# How many miles on an 'empty' tank?!



## mcmoody (Sep 17, 2008)

Just wondering... how many miles have people driven with their cars DIS reading 0 mile range? :roll:


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## V6RUL (May 28, 2009)

You will probably still have 10 litres of fuel in the tank when DIS reads 0.
Not a good idea to allow it to get too low.
Steve


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## SilverFox82 (Nov 29, 2011)

Hi ive done i reckon about 5 miles but i was on tenderhooks the whole way to the petrol station. I normally dont let the fuel light come on as ive had blocked injectors on other cars before which i believe was caused by driving with very little petrol to often and letting all the crap in the fuel tank gather. How many have you had?


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## phil3012 (Jul 25, 2008)

Not tried for 2 reasons:

1. Letting a TDi run out of fuel is not a good idea. Have read it can cause issues.

2. My mate had an Octavia and had 30 miles still showing and it ran out. I had a similar experience on an Astra.

Saying that have had mine down to around 20 mile remaining and still managed to fit 8 litres of diesel in the tank.


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## mcmoody (Sep 17, 2008)

SilverFox82 said:


> Hi ive done i reckon about 5 miles but i was on tenderhooks the whole way to the petrol station. I normally dont let the fuel light come on as ive had blocked injectors on other cars before which i believe was caused by driving with very little petrol to often and letting all the crap in the fuel tank gather. How many have you had?


Mines only ever gone as low as reading 5 miles on the DIS but with the warning on of course. I've been told you can do a few miles once it reads 0 but have never tried. Was curious to know whether there is actually say 2 litres or so left. Kind or defeats the object of saying 0 mile range though ......


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## mcmoody (Sep 17, 2008)

phil3012 said:


> Not tried for 2 reasons:
> 
> 1. Letting a TDi run out of fuel is not a good idea. Have read it can cause issues.
> 
> ...


1. I've heard that before but that was in relation to an old diesel tractor. Does the same apply with modern cars.

2. Do you mean gallons?

For the record I wont be letting mine run out. I'm just curious of others experiences....


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## SilverFox82 (Nov 29, 2011)

mcmoody said:


> SilverFox82 said:
> 
> 
> > Hi ive done i reckon about 5 miles but i was on tenderhooks the whole way to the petrol station. I normally dont let the fuel light come on as ive had blocked injectors on other cars before which i believe was caused by driving with very little petrol to often and letting all the crap in the fuel tank gather. How many have you had?
> ...


Yeah i put it down to the maunfacturer basically saying dont run the engine on anything lower than 'said' amount say 5 ltres left in the tank means 'Audi dont want the car running with anything less in the tank' which is fair enough to me. As i said before my ST220 ended up with a bloacked injector and i beleive it was casued by me running it near emtpy to long and the crud and crap getting into the engine where as with a full tank it wouldnt.....But then i would hope that more modern fuel filters would mean less of a chance of that happening again....


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## mcmoody (Sep 17, 2008)

.


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## mcmoody (Sep 17, 2008)

SilverFox82 said:


> mcmoody said:
> 
> 
> > SilverFox82 said:
> ...


That makes sense to me!


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## phil3012 (Jul 25, 2008)

mcmoody said:


> phil3012 said:
> 
> 
> > Not tried for 2 reasons:
> ...


I have read and also my dealer mentioned modern TDi's also have issue. I believe old diesel engines you needed to re-prime them. Its not that serious on a modern engine but you risk causing damage.

On point 2 that me being a bit dim  I meant I managed to fit 52 litres in which being a 60 litre tank suggests the tank still had 8 litres in at that point.


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## TT-driver (Sep 14, 2010)

I drove about 5 miles once while it said range = 0. After that I filled it up with 53.51l. According to my specs the tank size is actually 55l.


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## phil3012 (Jul 25, 2008)

TT-driver said:


> I drove about 5 miles once while it said range = 0. After that I filled it up with 53.51l. According to my specs the tank size is actually 55l.


The tank on the 2.0 TFSi is 55 litre

The TDi and V6 are 60 litres

Not sure about the TTS and RS


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## TWH (Aug 25, 2010)

In my old RS4, I did about 5 miles on empty, and that was really on tender hooks, but was fine. If you think about it, I'd imagine that the range must click down as soon as you go below what it was reading, so if you've got 15 miles left, as soon as you've only got 14.99999 it must click down as otherwise it's telling you that the range is greater than it actually is. So if that is the case, as soon as it reaches 0 you must have 5 miles as a minimum really.


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## McKenzie (Dec 25, 2008)

I've done about 17 miles reading 0. Managed to time my fuel stop badly with the station I was going to being shut down! it was 55 MPH for 17 miles and managed to fill about 54 litres back up so probably had only another 1 litre left! 1 mistake learnt from but laugh about it now.


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## mcmoody (Sep 17, 2008)

McKenzie said:


> I've done about 17 miles reading 0. Managed to time my fuel stop badly with the station I was going to being shut down! it was 55 MPH for 17 miles and managed to fill about 54 litres back up so probably had only another 1 litre left! 1 mistake learnt from but laugh about it now.


That's cutting it seriously fine. A very nerve racking 17 miles i'm sure!!


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## McKenzie (Dec 25, 2008)

mcmoody said:


> McKenzie said:
> 
> 
> > I've done about 17 miles reading 0. Managed to time my fuel stop badly with the station I was going to being shut down! it was 55 MPH for 17 miles and managed to fill about 54 litres back up so probably had only another 1 litre left! 1 mistake learnt from but laugh about it now.
> ...


I certainly needed some new underwear afterwards!


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## adamholland31288 (Nov 8, 2011)

hello! completely unrelated but there is a very funny top gear episode where clarkson drives a volvo to scotland and back on one tank!! he has "0 miles" showing for about 35 miles or something stupid! very funny watch as he gets stuck in traffic etc but still makes it! sorry about random comment thought i would share lol
-
Regards
-
Ad - Audi TT TFSI Coupe 2.0 - Champagne Silver


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## LEO-RS (Apr 13, 2009)

I do this all the time, bad habit I suppose but it doesn't cause any issues. Remember guys, the fuel goes through a filter before it gets anywhere near the pump/injectors so the fish wives tale about all the crap at the bottom of the tank causing issues is rubbish.

I have found the zero comes up at around 54l used, (6 litres remaining) I have found this to be the case in both my RS's and my TDI. My usual is to fill up 20-25m or so past zero and I usually get 57-58l back in. With the TDI it was closer to 40m past zero. Never really had the balls to go any further and try to use the full 60.

No idea why I do this really, bad habit, fuel tank range, getting fresh fuel in the tank, it's never done me any harm. I regularly get 380m to 57litres used.


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## TT-driver (Sep 14, 2010)

McKenzie said:


> I certainly needed some new underwear afterwards!


So did that affect the sagging seats problem in any way? :mrgreen:


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## TT-driver (Sep 14, 2010)

adamholland31288 said:


> hello! completely unrelated but there is a very funny top gear episode where clarkson drives a volvo to scotland and back on one tank!! he has "0 miles" showing for about 35 miles or something stupid! very funny watch as he gets stuck in traffic etc but still makes it! sorry about random comment thought i would share lol
> -
> Regards
> -
> Ad - Audi TT TFSI Coupe 2.0 - Champagne Silver


Fuel light bingo he calls it.


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## Joerek (Oct 24, 2008)

I always start looking for the nearest pump when the DIS says 10km or 0 km left. I managed to drive about 60 KM after is was on 0 and still had about 1.5 liters in the tank (was only able to fill it with 58.5 litres with a 60l tank). Forgot that it was at 0 km so I kept on driving  No problems actually, there is plenty of reserve (in case of a quattro car) after it says 0 km / miles.

Why bother filling it up once the light starts (it starts at 80km still left, so at least still 140-150km left). If you extend it, you don't need to fill it up that often...


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## Critter10 (Nov 4, 2010)

I seem to remember being told that, because of the technology used to measure fuel in the tank, it becomes increasingly less accurate as the tank empties. I filled up today with 25 miles left in the tank, according to the DIS, but I could only get 49 litres in - mine has a 60 litre tank. Even with the way a TTS can gobble fuel, that's pretty inaccurate.

Reference the Clarkson quote above, I seem to recall he was driving an A6 TDi - there could be a manufacturer pattern here!


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## BrianR (Oct 12, 2011)

Its an interesting question which I would like to get to the bottom of too. To fill my car is costing about £75 at the moment. I filled up yesterday when my car was showing abiout 50 miles of fuel left. I could only get £50 worth of fuel in it? How does that work then? There must have been £25 still in there yet distance reader was adviding just 50 miles - cant be right unless my MPG is f.a.

Drove 35 miles in an A4 last year with the reading of zero (fromJ1 on the a14 to the first north bound M6 services - not a nice journey for sure , car coughed as I pulled onto the forecourt :wink:


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## TT-driver (Sep 14, 2010)

BrianR said:


> Its an interesting question which I would like to get to the bottom of too.


Pun intended? 



BrianR said:


> To fill my car is costing about £75 at the moment. I filled up yesterday when my car was showing abiout 50 miles of fuel left. I could only get £50 worth of fuel in it? How does that work then? There must have been £25 still in there yet distance reader was adviding just 50 miles - cant be right unless my MPG is f.a.


The TT is predicting the amount of fuel left in MPG by looking in the rear view mirror. So it's a bit like, "if you continue driving like this, the I predict that you still have x miles to go before empty".

On top of that, when ever your car is at an angle while filling it up, the amount of fuel you can get into it may differ from the norm.


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