallons when your gas light is showing, maybe its just the civic making sure you don't run completely out, and warning you ahead of time of low fuel.

 

You're right, I was assuming that since the needle was on E it was close to empty. I never actually ran out of gas with this car so I didn't know exactly how much the tank could hold until I looked it up. And my civic does not have a low fuel warning light so I just went by what I could see where the needle was.
I didn't know fuel gauges were so unreliable. How do people calculate MPG? Run it until you run out of gas?!

Any way of replacing the gauge?

thanks
j

 

Its not that its unreliable, its just a safety feature so that you DONT run your car completely out of gas. To calculate MPG, do the following

1. Fill up your tank ALL THE WAY
2. Run it until it gets really low
3. Refill tank ALL THE WAY
4. Take the number of miles you drove, and divide that by how many gallons you put in the second time.
5. Repeat this process a few times and take an average.

 

Ok cool thats what I been doing via a website I use to track my fuel useage.

But don't you think that 3.5 gals (tank holds 11.9 from the E on the gauage to fill up is 8.5 gal) over doing it alittle? I guess now that I KNOW theres aprox. 3.5 gal. still in the tank I can strech it out alittle more between fill ups.

Thanks again
j

 

hey man, don't get me wrong, your situation could be different from the norm. Don't go out and ride it way past E just because "I" said it was ok