Accord has three gallons left when fuel gauge on Empty?

Does the Honda Accord (1991, V6) really have a 17 gallon fuel tank?

When the fuel indicator was just touching E (Empty), and the fuel
warning light came on, I could only fill in 13.6 gallons.

Which means there was still 3.4 gallons left in the tank, which is good
for a long ride - atleast 70 miles in city driving.

Does this sound correct? That even when the fuel gauge shows
nearly emtpy, the accord has around 3 gallons of usable gas in the tank?

 

Count your blessings...

 

Subject: Re: Accord has three gallons left when fuel gauge on Empty?

They want you to fill up rather than run dry to help prevent contaminants on
the bottom of the tank from entering the fuel lines,pump,etc. Also, keeping
more gas in the tank will help reduce the amount of condenstion of water from
entering the fuel system

 

Good point... for 30 year old cars.

Fuel systems today are sealed, no danger of water vapor entering...
most filling stations are covered, so little chance even of rain
entering when you are filling up.

 

yup. so drive another 70 miles, if you want.

 

Yes, it's considered a fuel reserve. Now you know, so you can go the
extra few miles if you want; but IIRC Honda advises strongly against
running out of fuel, so don't push it too much.

 

Does this sound correct? That even when the fuel gauge shows

Yes, it's considered a fuel reserve. Now you know, so you can go the
extra few miles if you want; but IIRC Honda advises strongly against
running out of fuel, so don't push it too much.<<

That much? Yesterday I drove my newly-filled (not topped off) 2004 Civic EX
sedan until the gas gauge showed half full (half empty for you pessimists), I
filled up and got 4.25 gallons into the tank before the shut off. The Civic's
gas tank is 13 or so gallons, this means there is a 4 gallon reserve? I guess I
just have to get used to it, I'm anal about gas (no pun), so I end up spending
more time at gas stations than I like to (although as a NJ woman I can pump a
mean tank of gas!).

 

Good point!

For me, I drive mostly vintage vehicles and had one particular truck
where when it said "empty," it meant just that. You don't wanna know
how many times that I ran outta gas with it.

Now, I "bend" the float mechanism on every car I redo to insure that
there are at least three or four gallons when the empty mark is reached.

 

You might want to bear in mind that today's fuels are far less stable
than the old formulations. More gas than indicated is a helluva lot
better than being stuck on the roadside...

 

Condensation will be with us forever. Unless you replace the air in
the tank with nitrogen, the water vapor in the air will condense on
the insides of the tanks when the outside air is cold. The less gas
in the tank, the more area there is for the water vapor in the air to
condense. The problem has nothing to do with actual water entering
the fill tube (E.G. rain.) Even if the system is "sealed" you can't
stop the air from entering the tank when you take off the cap. That
air contains varying degrees of water vapor.

 

"Half full" means nothing. Let it get down until the needle is
exactly aligned with the "E" mark, then fill it up. Subtract the
amount added from the tank capacity and subtract another half gallon
which is unusable and you have your (approximate) reserve which is
probably about three gallons. Good to know, but save it for an
emergency.

 

I filled up my wife's new MDX a few days ago just as the computer
predicted "0" miles remaining. The needle on the gas gauge was still
a needle's-width above E. She was freaked out but I figured there was
4 gallons or so remaining.

It took 17 gallons; the tank is nominally 19.2.

That suggests to me that there is only a 1 1/2 gallon or so reserve
when the needle gets solidly on E. At 17 mpg (but we're getting 15),
that isn't much reserve left at all.

I assume that the MDX designers realized that a 19.2 gallon tank is
too small for this vehicle, and really edged toward disaster to
compensate. In contrast, the Accord mileage is better so they didn't
have to push so hard toward empty to get a fair amount of "useable"
fuel.

The MDX manual mentions the possibility of backfiring when running out
of gas. This will damage the catalytic converters.

That's a lot more expensive than drawing in junk at the bottom of the
tank. Which is what socks and filters are for, so I don't believe
this is a real problem.

JM

 

Subject: Re: Accord has three gallons left when fuel gauge on Empty?

When a tank is not full,water can condense on the walls of the gas tank and
enter the fuel system. I don't recall mentioning anything about rain or water
entering the fuel system via the inlet to the tank.

 

Fuel gauges aren't linear, so you can't conclude that.

 

You must be thinking of old VW Beetles. On all the cars I have owned, about
10, it has been linear. As others have mentioned, the cars usually get to
E with a few gallons still left in the tank.

 

I've never had a car with a linear gas guage. They always seem to stay
above the 1/2 way mark much longer than below it. I'm pretty sure this
is typical.

 

I think you must not know what linear means. I have yet to ever encounter a
linear gas gauge in 39 years of driving and 27 different cars, from a '60 to
an '02. They are all marked as if they are linear, but they are not.

 

My 2004 EX has an 3 gal reserve.
It is interesting to see the gas gauge drop so quickly in the Civic, but
I've learned not to worry about gas until you hit the empty.

Considering a 30 mpg (low end) on the Civic. There is still 90 miles of
city driving even when the empty light goes on.

 

My 2004 EX has an 3 gal reserve.
It is interesting to see the gas gauge drop so quickly in the Civic, but
I've learned not to worry about gas until you hit the empty.<<

So which is it....when the light goes on there are 3 gallons left, or when the
gauge hits the E? As I said before, I never let the needle get much below half
full, but just in case.....

 

Here's one that's wildly non-linear: 1973 Cadillac Fleetwood Brogham
de Elegance that my mom used to have long ago. Very fancy car in its
day -- I would sometimes drive it to college, and park it very
blatantly in a guest parking space right in front of the university
president's office, since it didn't have a parking permit. They never
touched it.

The needle would hang on to "F" a very long time. When it got to the
halfway point, it maybe had 1/3 of a tank left (about 10 gallons
left). Then it would move exponentially faster and faster. By the
time you reached 1/4 tank, it would just plunge to "E". I ran out of
gas once, and nearly did another time because of this.

JM