Need Help - How much fuel???

[insomaniac45]

Hello everyone. 

Ok, so those that do not know. Car is. 

306 cabby, 2.0 16v 2000plate. 

so, my fuel guage is a bit iffy. I can put £20 in, it shows 1/2 a tank. get home (round the corner) come back to the car later that day, and it has lost 1/8th of a tank. 

Now there are no visible signs of leakage, or strong smells of petrol. 



How many miles can you guys get on £20, i can average just over 100. is that a normal amount of miles or am i seriously losing petrol like its going out of fashion.... 

any help or further investigative questions welcome.

[Toms306]

It's most likely the gauge, not the car, they're pretty poor in 306s in my experience at least! £20 isn't half a tank, closer to a quarter tbh!

But that doesn't sound far off anyway, about 25mpg, that's pretty much what I was getting in the GTi6.

[vincent1]

maybe if you have a friendly mot tester get them to put the car on there emissions machine just to check its running ok and not rich etc.

[welshpug]

doing miles per £ on the gauge is a daft highly inaccurate way of doing things.

the most accurate way joe bloggs can calculate fuel consumption is to fill the tank till the pump clicks off, zero the trip meter.

do your usual driving about for half a tank or 3/4 tank, fill back up preferably at the very same pump, take note of the litres required to fill up and the miles covered.

work it out.

[insomaniac45]

It's most likely the gauge, not the car, they're pretty poor in 306s in my experience at least!  £20 isn't half a tank, closer to a quarter tbh!

But that doesn't sound far off anyway, about 25mpg, that's pretty much what I was getting in the GTi6.

Thanks Tom, that sounds a little better. 

@Welshpug - I know it is highly inaccurate way of getting mpg. but, im not interested in finding my mpg. i was interested in if my car was losing petrol, if say £20 didnt cover 50 miles, then i would have a major issue, but from what tom has mentioned it sounds about right, so i know it is the gauge that is most likely the culprit in my mis readings. 


Is there an easy fix for this? or would it be better to just replace the sender unit and float? 

Cheers guys.

Tony.

[welshpug]

there is no fix.

[Toms306]

As above, it's not actually broken, just rubbish.

[insomaniac45]

lol. so it would not be worth taking it apart to give it a good clean up? had a similar think with my truck, but that was it not reading the fuel levels, turned out there was too much oxidization on the contacts. Or is it too much trouble to even warrant me popping off the back seats.

[Magenta Sunset]

prob not a lot of help, but I work on MPL (miles per litre).
generally fill 35L (from warning light or 1/4), and ave 350/375 miles depending on how much right foot I give it.
(oops, I have an HDi)

[Toms306]

That's not brilliant for a HDi, 350 miles to 35 litres is only 45mpg! Should be more like 425 miles to 35 litres. But again you're using the rubbish guage to work that out.

[WiNgNuTz]

My hdi also makes rubbish mpg, but most of my driving is stop start up to 30mph (if I'm lucky), and with a boot full of tools. Usually get between 38-45mpg, again depending on how heavy my foot is.

[RetroPug]

lol. so it would not be worth taking it apart to give it a good clean up? had a similar think with my truck, but that was it not reading the fuel levels, turned out there was too much oxidization on the contacts. Or is it too much trouble to even warrant me popping off the back seats.

No, it's crap as standard.

[Magenta Sunset]

That's not brilliant for a HDi, 350 miles to 35 litres is only 45mpg!  Should be more like 425 miles to 35 litres.  But again you're using the rubbish guage to work that out.

best I recall, was my road trip to Austria. over 500 miles on each fill-up.

[Toms306]

500 miles on a 60 litre tank? Is that really all? I get more in the inefficient Focus with a tiny tank!

[bashbarnard]

Wow hdis are bad. And i now have one. My 2.1 managed 600 miles a tank so does lus xud. Lol

[Toms306]

I've never had a HDi do less than 600 to a tank btw... More like 650 usually!

That includes the workhorse estates also lol. I've no idea what you guys do to them!

[Paul_13]

I brimmed the tank before coming down to Cornwall, I've done 550 miles and I've still got over a 1/4 tank left nearer a third.
I've been driving like a bat out of hell along some of these roads, nice to have some wide open roads

---

Something wrong with it if you've only got 500

[Magenta Sunset]

let's just say autobahns are addictive

[Jonny81191]

My HDi sees around 550-650 a tank. Combined local and a couple of long runs, often loaded up too.

[Magenta Sunset]

without the aid of my notebook, my figures may be off :/

[Poodle]

Might be worth cleaning the plug connections and tracks on the sender unit, don't know it'll ever be great though lol.

[Piggy]

I realise I have not owned as many pugs as others... But the citroens/pugs I have owned....
All the gauges have been pretty accurate.
So they must have a general fault that is fixable when they begin to misread!?