46 Gal Transferflow Diesel fuel tank - Page 2

jage · 10-10-2008, 08:10 PM

I thought it was a 48 gallon tank? Did they go smaller in the 2008s?

I've had the sputtering too, back when I thought there were 10 gallons left when I hit E and kept driving. I always wondered if it was intentionally done by the computer chip to warn the driver they were nearly really out of gas. Nothing like sputtering off and on wondering if you're going to make it to the next pump. Much more exciting than just rolling to the side of the highway.

Greg In Austin · 10-10-2008, 08:19 PM

Good reminder Herb.... the signature was put together before we had any mileage stats...

Jage, I think the tank has been 46 gallons, but I could be wrong. We usually have 8 to 10 gallons after the low fuel warning starts and after we hit E. We had that today on the way up IH35 for the Tx vs OU game, and we only put 39gallons in.

jage · 10-10-2008, 08:40 PM

Mine is documented in another thread but I have about 4 gallons after the low fuel warning, and I've successfully gone 42 miles past it on a tank averaging 11.6 MPG.

However when filling from near E I was consistently putting in 38 gallons before the pump clicked off. That is always 6-9 gallons short of "full" the only way I can gauge "full" is by super slow filling until I can actually see the diesel in the neck. I've been suprised a number of times with the range of the fuel that goes in after click off.

Also for the record I got 14.6 MPG on my last trip which was the first neck full to neck full calculation (although it included plenty of low range which in my Wrangler turns 16 mpg into 10 so...) my only conclusion is I have no real idea what my gas mileage is.

**BroncoHauler** · 10-10-2008, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jage

.... my only conclusion is I have no real idea what my gas mileage is.

Sometimes I prefer not to know, and live in ignorance, just like with my Bronco. My worst mileage ever in the Bronco was Shaver Lake to the northern trailhead of Dusy Ershim, the 30 miles of Dusy Ershim, and back to Shaver Lake. All told, probably 80 some miles using absolutely all of 33 gallons of gas. The entire length of Dusy was done in low range in my Bronco's Atlas t/c (5:1 gear ratio). The fact that it's carbuerated and not fuel injected didn't help.

For good mileage, we have an '05 VW diesel Passat wagon (40mpg highway).

Herb

Explorer 2 · 05-12-2009, 11:54 AM

I have ran out of fuel twice and was surprized that it only took 41-42 gallons before the pump clicked off. If I stand there and let the hose very slowly run filling the throat over and over again I could get the full 45, but usually I don't want to stand there that long.

Possibly you have had the same question about a 45 gallon tank that doesn't seem to hold that much.

Thanks,
Fred
Explorer 2

saabman · 05-13-2009, 04:38 AM

If you're running diesel, it will foam as you fill up, this is why the pump cuts out before full. I have had this often on previously owned diesel vehicles. AS you say run slow at the end of the fill up...

A bit like beer

Ford_6L_E350 · 05-16-2009, 08:02 PM

The Ford fuel pump has a vent tube that extends down into the tank. That is supposed to leave expansion room for the fuel and prevent fuel spills. When the fuel level hits that tube, foam shoots up the vent and shuts off the pump. When I first got my 46G tank, I spent 45 minutes trying to get it full to the filler neck (stubborn!). Salem-Kroger dropped the tank, found the problem and put a hole in the vent tube that is about an inch from the top. Now it will fill quickly to within 4 gallons of the top. The expansion room is now about the same as a stock tank.

On Dieselstop.com they refer to this as 'harpooning'. You can drill a hole, hacksaw a cut, use a dremel tool, or whatever to effectively raise the vent level. The pickup guys simply cut the tube off, but theirs is plastic and ours is metal.

Mike

Greg In Austin · 05-16-2009, 09:01 PM

There are two ways to 'configure' the 46 gal Transfer Flow tank. One is a CARB configuration for CA and the other is for the rest of the world.

The CARB configuration evidently has a different venting tht does cause either slow or non-filling to occur.

At one point there were CARB configured tanks being put in non-CA SMBs and this caused some additional confusion.

Having learned about the slow fill issue we discussed this with SMB TX and SMB CA ahead of our build to make sure that our TX-bound SMB having a 46 gal tank supplied in CA with the 4x4 work would have the NON-CARB configuration.

...and we have really not had the filling problems that others have described.

I don't remember the specifics of how the two differ, other than it did have to do with venting.

jage · 05-16-2009, 10:17 PM

If the vent tube dumps foam back into the filler neck, shutting off the pump, won't cutting the vent tube just cause the foam to come out of the vent tube and go where ever (which is down the filler neck and smelling up the van inside)?

Ford_6L_E350 · 05-16-2009, 11:09 PM

Cutting the vent tube stops the foam from coming up, until that cut is covered by fuel - then the vent is blocked and the foam comes up and shuts off the pump. Or at least that is how I understand it.

But, I know it works for me and for a bunch of 6.0's on the dieselstop site.

Mike