# 0 miles left in the tank



## Mark 2 (Oct 18, 2011)

I rarely leave the fuel tank to go as low as when the fuel light comes on. On this occasion I wanted to return to the cheap garage and it nearly cost me. Driving home and had to go another 5 miles and the computer told me 5 miles left in the tank as you can see this was well into the reserve and the light came on about 30 miles ago. Anyway there was a garage on the next slip road but me being pig headed wanted to get to the cheaper garage as it was 5p per litre less so I continued to drive past.

The computer was reading 0 as soon as passed the junction so I had to do another 5 miles on 0. oh my god I was having visions of walking to the garage to buy a plastic container abd filling it with fuel. But dropped my speed to 50 mph and started to free wheel down every possible slope. Listening and waiting to feel the judder, it never came I managed to get to the garage. Never again, my nerves were on edge the whiole way, what on earth was I playing at. A lesson learnt but also a lesson that when the computer shows 0, by driving careful you can get 5 more miles out of it. Something to bear in mind,  

Appreciate I could have put a fiver in to get me there but i was very silly, on this occasion it all worked out.


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## ajayp (Nov 30, 2006)

Mark 2 said:


> when the computer shows 0, by driving careful you can get 5 more miles out of it.


Acutally if you drive carefully you will get much more then 5 miles out while reading zero. I have managed to drive 15 miles a couple of times while testing this out. I dont always do this an go that low! However do mostly drive until I have about 5 miles or so remaining on the DIS.

TBH the whole fuel warning light coming on with 35 odd miles left in the tank seems a little strange to me. I mean you have 35 miles yet so why does it come on soo soon?

I'd understand if it came on at 10 or 15 miles, steering you to find a garage an fill up but 35 in most my cases is way to early.

Is there a way to change this via the Vagcom or whatever it's called?


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## TT-REX (Jun 3, 2011)

not good tho, i heard the pump would suck the dirt from the bottom of the tank and it may clog your filter and your injectors

and moisture to accumulate in the fuel from condensation. In cold weather climates this can cause ice in the fuel lines.


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## LEO-RS (Apr 13, 2009)

No need to worry at all. When 0 comes on there is just over a gallon left in the tank. Driving off boost can see another 60m in a TDI or 40m in a TTRS/TTS and little bit more in a TT so you would have been nowhere near fuel starvation at 5m

I know the worrying feeling you talk of though but it's psychological. On filling the tank back up you would have seen that you were nowhere near it.

I would say 90% of the time I take my RS past 0 by 15-20m and then manage to get 57-58l back in to it's 60l tank. Filling at 0 would only allow me 54-55l back in.

The old suck dirt from the bottom of the tank is an old fish wives tale. What dirt? Petrol pumps are filtered and even if minescule particles did get in there, we have fuel filters to catch anything like that. I would expect the fuel from refinery until it hits your fuel injectors is filtered at least 3x if not more. (refinery/fuel bowser in and out,storage tanks/petrol pumps and then eventually own car fuel filter)


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## missile (Jul 18, 2011)

There are not so many garages on the west coast of bonnie scotland and fewer open on a Sunday. When the garage I was heading for was closed I did 32 miles after zero, it was nerve racking.


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## Mark 2 (Oct 18, 2011)

missile said:


> There are not so many garages on the west coast of bonnie scotland and fewer open on a Sunday. When the garage I was heading for was closed I did 32 miles after zero, it was nerve racking.


Is that on a Petrol engine? Imust admit though, now that I have experienced it, i would be less worried in doing so again.


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## Critter10 (Nov 4, 2010)

ajayp said:


> Mark 2 said:
> 
> 
> > TBH the whole fuel warning light coming on with 35 odd miles left in the tank seems a little strange to me. I mean you have 35 miles yet so why does it come on soo soon?


It's probably something to do with being close to (although not exactly) 55K. Having lived in Germany, that much fuel would usually be sufficient to get you from one autobahn fuel stop/exit to the next. Not an exact science, but I wonder if that is the thinking :?:


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## wja96 (Mar 4, 2010)

I don't know definitely about the TT, but on most VAG cars the zero point is set with 5l in the tank. I know this because I have had to have my fuel gauge recalibrated and that's how it's done.

So, as Mitchy said, when the light comes on, you have just over a gallon left.


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## blizeH (Feb 10, 2012)

I don't get why people would consistently go into the red, to the point where the computer says you have 0 miles left - personally I'm completely the other way with fuelling the car though, and fill up as soon as I get down to maybe quarter of a tank, or as soon as the red light comes on - don't see any benefit to taking chances...


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## missile (Jul 18, 2011)

Mark 2 said:


> missile said:
> 
> 
> > There are not so many garages on the west coast of bonnie scotland and fewer open on a Sunday. When the garage I was heading for was closed I did 32 miles after zero, it was nerve racking.
> ...


Yes, that was on my previous mk1 1.8L TT.


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## LEO-RS (Apr 13, 2009)

blizeH said:


> I don't get why people would consistently go into the red, to the point where the computer says you have 0 miles left - personally I'm completely the other way with fuelling the car though, and fill up as soon as I get down to maybe quarter of a tank, or as soon as the red light comes on - don't see any benefit to taking chances...


I get through 3 tanks every 2wks. Do what you suggest and fill up when the tank reaches a 1/4 and I would make 20 extra trips to the fuel station each year  Even doing it at the eighth when the fuel light comes on is an extra 10 trips to the fuel station.

There's also fuel degradation and extra weight to consider. For the guys that run the performance cars (namely RS's) where every horsie is important, fresh fill ups are a must, no dilution or very little dilution with the previous batch of fuel etc.

For me though, why would I want to visit the fuel station 10-20 more times than I needed too :lol:


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## Philplop (Nov 22, 2011)

blizeH said:


> I don't get why people would consistently go into the red, to the point where the computer says you have 0 miles left - personally I'm completely the other way with fuelling the car though, and fill up as soon as I get down to maybe quarter of a tank, or as soon as the red light comes on - don't see any benefit to taking chances...


It's more convenient. Means less trips to the petrol station. If you know there's plenty of petrol in the tank, then why fill up at 1/4 of a tank?

And you're paying money to transport all that heavy petrol around with you.


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## powerplay (Feb 8, 2008)

I tend to never fill my tank 100% except where I know I will be doing a longer journey, otherwise I only put in what I know I am likely to need for the week ahead.

Why lug all that extra weight of fuel around if you don't need to :? !


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## Mark 2 (Oct 18, 2011)

powerplay said:


> I tend to never fill my tank 100% except where I know I will be doing a longer journey, otherwise I only put in what I know I am likely to need for the week ahead.
> 
> Why lug all that extra weight of fuel around if you don't need to :? !


Thats another way of looking at it.


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## TT-driver (Sep 14, 2010)

powerplay said:


> I tend to never fill my tank 100% except where I know I will be doing a longer journey, otherwise I only put in what I know I am likely to need for the week ahead.
> 
> Why lug all that extra weight of fuel around if you don't need to :? !


That makes very much sense!

Only one technical/chemical reason to fill up a tank completely: When your car doesn't drive through the winter period, a full tank doesn't allow for damp air to get into the tank and there is less air in the tank for lighter fractions of the fuel to evaporate in. So always put the car to bed with a full tank.

Other than that, a full tank is just a convenience and makes it easier for the on-board computer to predict distance to empty.


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## blizeH (Feb 10, 2012)

Ah, brilliant - thank you! I guess my paranoia of running out of petrol will at least let me get into red for a bit rather than filling up when I'm down to quarter of a tank 

While we're on the subject of fuel by the way, should I be getting Super Unleaded? (sorry to go off topic, just thought of it and didn't want to create a new thread) - cheers!


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## ajayp (Nov 30, 2006)

powerplay said:


> I tend to never fill my tank 100% except where I know I will be doing a longer journey, otherwise I only put in what I know I am likely to need for the week ahead.
> 
> Why lug all that extra weight of fuel around if you don't need to :? !


Never thought of this... - but in reality does it cost you to carry a full tank around?


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## TWH (Aug 25, 2010)

powerplay said:


> I tend to never fill my tank 100% except where I know I will be doing a longer journey, otherwise I only put in what I know I am likely to need for the week ahead.
> 
> Why lug all that extra weight of fuel around if you don't need to :? !


Was about to post the same. I normally only put in £25 at a time which will last a few days normally. Never fill her up unless I'm going on a long journey where I will use it all because otherwise I'm just lugging loads of extra weight which makes her slower, less economical and not handle quite as well (small margins I know, but every little helps!). Plus unleaded petrol goes off within 7 days.


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## McKenzie (Dec 25, 2008)

The difference between half and a full tank is only about 17-20KG which could be less than the difference between drivers anyway. It wouldn't make much difference over the short term running less fuel in the car, it probably works out at less than 1% difference in total weight of the car and driver combined. The potential benefit would be very small and in my opinion I would prefer to just keep my car with more fuel in for convenience.

And Petrol does go off but you would need to keep it in the car for 2-3 months before you would start to notice, an air tight fuel tank would not degrade fuel quickly unless you lived in the tropics. Also note that petrol goes off faster in smaller quantities too!


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## Joerek (Oct 24, 2008)

Troubles for nothing. Driven 90 km with 0 km on the clock once (wasn't paying attention), but that was with the tdi and poured in 59 liters. In my opinion the pump-alert comes way too early in the TT. No need to worry. Make it yourself easy, once it shows 0 km / miles, then stop at the very first gasstation on your route, no problems. With the RS I have to be honest, I do that with 20km left because its much more thirsty


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## powerplay (Feb 8, 2008)

A full 60 litre tank will weigh in the region of 43-44kg which is about 3/4 of an average adult sitting permanently in the rear.

Although not a huge amount of extra weight compared to the car (2-3%) if I know I don't need it I don't carry it, in my opinion that's just common sense. Besides, when you run an RS every little does help :lol:


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## McKenzie (Dec 25, 2008)

powerplay said:


> A full 60 litre tank will weigh in the region of 43-44kg which is about 3/4 of an average adult sitting permanently in the rear.
> 
> Although not a huge amount of extra weight compared to the car (2-3%) if I know I don't need it I don't carry it, in my opinion that's just common sense. Besides, when you run an RS every little does help :lol:


42.6KG to be precise  but that weight is if you have no fuel in the car whatsoever. If you run it half full then it's around 21KG difference, but since half full on the needle is around 35 litres it would be around the 17KG which is about 1% of the weight of the TT. Really doesn't seem worth the trouble in my opinion :?


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## MoreGooderTT (Aug 20, 2011)

I fill up completely at approx 1/4 tank remaining because a) it's Saturday and I'm nearest to the station close to where I buy groceries, and b) I like to keep meticulous records of my MPG. One must fill to the brim with the exact same gas pump to get the most accurate MPG calculation.

On a long journey, I fill up when I have to pee, which for someone my age is no where near the red line. :lol:


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## TortToise (Aug 22, 2009)

I generally fill up whenever I go below half a tank, that's about once a week on average.

The extra weight (maybe 20-25kg) isn't going to be a big deal and if anything, the TT benefits handling-wise from a bit of extra weight at the rear axle as it's front-heavy.

Why risk running out or being 'caught short'  at an awkward time?


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## audimad (Jan 7, 2008)

I will never understand why people spend thousands on a car and then ruin it by putting in cheap fuel. I wonder if there is someone out there driving around in a £150 old banger who only use Shell V Power. :lol:


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## tortoise99 (Dec 26, 2005)

blizeH said:


> Ah, brilliant - thank you! I guess my paranoia of running out of petrol will at least let me get into red for a bit rather than filling up when I'm down to quarter of a tank
> 
> While we're on the subject of fuel by the way, should I be getting Super Unleaded? (sorry to go off topic, just thought of it and didn't want to create a new thread) - cheers!


I've been running on V Power or the Tesco 99 RON stuff for the last few years - would never go back to standard unleaded. The car feels much nippier. Also the small improvement in fuel economy 'almost' covers the extra cost per litre.


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## rash149 (Nov 7, 2009)

tortoise99 said:


> I've been running on V Power or the Tesco 99 RON stuff for the last few years - would never go back to standard unleaded. The car feels much nippier. Also the small improvement in fuel economy 'almost' covers the extra cost per litre.


i found the opposite. performance much better but mpg is worse i find.

I usually let it down to to about 10 - 20 miles before filling up back to quarter (unless need to go further for work)


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## cdavies360 (Jun 7, 2011)

Word of warning if your nerves were bad on this occasion.....dont pull up to the barriers at the Nurburgring with the display showing '10 miles'. Your back side gets a bit twitchy when the reading changes to '0 miles' with a quarter of a lap to go

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


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