100 Series Fuel Tank Capacity

Submitted: Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 12:33
ThreadID: 30211 Views:10996 Replies:6 FollowUps:7
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Having just read through Davoe's post 27353, I am prompted to ask the following: When refuelling a 100 series T/D does fuel flow into the main when filling the sub, does it flow into the sub when filling the main, or does it just go into the tank you are filling? Can fuel flow from one tank to the other whilst driving?

I have a 182l Long Ranger as a sub, and the 95l main. Even after running either the main or the sub dry, I can never get anywhere near the full capacity into either of the tanks.

When on Fraser last year I ran the main dry, then put 20l in it. I then ran on the sub until it ran dry also. At that point I had only the 20l in the main. That got me from just out of Rainbow to Gympie, where I refueled both tanks. The 60km I drove should have used about 9l, so I should have had only 11l left in total out of 277l - but I could only get 245l in. Add the 11l still in the tanks, and I am still about 20l short of total capacity.

OK, so there is always some unusable fuel left in the bottom of the tank - but 20l??

What are other peoples experiences? Can you fill your tank with the so-called capacity when dry?
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Reply By: bombsquad - Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 12:48

Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 12:48
I have often thaught the same. When I get home from work next week, I plan to run the sub tank out (GU Patrols pump sub into the main), and then drain the sub completely to see how much gunk etc is in the tank, and also how much is left in the bottom. (this may be a handy emergency 10 litres or so in a bad situation)

At some stage I will also do the same with the main, but I wont be driving until it runs out in case I damage the fuel pump etc, I will get it low and then undo the fuel line from the tank & measure how much that is (from when the fuel light comes on or some other referance), and then undo the bung on the tank & see how much comes out.

I will post my results

Cheers Andrew
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Follow Up By: Member -Dodger - Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 14:10

Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 14:10
Andrew,
There is no bung for draining the main tank on my GU. Did you get one put in?
There is a drain bung on my aux/sub tank but it is not standard 80ltr job, I can only pump over a max of 70ltr out of it but I am happy with that.
Like the idea of yours re dumping the last out in an emergency from the sub.
With most tanks I have had you can never get very close to the claimed capacity out of the tank in actual driving, of course there must always be some left as the pickup would not get it all.
I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.

Cheers Dodg.

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Follow Up By: bombsquad - Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 14:35

Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 14:35
Haven't had one put in, only presuming there should be one! I probably wont have one in the standard sub tank as well. All will be revealed on Thursday.
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Reply By: South - Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 14:18

Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 14:18
We have a 150L long range tank in the Pajero and other than the initial fill (150L) the most it has ever taken is 138L, at which point taking a corner to fast (20km/hr) the fuel cuts and the engine splutters till the body is flat again.

It, in my opinion, is good to have a few litres left in the tank that is non-useable. It keeps the pump submerged and cool. As soon as the pump is poking out of the fuel it starts to heat up.

This is why in our case the car is filled before the low fuel light comes on. 245L is still a considerable amount of fuel and a looooooong distance between fills. I guess it boils down to, would you rather an extra 150km or would you rather replace the fuel pump more often...
AnswerID: 151610

Reply By: Vivid Adventures - Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 14:21

Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 14:21
The whole fuel filling situation on 100 series annoys me.

I can't speak for the LR situation, but the std filler pipe easily gets an air lock so you can think it's full when it ain't.

One has to rock the car to clear it and then complete the filling - the highflo pumps are worst at causing the air lock.

No fuel flows between tanks except overflow through the top of the filler pipes - if you don't put the nozzle right down into the pipe of one tank or other, you could be filling both at once. Fuel can't flow between the tanks at all to my knowledge.

Unusable fuel at the bottom of the tank is minimal - I can't believe 3rd party tanks are designed with 20l unusable.

What do you mean by "ran the main dry"? I know that in the main tank of my std setup I have about 16 litres from the time the light comes on in the main - not sure in the sub.

When dry I can fill my tanks to rated capacity (although I've never quite emptied the sub, but I've come within 2litres) - I hate getting the jerry cans off the roof!

Ciao for now
Andrew.
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Follow Up By: Member No 1- Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 19:43

Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 19:43
hate getting the jerries of the roof?...dont carry them :) hehehe
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Reply By: Peter 2 - Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 19:46

Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 19:46
Having had Toyotas for years even when you run the 90 litre tank in a troopy right out there is still at least ten litres left in it. So a troopy with 2 x 90l tanks standard can only ever use about 160l not 180l.
AnswerID: 151640

Follow Up By: Banjo - Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 19:55

Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 19:55
Peter

Glad you bought that to my notice. I know that when the light comes on I have 17 litres left. I didn't know that of the 17, only about 7 according to your experience, is available! There goes a lot of what was my 'emergency' fuel.

Banjo (WA)
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Follow Up By: Member - John (Vic) - Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 20:21

Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 20:21
In my Troopy I run my tanks down till the engine starts to cough then I switch.
When I refill they virtually always take 86 litres, leaving me with 4 litres in each tank unusable.

If I were to refill and the pump says more than 86 litres then I would know that there is a problem with the servos pump. (Never happened as yet)

Cheers
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Follow Up By: Peter 2 - Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 21:01

Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 21:01
You should never run the 1HZ till it coughs, the 30 secs or so till you push the button and it gets fuel from the other tank your injection pump is not being lubricated or cooled. You will eventually stuff the pump, the first sign of problems is that it doesn't catch immediately when starting when hot.
Quite a few owners have learnt the hard way.
Mind you if you swap vehicles every two years you'll get away with it but the next owner will probably get caught.
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Follow Up By: Member - Davoe (Widgiemooltha) - Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 21:53

Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 21:53
Peter the fuel pumps on the TD are different to tyhe 1hz. I dont know if they are as sensative to being run dry and seeing As i heard the fuel pump is 12 grands worth (could this be right???) I wouldnt be finding out either
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Reply By: 100TD - Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 20:59

Sunday, Jan 29, 2006 at 20:59
fuel only goes to the tank you are filling,they dont interconnect,the lr tank in mine aledgedly holds 122ltrs but running it till it coughs and splutters still can only put around 90 odd ltrs in it.whats the rest doing?????
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Reply By: Trekkie - Monday, Jan 30, 2006 at 22:53

Monday, Jan 30, 2006 at 22:53
I have a long range tank, so I am not sure if mine is different to standard, but when you fill standard they are not connected, but I recall a similar question some time ago and I seem to recall that there is a return line from the fuel pump that goes to either one or both tanks - can anyone throw light on this - could explain the differences in fuel level
AnswerID: 151971

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