hello,

the owner's manual claims that the fuel tank is 15 gal. capacity but it only takes 8 gal to fill it up when the needle reads empty. is it common to have the guage read wrong? only getting about 20mpg w/ the 1.8; i expected it to be better.

thank,

gregg

something sounds jacked up. some of the FWD vehicles i believe have smaller gas tanks are you looking up the right vehicle/have the right owners manual?

 

as for the 20 mpg. you *should* see more but...there are lots of variables. what kind of driving do you do? if it's all city/stop and go/short distance, lots of hills/mountains driving then you might be relegated to that no matter what you drive.

 

if you do lots of highway driving and still get that kind of mileage, what condition is the car in? a tune up will help greatly. tire pressure checked, spark plugs and ignition wires, and air filter are most important. fuel filter and O2 sensor might be helpful to address as well.

Bad fuel gauge readings are fairly common. Some models use 2 sensors in the fuel tank and when one sensor is bad it can cause the type of problem you are having. Usually just removing the sensor and cleaning the wiper contacts corrects the trouble. I heard of one case where someone used the fuel additive Techron in the tank and it cleaned the contacts so the gauge worked correctly. You might try it to see if it will work for you.

hello,

the owner's manual claims that the fuel tank is 15 gal. capacity but it only takes 8 gal to fill it up wen the needle read empty. is it common to have the guage read wrong? only getting about 20mpg w/ the 1.8; i expected it to be better.

thank,

gregg

The only gas tank sizes that I have seen Subaru use is the 50L or 60L, which corresponds to 13.2 Gal or 15.9 Gal.

 

Just to remove variables, has this happened at more than one gas pump? If not you might have found a magical gas pump that gives you free gas.

 

It is common to have the gauge read wrong. You might want to throw a gas can in your trunk and make sure the car can go 280 miles after a fillup. Then put some gas in and see how much you used. It should be around 14 gallons if you are getting a true 20mpg.

 

And there are quite a few tune-up items that will get your gas mileage up to where it should be.

thanks. i was going to carry some gas and try to run it until it ran out but my woman is using the car and i would need to exchange cars with her to do it:eek: . no 8 gallon tanks though as far as you guys know?

regards,

gregg