Fuel Tank Capacity

[PradoJim Member Find all posts View Profile Close PradoJim]

What's the most fuel you've put in your 3 door ?

I was on a 4wd track today showing 70 klm range remaining with the fuel gauge just above "E", Orange light had come on a little while before. Wasn't too worried, nearing the end of track and fuel only 20 klm down the road once I exited the track. Suddenly my range dropped from 69 remaining to zero. Re inflated the tyres and cruised at 70 kph with fingers crossed to the nearest garage (about 25 klm from where the range said "Zero".

I filled it 'til diesel was sitting at the top of the filler pipe and I only took 76 litres. Even gave it a good shake to see if it settled but it only dropped a couple of inches down the neck.

What gives ? This means I had at least 10 litres remaining (according to book capacity) after driving 25 klm from when my range said "Zero". Potentially a range of 125 klm.

Has Toyota been telling big fibs about the tank capacity or is the "range" computation for entertainment purposes only ?

Thanks..........

[MacroP Member Find all posts View Profile Close MacroP]

I'll be honest - people expect too much from the distance to empty readout. Toyota absolutely have to be conservative here. The Prado can have it's fuel consumption vary wildly, much more so than a regular car, which makes it very difficult to predict the range to empty especially when nearing the bottom of the tank and when going from on-road to an offroad track with much higher consumption.

Another thing, the Prado and its tank can be driving at an angle that's not perfectly flat so Toyota has to be conservative here as to what they define as empty for the trip computer. Sure on level ground there's was 10 litres left in your tank when you filled up but what about when driving up a long hill. You may konk-out with only 10 litres left in the tank up a hill so don't push it. So now you know your vehicle's limits.

I've seen cars parked (but still running) on very steep driveways that die after a few minutes and people can't figure out why the car dies even with plenty of fuel left in the tank (say 1/4 tank). Let it roll back down and up she fires.

[Symo Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Symo]

DTE always has a reserve, you can't run a diesel dry or you have to prime the motor. You have to remember that both tanks have a reserve too, so expect around 10L left in each when your DTE is at zero. This is why most people can only fit 130 or so litres in.

Having said that I have done this, out 125L in, driven 500 m to the next servo and managed to fit 19L more in.


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[Shamal Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Shamal]

This is why most people can only fit 130 or so litres in.

Having said that I have done this, out 125L in, driven 500 m to the next servo and managed to fit 19L more in.

Hi Symo

How do you get an extra tank for a 3 door? I didn't know there was a long range available for them?

Thanks

- Shamal

[GUV Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close GUV]

Longranger do a 133 litre for the swb prado, Symo might not have seen it was a swb discussion.

[PradoJim Member Find all posts View Profile Close PradoJim]

Thanks gents, I understand the conservatism on Toyota's behalf. I was expecting that if the range got to zero, I would still have several litres left, why I wasn't worried in the slightest about having only 70 to run on the computer. But I wasn't expecting the range to drop from 69 to zero in a heartbeat.

Also get the effect of slopes etc (I was involved with aviation, minimum fuel on a 747 for flight- 30 tonnes (!) for similar reasons), but the question remains, what's the most fuel you've put in your 3 door ?

[sweetpea Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sweetpea]

what's the most fuel you've put in your 3 door ?

I've been back through the log and found a number of fills around 81.5-82.0 (9 between 80 and 82)

I also found one of 88.05 but the fuel consumption for that tank was 13.99 so I think it may be a data entry error.

S.

[PradoJim Member Find all posts View Profile Close PradoJim]

Excellent thanks. I have always done capacity checks on my cars and bikes and have always found actual capacity is more than claimed. But I'm not going to risk running a diesel out of fuel. Did it once, primer worked, not going to do it again.