- Location
- Southern Maryland
I recently replaced my old gas tank, pump, sender and filter with new parts (pics and comments in this thread) but due to the starter crapping out I only got around to fully testing the system today. Some interesting things...
When I dropped the old tank I siphoned the old gas into a 5-gallon can. I had run the needle down to E with the light on, so I figured it had to be close to empty, but I ended up with about 3 gallons in the can, and a couple more cups drained out when I put the tank on the fire pit to drain all the way. The fuel gauge never went all the way to F so I wasn't really that surprised that there was more than expected at E.
After I put in the new tank, I measured out 2.5 gallons in another can, and used that as my starting level with the new sender. At dead empty, the tank was somewhat below E (maybe the equivalent of a 1/8th mark on the gauge), and after adding the 2.5 gallons the needle only went up a little bit.
Today I drove to the corner station and put in another 2.5 gallons, and the needle went to just above the E mark, and the light was still on. Assuming that I lost .5 to 1 gallon on startup tests, can leaks and evaporation, driving to the gas station, etc., that should still be 4 to 4.5 gallons in the tank, and yet it was sitting on E with the light on.
I thought about it for a little bit, drove around seeing how much the gauge wavered at stops and starts, and decided to go ahead and fill it all the way to see where the gauge ended up.
I put another 19 gallons into it. So even if I lost a gallon or two on my brief driving around town, that would mean I have a capacity of over 22 gallons. Wow. The tank I bought is the Spectra Premium 20-gal from rockauto, but everything I've read says that the tanks don't hold that much because of expansion and the burp tube. I had wanted to do the go-jeep tank mod to get a couple of more gallons, but my forearms are too large to get in the hole and reach the burp tube, so I had to put it on stock. IOW the tank is really capable of holding 20 gallons of liquid fuel (at least).
Also, the gauge now goes about a 1/16th mark past F, so the gauge actually does work. I will probably bend the float arm down a little bit so that it is more biased towards F (so that just below E is a couple of gallons instead of four gallons).
Anyway kind of interesting to me thought I'd share.
When I dropped the old tank I siphoned the old gas into a 5-gallon can. I had run the needle down to E with the light on, so I figured it had to be close to empty, but I ended up with about 3 gallons in the can, and a couple more cups drained out when I put the tank on the fire pit to drain all the way. The fuel gauge never went all the way to F so I wasn't really that surprised that there was more than expected at E.
After I put in the new tank, I measured out 2.5 gallons in another can, and used that as my starting level with the new sender. At dead empty, the tank was somewhat below E (maybe the equivalent of a 1/8th mark on the gauge), and after adding the 2.5 gallons the needle only went up a little bit.
Today I drove to the corner station and put in another 2.5 gallons, and the needle went to just above the E mark, and the light was still on. Assuming that I lost .5 to 1 gallon on startup tests, can leaks and evaporation, driving to the gas station, etc., that should still be 4 to 4.5 gallons in the tank, and yet it was sitting on E with the light on.
I thought about it for a little bit, drove around seeing how much the gauge wavered at stops and starts, and decided to go ahead and fill it all the way to see where the gauge ended up.
I put another 19 gallons into it. So even if I lost a gallon or two on my brief driving around town, that would mean I have a capacity of over 22 gallons. Wow. The tank I bought is the Spectra Premium 20-gal from rockauto, but everything I've read says that the tanks don't hold that much because of expansion and the burp tube. I had wanted to do the go-jeep tank mod to get a couple of more gallons, but my forearms are too large to get in the hole and reach the burp tube, so I had to put it on stock. IOW the tank is really capable of holding 20 gallons of liquid fuel (at least).
Also, the gauge now goes about a 1/16th mark past F, so the gauge actually does work. I will probably bend the float arm down a little bit so that it is more biased towards F (so that just below E is a couple of gallons instead of four gallons).
Anyway kind of interesting to me thought I'd share.
