crfan replied:

Fill it it up (or drain it) 50 or 100 lts at a time marking the dip stick as you go..
May take a while but you only have to do it once.

crowe replied:

Bob,

wait unitl the truck next comes to fill it up and use his flow meter in conjuction with dipping to get the levels right, that maths is way to hard to be attempted on a friday especially considering beer oclock is only a few hours away.

crowe

gumagoo93 replied:

Hi Bob

Should be able to calibrate a dipstickstick using your schoolboy maths (like mine!)as follows:

1. measure height of tank (on the side panel) and cut dipstick to corresponding length, then divide length of stick by 4 to give you quarters.

2. divide bottom quarter segment by 10 to give you gradients of 100

3. divide 100 gradients by 10 to give you 10's.

The dipstick may not be long, but it will be calibrated pretty accurately...
I used to work in the oil industry many years ago, and one interesting gadget was an indicator (a marker - you can make one from copper or aluminium) that was slipped over the dipstick and was locked in place with a grubscrew...there was a right angle bend on the indicator, so that when the fuel level was down to the level of the marker, you could see the arm of the marker sitting above the level of the fuel, thus indicating that you were getting low or whatever...hope it helps. if not it was worth a try...cheers...Don

Hedonist replied:

For horizontal tanks you can use:

V = L(pi*a^2/2 - a^2*arcsin(1-h/a) - (a-h)*sqrt(h(2a-h))

Where:
V= Volume of liquid
L = Length of tank
a = radius
h = height of liquid in tank

I can email an excel spreadsheet if you like.

Cheers,
Pete

bruce.h (WA) replied:

bob
when the motor is running you have fuel
when your stops its empty
thats best i can do having looked at the formulars above ishould come &stand next to the tank because i feel like dip stick
Regards bruce

Member - Bigbear replied:

Some good answers but they are giving me a headache

Lower the hose below the outlet on the tank and if no fuel comes out it is a pretty sure bet the tank is empty.

Unfortunately this may not solve your problem. have fun.

PeterBush Bappo's 4WD Club
Get out there & have a look

relaxed QLD replied:

Bob
calculate the volume in cm3 (LxBxD)for rectangler, for cyclinder use Pie (22/7)X Radius squared X Height. For every 1000 cm3 = 1 Liter. To calibrate a dipstick, do a number of measurement equations on the tank eg 1/4 of the depth X L X B, 1/2 the depth X L X B and so forth until your satisfied with what you want. By the way, these formulars came out of my daughter's year 7 maths book.
Relaxed

Member - Alex B replied:

Hi Bob,
Measure the tank – radius, length –sit down your desk with the above formulas and ideas, turn on your computer,calculator, plenty of paper, make sure you have a variety of coloured pens etc..... Then when you're set ...push it all to one side, open a "cold one" get out the Yellow pages and ring some tank companies eg – Gilbarco, or Email, and buy a calibrated dipstick to suit!
Cheers :-))
Alex

Davidm replied:

Best way to check the levels is to search the tank for a ladder once found start a process called climbing. Once you can't climb up any more feel around for a small round steel object, when you locate this start rotating it counterclockwise being carfull not to let it fall from you grasp when it realease's from tank. Once you have this done then close one eye and look into tank with other eye from there you should be able to see if there is still fuel in there :)
This is the secret way so please don't let anyone know unless you know them well

hehe

Just joking

Regards
David