Fuel gauge...

ciden · Post by **ciden** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 6:14 pm

Ok, I want to know from you guys, if there's a problem with Polo's fuel gauges. This evening I went to the fuel station to have the car filled-up (going on away for the weekend). The car's fuel gauge needle was just below the 1/2 way mark, and still the car took 39.78L of fuel. How can this be?

That's not the best part, a few weeks ago when I went to Cape Town, for my trip back again I had the car filled-up to the brim - and it took 48.50L of fuel - HOW?? The tank is 45L. I'm puzzled!!!

Also when I go on the road and the tank is full, the needle only starts moving @ around 200km (125miles). Is this normal???

Also - the fuel price here now for 95 octane petrol is R3.56 (27p)/litre

Babe RuthLess · Post by **Babe RuthLess** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 7:29 pm

The guy at a Shell service station I use told me the pipe that connectes the fuel nozzle to the actual tank can hold about 10 litres of fuel when filled to the brink, but VW does not recommend doing this as this would ruin the canister - some sort of hydrocarbon filter, to reduce emissions, and which is compulsory in petrol-powered cars pretty much everywhere as far as I know.

ciden · Post by **ciden** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 7:36 pm

Ok fair enough, but how are we the drivers suppose to know when the tank is full - and that no fuel is in the canister? They should think about stuff like this!

Babe RuthLess · Post by **Babe RuthLess** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 9:56 pm

That's true.

In any case ask the person who's filling your tank up to let go when the pump stops automatically for the first time.

Hope this helps,

Petrified · Post by **Petrified** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 10:14 pm

I wish we had attendants to fill our cars up for us. If we asked they would probably look at us as if we were stupid or something!

And incidently, I've never been able to put more than 35L in my polo! But havn't had any problems with fuel levels.
The digital display usually says I have 320 miles left when the tank is full but then it goes up and eventually get around 400 miles from a full tank now. I wonder how many I could get if I could put 45L in!!

James.

Ballyhoo · Post by **Ballyhoo** » Fri Jun 13, 2003 5:03 pm

Yeah mine does this its weird-I fill it up to one automatic stop/clank by the filler, I can then do 70 miles unitll the fuel gage moves!!

very weird

Babe RuthLess · Post by **Babe RuthLess** » Fri Jun 13, 2003 5:26 pm

Yep that happens with me too.

No movement from the fuel gauge needle until about 60 miles, then all of a sudden it drops to 7/8 or a bit less.

If I use the climatic it drops even further.

vwpower · Post by **vwpower** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 6:13 am

On te computer on board shows how much Miles you have left with that gas, but it depends on the average of Miles per hour on the last miles.

ianvr · Post by **ianvr** » Wed Jun 18, 2003 2:58 pm

I've had the same problem. My fuel gauge move after about only 300km (Diesel). The other problem was that inside the fuel flap, there was a normal Unleaded sticker instead of the Diesel sticker. This caused a lot of trouble with petrol attendants wanting to fill the tank with Unleaded petrol. I've since reported this with VW and waiting for the new sticker. I re-fuel around 50 to 52 liters at a time, where is that 45 liter tank? To be honest I would have prefered a bigger tank with a smaller spare wheel. A 55 liter or 60 liter tank will give me in excess of 1000km fuel range per tank.

Ian