Fuel tank size?

[treeroy]

What is the fuel tank size? (pre face)

Last week I filled up for the first time, my fuel gauge was lit up and on empty, I used 38 litres to fill it up. SO I assumed it had 40 or 42 litre tank.

But on Parkers info it says 48 litre tank. Is that right?

[Joesson]

Parkers agrees with the Toyota owner's manual for PFL- 48L/12.7US gal/10.6Imp gal.

[Call the midlife!]

38 litres is about right from the warning light coming on, between what's left in reserve and the bottom entry filler pipe flowing back up to the petrol pump nozzle you'll never completely fill the tank with it in the car.

[treeroy]

well that is very interesting then. I dont understand why my fuel tank would have considered itself empty if it still had 10 litres left!

Thanks for the answer

[Joesson]

well that is very interesting then. I dont understand why my fuel tank would have considered itself empty if it still had 10 litres left!

Thanks for the answer

@Carolyn am I right in "remembering " that fuel tank gauge floats sometimes leaked, became heavy and gave a false reading?

[Carolyn]

well that is very interesting then. I dont understand why my fuel tank would have considered itself empty if it still had 10 litres left!

Thanks for the answer

@Carolyn am I right in "remembering " that fuel tank gauge floats sometimes leaked, became heavy and gave a false reading?

It does happen. It's rare but not unknown.

[Call the midlife!]

Well it's not "empty" until there's no fuel left in it and the warning light comes on with probably 40 miles or so left as a safety feature so you don't end up stranded.
It's not 10 litres of fuel, it's 10 litres of capacity.
It's the same as car manufacturers quoting the luggage capacity in litres, you would have to get creative to get the full capacity in.

[treeroy]

Well it's not "empty" until there's no fuel left in it and the warning light comes on with probably 40 miles or so left as a safety feature so you don't end up stranded.
It's not 10 litres of fuel, it's 10 litres of capacity.
It's the same as car manufacturers quoting the luggage capacity in litres, you would have to get creative to get the full capacity in.

Why... ?

Every other car I've had, when you're out of fuel you can fill up with pretty much 99% of the alleged fuel tank size.

Why would the MR2 be different?

[Carolyn]

Well someone needs to conduct the experiment.  Any volunteers for running out of fuel?

Don't look at me

[Joesson]

My understanding is that it is not good practice to run out of fuel for so many reasons.
My daily (diesel)I fill up when on around a quarter of a tank. Sometimes I have gone to low fuel warning, around 50 mile capability I believe but I have no intention of finding out.
My 2 is used much less but I apply a similar rule but don' t always " fill up" .
Why would anyone want to be the person with/ without a can walking in the rain at night?
PS one of my early vehicles did not have a fuel gauge, it had a reserve tap, which if not reset meant you ran out of fuel.  I managed to do this twice, each time right by a petrol station and spluttered to the pump.

[Call the midlife!]

Well it's not "empty" until there's no fuel left in it and the warning light comes on with probably 40 miles or so left as a safety feature so you don't end up stranded.
It's not 10 litres of fuel, it's 10 litres of capacity.
It's the same as car manufacturers quoting the luggage capacity in litres, you would have to get creative to get the full capacity in.

Why... ?

Every other car I've had, when you're out of fuel you can fill up with pretty much 99% of the alleged fuel tank size.

Why would the MR2 be different?

I'm not going to argue the toss over that one, although I doubt your figures to an extent but have a look at the design of the tank and think about how modern petrol pump nozzles work.

Plus you're suggesting you've previously run cars dry but haven't yet done it with the 2? Run it dry and then see what you can get in and you'll know better what the "spare" capacity might be.
I did over 800 miles in mine at the weekend with at least 3 38 litre fills and only one of those was from the warning light to the pump auto cut off.
If you pull the nozzle out a bit and reduce the flow rate you can get more in but never bother.

[Bossworld]

I'd always assumed it was a 40 litre tank, never managed to get more than 38 in.

My best ever run was 412 miles on Ding Day 2017 and I assumed I was running on fumes at that point, particularly as a full tank on mine puts the needle slightly higher than the gauage itself.

Don't regularly run your car on fumes, I believe it's the primary reason my mini high pressure fuel pump died