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fuel tank capacity...really 14.5 gallons???

52K views 42 replies 31 participants last post by  oredith 
#1 ·
last week i ran my tank down until the range meter said i had about 7 miles before being completely empty. as i was at the red light in front of the gas station before pulling up to it, i noticed my car felt a little jittery. almost stuttering. seemed odd as i usually run it until it says i have about 20 miles til empty. the funny thing is, my warning light comes on at about 11-11.5 gallons. meaning i should technically have roughly 3 gallons left. 3 gallons time 25 mpg...means i can go realistically 75 more miles. so why the stuttering? anyway, so when i went to fill it up that time...i only filled exactly 12 gallons. what gives? that leaves 2.5 gallons in the tank. that seems like kind of a lot for it to start stuttering at idle. any thoughts?

oh yeah...2008 mtx with less than 6k.
 
#4 ·
what time did you fill up? The same volume of gas can be more or less amount of it depending on the temperature. You actually pump more gas into your car in the morning than in the afternoon, but i doubt it would be that much of a difference. Maybe you have some gunk at the bottom of your tank thats getting into your engine when the gas gets low. What brand of gas do you usually use?
 
#5 ·
I've driven the car until the fuel gage is as far below empty as it gets above full on a full tank, and I didn't notice any stuttering - it took 13 gallons.

I've seen it discussed before and the general feeling is that Mazda, if not most manufacturers, are extremely aggressive in expressing your car is out of fuel long before it actually runs out. Maybe you could start a poll to see if anyone has ever actually run out of gas in their 3, and how far past empty the gage was.
 
#9 ·
most i've been able to add was 13.5gals and that was after driving ~60 miles on "0" remaining.
 
#11 ·
yeah i just looking it up the other day bc i was wondering how big the tank really was, and i normally fill up like 11 to 12 gals ... and that after driving with the light on for a good 20 to 50 miles .... and it shocked me that we have a 14.5 gal tank ... but i really kinda want to see how far it would go too ...
 
#13 ·
im curious about this too, for the entire year I have owned the car I never reached 12 gallons on a single fill and this is with the needle completely on empty and my unlocked trip monitor always says I have about 10 miles left till empty. I read in the manual it was 14.5 so i thought this was always strange......

Now I dont always let it get that far but i usually always fill 11 gallons right when the light comes on.
 
#14 ·
yeah i dont like how they did this with the 3. i mean, i just filled it up and the needle was on the E maybe even like 1mm below it and i only filled up 11.882 gallons. and the info thing said i had... i think it was about 10 miles left before 0. it kinda lame that they feel they have to make it seem like the car is empty to people won't let it go until completely empty. i mean c'mon...the light comes on at 11 gallons. that leaves 3.5 left in the tank on a 14.5 gal tank. isn't it usually like you have 1 -1.5 gal left when the light comes on? i dunno...i guess 3.5 just seems a little over precautionary. everything regarding gas on this car is really really really really trying to prevent you from runnging out.

oh yeah...i guess i was just imagining the stuttering cuz i was worried that i might actually run out of gas.. pshh
end rant.
 
#15 ·
some people don't live within a few miles of a dozen gas stations. maybe it's a good idea in rural areas, lol

a couple gallons seems about right...
 
#16 ·
On my 2005 2.0i the fuel light comes on with about 10.5 Litres of usable fuel remaining, that's about 2.6 gallons. It's really 11 Litres, but drive on a grade, and that last half litre won't make it to the fuel pump... any more than half a litre in the tank and I've never had the car stall out on me on grades with low fuel, so if you have 2 gallons still in your tank, there is no way the car stalled or stuttered because of slope/grade.

The fuel gauge needle will actually go so far as to completely be on the left side of the letter 'E', such that the entire length of the needle isn't touching any part of the letter on the gauge, and you'll still have about 2 litres left in that scenario, good for about 25km (15 miles) of highway driving or about 15km (9 miles) of city driving.

The most I've ever pumped into my tank after stalling out was 53.1 Litres plus 1 Litre from my jerry can, but the pumps sometimes cheat by a few tenths of a litre, so who knows if that really is the usable tank volume or not, but that's my guess... somewhere around 53 Litres (14.0 gallons) to be on the safe side.
 
#19 ·
On one occasion - (long trip - close to final desitination didn't want to have an extra stop) - I drove about 70 miles after the low fuel light came on. I also noticed that the trip meter said 3 miles left for about 10 miles, then it went to 0. With the trip meter at 0 I drove another 50 or so miles. I put 13.9 gallons in... So yes you have a 14.5 gallon tank, however it is bad for the fuel pump to run your tank that low.
 
#20 ·
62 miles after the trip computer said -0- miles left, WAY after the empty light came on.

14.2 gal fillup at that point. going ~80mph on the freeway for most of the post-empty-light segment.

the tank definitely holds 14.5, and the empty light definitely come on WAY before you need gas.
 
#21 ·
i almost always drive my tank past empty. idk call me lazy, and i know its bad for the pump. but i drive so much.. and it gets annoying filling up 3 times a week.

on the other hand i know EXACTLY where the hand has to be before it dies. the when the needle hits almost half of the triangle on the empty... get ready for a workout :lol:
its happened to me...

on the other hand...

40,000 miles of gas pump abuse and still running strong :lol:
 
#24 ·
Just yesterday.. Drove 30 miles past "0" and it took 13.3 gallons at $3.24 p/g total of $43.5 dollars. by the way, I am very excited for the 25.2 miles p gallon average of most city with some hwy driving.
I am loving it!!! I was driving a 2006 Titan 4x4 that was killing me... with only 12mpg So the M3 is paying for itself !
 
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