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Old 01-25-2013, 07:34 PM   #21
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Re: Fuel tank capacity / distance between fill-ups

An oldie but goodie. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=229

Note that Jage reports 16 gal. left when his fuel light comes on

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Old 01-26-2013, 01:23 AM   #22
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Re: Fuel tank capacity / distance between fill-ups

dHally and Pato -

seems like I did the right thing for my situation, I guess ...

It just didn't make economic sense at all especially as I didn't have a tow issue to think about - I couldn't justify it at the time based on increased range ..

Maybe if diesel was a buck cheaper like it should be and the diesel engine was not $6000 more than the V10 ... $6000 more!!! ... wow ... and diesel is 50 or more cents higher than regular gas

at least the mpg is about 40% better than gasoline

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Old 01-27-2013, 05:26 PM   #23
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Re: Fuel tank capacity / distance between fill-ups

Sounds like a bunch of gamblers out there. I always try to drive on the "top half" of my tank. When I'm at half a tank, I just fill er' up at the next fuel stop. If I'm heading into the woods, I always want to start with a full tank. Going to Kelly Creek in ID for instance, I know it's 60 miles in from Superior MT, and it's going to be 60 miles back before I see any fuel. And If I'm planning to spend 3 or 4 days on the river, that could add another 50 miles or so. So even if It's only been 100 miles from my last fill up. I always top off the tank before I leave the highway.

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Old 01-27-2013, 06:10 PM   #24
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Re: Fuel tank capacity / distance between fill-ups

Quote:
Originally Posted by flyfisher
Sounds like a bunch of gamblers out there. I always try to drive on the "top half" of my tank. When I'm at half a tank, I just fill er' up at the next fuel stop. If I'm heading into the woods, I always want to start with a full tank. Going to Kelly Creek in ID for instance, I know it's 60 miles in from Superior MT, and it's going to be 60 miles back before I see any fuel. And If I'm planning to spend 3 or 4 days on the river, that could add another 50 miles or so. So even if It's only been 100 miles from my last fill up. I always top off the tank before I leave the highway.

Tom
I agree with you, in theory if not practice. I'm not as good about filling up as you are though I try to not let any of my vehicles lower than 1/4 of a tank. I've been through a few post-earthquake days where there was either no power to run the pumps, or there was a shortage of available fuel since fuel tankers couldn't get through.

I'm hardly a doomsday prepper, but I do like to be self sufficient after an emergency if at all possible. That and getting a few more miles out of a tank versus the potential damaging consequences of running a modern diesel engine dry, makes me conservative in my fuel management.


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Old 01-27-2013, 06:38 PM   #25
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Re: Fuel tank capacity / distance between fill-ups

Soon after we got the van I put a gallon of gas in the Rotopax and purposely ran our V10 out of gas. Since I had been carefully monitoring our MPG I was able to calculate the usable fuel in our 46 gallon transfer tank at 46.66 gallons.

- run out of gas
- add one gallon
- drive 3 miles to gas station
- filled tank to absolute top
- I factored in the one extra gallon added and the amount of gas it took me to drive the 3 miles to the gas station using the 11.95 mpg I was getting on that particular tank
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Old 01-27-2013, 07:39 PM   #26
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Fuel tank capacity / distance between fill-ups

I have a 7.3 with 42 gallon transfer flow tank. I can never get 42 gallons filled in there, however. I must be impatient.

Anywho, about 450 miles before I get sweaty and have to fill. My light isn't accurate. I ran out of fuel once about 10 miles after the light went on and the needle was still above the red line.
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Old 01-27-2013, 07:43 PM   #27
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Re: Fuel tank capacity / distance between fill-ups

I also keep the tank full whenever possible mainly because of the Espar but if I do get low and start to worry about the distance to next fill-up, slowing down extends my mileage big time. Even reducing from 65 to 55 makes a huge difference in preformance running my PSD. I have yet to see the light
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Old 01-27-2013, 10:42 PM   #28
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Fuel tank capacity / distance between fill-ups

I have a 55 gallon tank and can on average get 52 to 54 gallons at a fill up. The best I did before chickening out was 770 miles. The transflow still showed a couple gallons but I just could not do it.
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Old 01-29-2013, 09:07 PM   #29
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Re: Fuel tank capacity / distance between fill-ups

Not trying to sound to OCD...but when I come home from a trip, I always top off the tank so it's full for the next trip (or earthquake). I guess I just don't understand why anyone wants to see how far they can get on a tank of diesel or gas before the damn light comes on. And I don't buy the argument that the less fuel in the tank means less weight to push resulting in better mileage...We didn't buy these rigs because we were concerned about mileage.....

fill it up when it's half empty and worry about other issues...like what to do when you've gone through all the Bourbon and everyone else in the campground is drinking white wine.

Tom
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Old 01-29-2013, 09:37 PM   #30
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Re: Fuel tank capacity / distance between fill-ups

so true
Quote:
Originally Posted by flyfisher
Not trying to sound to OCD...but when I come home from a trip, I always top off the tank so it's full for the next trip (or earthquake). I guess I just don't understand why anyone wants to see how far they can get on a tank of diesel or gas before the damn light comes on. And I don't buy the argument that the less fuel in the tank means less weight to push resulting in better mileage...We didn't buy these rigs because we were concerned about mileage.....

fill it up when it's half empty and worry about other issues...like what to do when you've gone through all the Bourbon and everyone else in the campground is drinking white wine.

Tom
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