Reserve tank?? Indicator light?????

[Jessclaud]

NEw owner of Aveo 5 here...realised that my car doesnt have any indicator light for the reserve tank...

 

Indicator almost empty..but top up only shows about 34litres...specs says 45litres....anyone knows of reserve tank available and any indicator?

 

Dont wish to risk till last drop of petrol...wait car kena stuck at expressway...

 

Pls advise!!!

[Aveofan]

I'm also new owner of aveo but sedan manual.

 

Don't worry,you can continue to drive until indicator reaches E or even slightly below E before the Reserve Light will come on. Then you will have about 7.5 litres of petrol left which should allow you to drive for another 100km or so (assuming your FC is 13.5 km/litre) before your car kenna stuck somewhere with no petrol station in sight.....

 

Fyi I usually drive till the Reserve Light appears (between the speedo and tacho), zero the trip meter B and fill up $50 of petrol at my usual petrol station. The fill up can be the same day or the next day depending on my schedule. Then I drive till the Reserve Light comes on again, take note of the km covered before I zero trip meter B again. This is the method I use to calculate my FC.

Hope this helps.

 

Aveofan

[Jts156]

yup all cars have a reserve capacity even after reaching E.. manufacturers built in to avoid being stuck in the middle of nowhere. the reserve amount is usually enough to get you to the next petrol station

[Jessclaud]

I have not used till the end of the tank..maybe in that case I will try it then..

 

For now I take the number of kilos I drove and the number of litres to calculate my FC..dont know whether is it accurate...avgr abt 11km/l only..

 

Will try to drive till Reserve Light comes up...n take note ...thanks for your reply!

[Mzrmazda3]

Bro, heard that it's not healthy for your fuel pump if you always run til the reserve light comes on According to manual, most recommend to pump before the 1/4 mark

[Xiaogary]

Becos our car have petrol fuel pump. When u use near empty, due to uneven road, and shaking, the fuel pump sometime cannot pump petrol in. The fuel pump make use of the cool petrol to cool itself down. So when it cannot pump petrol in, it doesnt cools down fast enuf and prolong usage like this wth low level of petrol will kill the petrol fuel pump.

 

Also when always have low level of petrol, the petrol vaporise to fill the petrol tank and u will get poorer milege or FC Becos your fuel is less dense when its near full and vaporisation is minimum.

 

Plus with little petrol inside, fuel tank on top rust easily. Its not cheap to replace one. And also rust mix with petrol...there goes your engine internal.

[Aveovista]

I also just bought a Aveo Hatchback and I often pump when the indicator light comes out. Cos manual says still got 7.5 litre left, so thought it's okay.

 

Now from what you said, guess I will top up more often now. Thanks Bro

[Aveovista]

Fyi I usually drive till the Reserve Light appears (between the speedo and tacho), zero the trip meter B and fill up $50 of petrol at my usual petrol station. The fill up can be the same day or the next day depending on my schedule. Then I drive till the Reserve Light comes on again, take note of the km covered before I zero trip meter B again. This is the method I use to calculate my FC.

Hope this helps.

 

Aveofan

 

Wow, so xiong - must zero trip meter everytime you top up...

 

I calculate my FC from an EXCEL file downloaded from the Resource (I think) folder. It's quite easy to use, just key in the mileage and amt of litre everytime you top up and you'll see a 1-tank, 5-tank and 20-tank average trend. No need to wait until empty tank then top up too. Can fill petrol at anytime and the calculation still valid.

[Aveofan]

Hi Aveovista, Xiaogary and Mzrmazda3

 

Thanks for all your advice and tips.

 

Looks like I better stop this habit of driving

till reserve light comes on before topping up.

(Never had any fuel pump problems with the previous

cars I owned though - 2 Lasers, Quintet)

 

Will start using the Excel spreadsheet and see if I

can maintain or better the 13.8 km/litre I'm getting at

present with my aveo sedan manual.

Currently driving with aircond on all the time, changing gears

between 2000 to 2500 rpm but occasionally 3000 rpm, 70% highway

& 30% city, standard 13" rims and tyres from Starsauto.

 

Aveofan

[Aveovista]

Wow, your FC is already very good liao. My new car is still hovering around 10km/litre even with a controlled right foot. But it's a Auto.

 

Now hoping it will get better after my 1st servicing. (From the Excel file, I can see an increasing trend going upwards )

[Skoder]

Hi, I got similar problems too... My fuel pump broke 2-3 weeks after collection of the car.... Din actually drive till red light.... din know about it.... After replacement, I drove till red light to calculate my FC, 1 and half years later, it broke again.... dun have that kind of stuff on my skoda before....

will now learn to pump promptly when reach 1/4 mark....

[Cbx750p]

Becos our car have petrol fuel pump. When u use near empty, due to uneven road, and shaking, the fuel pump sometime cannot pump petrol in. The fuel pump make use of the cool petrol to cool itself down. So when it cannot pump petrol in, it doesnt cools down fast enuf and prolong usage like this wth low level of petrol will kill the petrol fuel pump..

 

Right but not so... the pump can still pump until the tank becomes empty because there is a swirl tank inside the main steel tank that would "push" the remaining fuel into the reserviour where the fuel pump is located. Problem is, when there is very little fuel, alot of air is pushed into the reservoir and this air mixed with fuel mixture would be drawn into pump which would be damaged because of the lack of lubrication. In the end, the pump would fail earlier.

 

Also when always have low level of petrol, the petrol vaporise to fill the petrol tank and u will get poorer milege or FC Becos your fuel is less dense when its near full and vaporisation is minimum..

 

Don't know about this....less fuel means less weight which equal to less load...meaning better fuel consumption. I would think that when driving over longer distances, the lower fuel level would not mean worse FC actually.

 

Plus with little petrol inside, fuel tank on top rust easily. Its not cheap to replace one. And also rust mix with petrol...there goes your engine internal.

 

Rust would only come about when there are three components, air, water and bare metal. Chances are, there would be very little water inside the tank and oxygen is very limited, the tank are made of galvanised metal, so rust would almost not come about. Problem is when one accidentally pump dirty fuel which contains water....over longer period of time, rust would sure to form.

[Cbx750p]

Wow, your FC is already very good liao. My new car is still hovering around 10km/litre even with a controlled right foot. But it's a Auto.

 

You must be using those oversized 185/60/R14 tires, right ? Yeah...bigger tires means better handling and road feel but compromises on fuel consumption. Mine Optra 1.6MT was giving me 11 km/litre with the original 195/55/R15 tires and I down graded to 185/65/R15 and FC improved to 12 km/litre average.