07-14-2006, 10:38 AM
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Active Enthusiast
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Location: Chicago
Hybrids: 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid
Posts: 120
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Re: How much is in the reserve?
Over at Edmunds' TCH fourm (message 2194) Hybridriver said this:
Quote:
TCH Fuel Tank Capacity Experiment --- RESULTS by hybridriver Jun 15, 2006 (7:46 pm)
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As you may recall, after letting the needle touch E on my first tank of gas and noticing that the ensuing fill up only required about 14.2 gallons, I decided to put a gallon of gas in my trunk to allow me to run my TCH out of fuel, and hence get a true reading on the fuel tank capacity. I was also curious as to how accurate the "Tank Mileage" readout would prove to be.
Several days ago, the needle again touched E. Odo A (which I had reset when filling the tank) showed 515 miles traveled, and the Tank Mileage was 37.0 mpg. Doing a long division shows that roughly 14 gallons (13.92) were consumed before the needle centered on E, again consistent with what most people are reporting.
During the last several days, I've been doing only short hop city driving, and the Tank Mileage had dropped to 36.0 mpg. If the tank actually did hold 17.1 gallons, that would imply that I should run out of gas after 615.6 miles. As Odo A passed the 600 mile mark, I started paying very close attention to signs that the gas had run out. I did not want to drive the car at all when that happened, due to the dire warning about the Prius that was posted here recently.
Anyway, today the car ran out of gas at 613 miles. I tried to accelerate, and the engine did not kick in. Fortuitously, I was a few hundred feet from a gas station at that moment, and just glided in with the electric motor to the pump. As I was filling up, I mused at how accurately the gauges had worked in forecasting that moment. But, then the pump blew through the 17.1 gallon mark, and it ended up taking 17.82. Soooo, either the gas companies are even greedier than we thought (is that possible? ), or Toyota underspec'ed the tank capacity, or there was some fuel in the lines that isn't officially tank capacity.
I got back in the car, pumped the accelerator a couple times to prime the fuel pump (unsure if that actually does that on the TCH), hit start, pulled away, and voila, the engine started. Drove home, as normal, feeling happy that the whole thing had been relatively painless (to both me and the car), and secure in the knowledge that I had performed a huge service for [a very small percentage of] the human race...
Final note: 613 miles/17.82 gallons = 34.4 mpg. As stated, the Tank Average read out at 36.0 mpg.
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