Fuel Tank Capacity Dilemma on RS2

[darkhorse1210]

Just back from a 1100 mile road trip into Germany and back....blinding.

Anyway, this trip obviously used a few litres of fuel so this raised a few questions about how much fuel was left in the tank when the warning light came on.

The first time we were cruising in Belgium and it suddenly dropped and the light in the shape of the petrol station fuel pump on the dash came on and beeped, then we got the 'E' for empty flash up the next gas station was 21km so thought we better be extra careful.

As it turns out I could put 52 litres in. My understanding was that the RS2 had a 62 litre tank on it?? What makes me suspicious of this is that the next time the 'E' flashed up we could put a maximum of 52 litres in again.

This leads me to think that (a) my on board computer has lost it or (b) my car doesn't in fact have a 62 litre tank on it. From memory 52 litres is the maximum it has ever taken and I'm sure I've been on fumes at that point.

Any thoughts? This is 3.5yrs into ownership and I still haven't figured this out

[K7ERG]

Maybe the sender in the tank is giving a false reading. Run it and when empty beeps. Lift the cradle out with pump and have a look in the tank. I am sure Audi's build in like a reserve. My fuel gauge was reading empty. And I carried out the above and there was a good few litre in there. Probably depends on the tank shape.

[Lloyd]

I think IIRC the Avant has a 64 litre fuel tank. The point at which the low fuel indicator and the emergency fuel beep/lamp activates is adjustable. There are instructions on S2Central here for fuel gauge calibration: http://www.s2central.net/main_frame.html

[jade]

Just back from a 1100 mile road trip into Germany and back....blinding.

Anyway, this trip obviously used a few litres of fuel so this raised a few questions about how much fuel was left in the tank when the warning light came on.

The first time we were cruising in Belgium and it suddenly dropped and the light in the shape of the petrol station fuel pump on the dash came on and beeped, then we got the 'E' for empty flash up the next gas station was 21km so thought we better be extra careful.

As it turns out I could put 52 litres in. My understanding was that the RS2 had a 62 litre tank on it?? What makes me suspicious of this is that the next time the 'E' flashed up we could put a maximum of 52 litres in again.

This leads me to think that (a) my on board computer has lost it or (b) my car doesn't in fact have a 62 litre tank on it. From memory 52 litres is the maximum it has ever taken and I'm sure I've been on fumes at that point.

Any thoughts? This is 3.5yrs into ownership and I still haven't figured this out

I have had my RS 2 9yrs and I think mine only holds 53 to 54 l as I have been running on fumes and only ever been able to put 52 l in if, been meaning to run it out to see one day

[Jamo]

The fuel tank I was told is a 62 litre total split into 7.5 reserve tank and 54.5 Litres in the main tank which is why you can only ever fill it with just over 54 litres as the reserve always holds fuel.

[mcandmar]

Also just because there is 7 litres of fuel in there dosent mean the fuel pump can actually suck it up. I have had mine with the needle below the red on the gauge and still running, but i dont know how close i was to running out. I do know the 044 pump sits a few mm's higher which will reduce my range. I have never paid any attention to how many litres i put in, i'm too busy watching the price and crying.

[darkhorse1210]

Cheers for all the replies, sounds like everyone has suffered similar experiences. I did try changing the fuel gauge sender but that didn't make much difference. The guy who fitted it did say it had 2 senders on it which kinda links to the idea that the car has 2 tanks....1 in reserve, presumably the reserve tank has a sender on too?

The other thing that makes me think there are plenty of litres left in is the fact that my manual fuel gauge shows just under 1/4 full when the empty light flashes on....being into vinyl and all things analogue I would always favour the old skool technology

Just don't want to run her dry as I can't imagine it's healthy picking up all the crap in the fuel tank up and sending it through the engine!

[johne]

There aren't two tanks that makes no sense. The only way to know is to run the car until it stops and then refill allowing for the 5 litres or whatever you've had to add when you stopped to get you to the nearest petrol station - that's what I did to find out my exact capacity which is 65 litres - but I have a coupe

You won't pick up any extra crud running it dry as there is a petrol filter and the petrol is circulating all the time anyway. However, it isn't a good idea to run the pump dry but that will stop when the engine does.

At the point you stop you can look at your petrol gauge and see how far below the empty it is! Using the adjuster on the far right of the instrument binacle you can adjust the gauge to read whatever you'd like it to read when your tank is empty.

You can't adjust the point the low fuel light comes on, that is preset by the fuel tank sender.

John

[Billman]

AFAIK the rs2 tank is 58liters. Never been able to put more than 52lt after the warning came on. The reserve must be in the 7 lt region as I did approx 50 km city and then I was standing still with no fuel (Sunday late night outside the city can be a Problem).

[EspenW]

"Reserve tank" would only make sense if that was a separate tank that you physically (or by flipping a switch) had to attach to the main tank when the main tank ran dry. Having a 7 litre tank that is always full, but the fuel pump can't suck from makes little sense. I have run my tank empty several times, and fuel capacity of the RS2 is 58 liters maximum. I have never been able to fill up more than 52 or so litres, and that is after running empty and just pouring in the 4 ltres from my small Jerry can (that is a real reserve tank) and going the few kms to the petrol station.

[darkhorse1210]

So virtually everyone has encountered the 52l maximum fill up then, glad it's not me going crazy.

Cheers for all the replies.

[Golfboy666GTI]

Ive put 58L in my RS2 a few times.
Strangely Ive only seen the fuel pump light, Ive never had a beep or a E come up on the display.

[herald]

My RS2 has taken as much as 59.7 litres. I keep a record of date, mileage, price and litres every time. My E appears when the gauge is just above the red. My fuel light comes on well into the red and I leave it as long as I dare each time with both lit for a while prior to filling. I have no doubt that neither is that accurate, but ad my outside temperature gauge said 58 degrees C today, I don't take a huge amount of notice of that either!

[johne]

Ive put 58L in my RS2 a few times.
Strangely Ive only seen the fuel pump light, Ive never had a beep or a E come up on the display.

It depends on how your "miles to go" has been set up. If you still show 35+ miles to go when the tank is empty, then you'll never get the flashing at 30 miles to go etc.

The fuel level light is independant of how the "miles to go" is set up.

John

[Skaala]

I've only managed 52-53l as well. There was an option in 95-96 for an extra composite tank in the spare wheel well. Think it was from MTM. They are crazy expensive if you can find one on fleabay. Only seen one listed there the last few years.