April 15, 2005:

How big is the fuel tank?

Someone emailed me a while back, asking if I knew whether the ‘05 MINIs had a bigger fuel tank … according to the manual, it is the same 13.2 (US) gallons as previous years.
But I have now filled GBMINI#3 five times, with four fill-ups being 12.6 or more gallons - and today I put 13.3 gallons in the tank! And the car was still running when I drove into the gas station.
I am definitely putting more gas in each tank than with GBMINI#2; I only put >12.6 gallons in that car 3 times in two years of fill-ups.

So maybe the low fuel warning & OBC run the tank much closer to empty than earlier models … but that does not explain how today I exceeded the fuel tank capacity.
Perhaps the tank capacity was increased - but then why are the specs wrong in the manual?

Posted by GBMINI at 06:24 pm | GBMINI#3
Comments: 11 (post new comment)

  1. Al on cape. (2005/04/15 @ 8:39 pm)

    Assumption; the filling unit was corectly calibrated. The filler neck might make up the difference. You do run close to the bottom. Also, there is a neat fuel gong option on low fuel. I love that gong. Enjoy that new MINI. Any updates on driving the automatic?
    Al.

  2. Theo (2005/04/16 @ 9:34 am)

    Ian,

    This winter I almost ran out of gas in mu ‘04. three turns before the gas station caused the fuel pick-up to suck air and temporarily starve the engine.

    When I filled up the tank, I could not get in more than 12.5 gallons; the nozzle’s auto-shutoff wouldn’t let me fill any further. I even backed the nozzle out of the neck a little bit to reduce the pressure but still could not get more gas to flow. Clearly, I had much less that a gallon in the tank when I pulled into the station, but I could not fill-up the final ~1 gallon.

    So…perhaps they have re-engineered the filler neck to make it straighter or larger in diameter to allow us to actually fill the tank to the top…and then some.

    Roughly calculating the numbers, I would imagine that 0.1 gallons would fill, say, just under 6 inches of 2.5 inch filler neck pipe.

    So, if the filler neck has been straightened or increased in diameter that would:
    a) allow the full 13.2 gallons to be pumped into the tank, and
    b) will reduce pressure feedback to the pump nozzle thus allowing a portion of the filler neck to contain fuel.
    This situation would be consistent with an unchanged tank capacity.

    Ok, no more coffee for me!

    Ted

  3. Ian C. (2005/04/16 @ 10:19 am)

    Ted,
    Thank you for the calculations - fabulously fanatical ;) There is definitely something different - I drive to a similar OBC warning & fill up the same way in the same gas stations as before, but the new car has consistently taken more gas to fill it.

  4. Josh Wardell (2005/04/16 @ 12:18 pm)

    I just checked my history, the most I’ve put in is 12.75, and if I remember right I think the remaining OBC range was 4mi; I’ve never had it down to the “–”

    I think some pumps may be slightly off in measuring, but I think more of a difference is their shut-off sensitivity. I fill up at different stations every time, some times my needle is well above full for a while, others its hardly touching the full mark.

    But knowing all the “hidden” 05 changes I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if there was a small change in the shape of the tank, diameter of the filler neck, etc that would increase capacity slightly.

  5. Ian C. (2005/04/18 @ 1:49 pm)

    Al,
    For some (positive) comments about the auto transmission, see my recent ADSS post

  6. Lee L (2005/04/18 @ 3:11 pm)

    I have often put in 13.1+ gallons. I have gone over 13.2 3 or 4 times as well with the most ever being 13.866 gallons. There is no way that the filler neck holds over 1/2 gallon. Now, this particular time, I was almost 1 whole stick width below the E mark so I know it was low.

    This is in an October 2003 build (2004 MY)

  7. Amit (2005/04/21 @ 9:53 am)

    I got 12.5 gallons on my road trip driving the ‘05 MCS back home. I was amazed with the gas mileage. 403 miles in 12.5 gallons! 32.24 mpg, i’m pretty impressed as I don’t think I ever got over 360 miles out of a tank on my old ‘02. Only engine mod on the ‘05 so far is the Alta intake.

  8. tony bisconti (2005/06/03 @ 5:29 pm)

    Just got my 05 mini s a week ago. Drove till the
    gas gage was on E and then filled it.
    It took 14.5 gal. Explain this one.

  9. Jeff (2005/07/11 @ 1:07 am)

    I just put 13.33 gallons in my 03. Had 4 miles left on my distance calculator. Jeff

  10. Sparky (2005/10/18 @ 10:23 am)

    14.5 gallons? Try filling up at a different gas station — I think the one you are using is ripping you off!

  11. Ian C. (2005/10/18 @ 9:42 pm)

    Sparky - no; the MPG calculations of that tank and the ones before & after confirmed it was not an inaccurate pump!

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