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Posted by: orange914 Mar 19 2007, 01:01 AM

just getting farmiliar with this car. looking for some of your knowlege on the accuracy of the fuel gauge readings throughout the range -full to empty-. does 1/4 of a tank read 1/4 ect... i expect its pretty consistant being a "square tank".
AND
what kind of M.P.G. do many of you experiance on daily non freeway mixed driving (heavy footed) . this is a stock 1.7 fuel inj. with pertronic ign.

Posted by: bd1308 Mar 19 2007, 02:01 AM

Mine is about 20ish, but my engine is old......................

i run about 340F in calm wind going 75

Posted by: McMark Mar 19 2007, 06:02 AM

I consider the fuel gauge a reference. What I pay attention to is the light that comes on when the fuel is low. When it starts illuminating in corners it's time to start paying attention. When it's on all the time it's time to head straight to the gas station.

Also, there are tricks to filling the gas tank up all the way. Most fuel nozzles will shut off well before our tanks are full. Remember, we don't have a fuel tank filler neck.

Posted by: mudfoot76 Mar 19 2007, 07:39 AM

QUOTE(McMark @ Mar 19 2007, 08:02 AM)

I consider the fuel gauge a reference. What I pay attention to is the light that comes on when the fuel is low. When it starts illuminating in corners it's time to start paying attention. When it's on all the time it's time to head straight to the gas station.

Also, there are tricks to filling the gas tank up all the way. Most fuel nozzles will shut off well before our tanks are full. Remember, we don't have a fuel tank filler neck.

Posted by: Porcharu Mar 19 2007, 02:56 PM

1/4 tank on MY car = about 1/2 gallon at most. I never filled my tank all the way (I only drove the car ~ 200 miles before the engine/trans swap started) so I don't know about that end of the gauge.

Posted by: drewvw Mar 19 2007, 03:26 PM

with a full tank mine never goes higher than a little past 3/4.

but at least the low fuel light works!

Posted by: Hammy Mar 19 2007, 04:07 PM

I've found mine to be pretty accurate. At least I think it is.
I estimate around 21 mpg with my foot in it most of the time. More when driving lightly.

Posted by: r_towle Mar 19 2007, 04:48 PM

Im with McMark, I only trust the light.

The rest is cute, but meaningless to me.

Rich

Posted by: Spoke Mar 19 2007, 04:58 PM

I use the 2/4 reading on my guage as my "get gas now" signal. One reason is that I don't trust the low fuel light. I also like to keep the fuel tank full to avoid condensation.

For reading accuracy, I think the fuel sender and fuel gauge work well together. I tested my fuel sender outside of the tank and basically full tank reads 4/4, 3 quarters reads 3/4, half tank 2/4, and 1 quarter reads 1/4.

This is where the linearity ends since the shape of the gas tank is not a pure rectangular volume. Because of the footwell, the bottom 1/2 of the tank holds a lot less volume than the top 1/2. Thus the gauge basically reads the height of the fuel in the tank, not the number of gallons left.

Because of the shape of the tank, 2/4 on the gauge is probably equivalent to about 1/4 to 1/3 of a full tank.

Spoke

Posted by: vsg914 Mar 19 2007, 05:52 PM

Put a full gas can in the front trunk. drive it till it runs out of gas. look at gas gauge. don't let it get there again!

Posted by: bd1308 Mar 19 2007, 05:54 PM

II havent ever in five years of almost constant driving been without gas....

when the light comes on, I believe there is around 2.5 Gallons of gas in the tank.

When the light comes on when I turn, I fill up.....

Posted by: Crazyhippy Mar 19 2007, 08:31 PM

As long as the needle is moving when i corner, i'm good. When It gets lower than that the fuel pump starts making not good noises....

BJH