400SE petrol tank capacity

[adam quantrill]

I alway thought this was 44l just like the 350i, but I just filled up and got 51l into it. Have I been done (i.e. dodgy pump metering)?

[wedg1e]

I always understood it to be 13 gallons (60L).

[adam quantrill]

Which - 13gal or 60l?

60l is 13.6gal.

13gal is 57l.

I've never got anything like this into any wedge (soft-top that is).

[andymadmak]

I once got 55l into mine. It then promptly self syphoned about 4 litres back out via the cap, and various vent pipes! Practically speaking about 50l is the limit I reckon.

[adam quantrill]

Well I almost always brim the tank when filling, i.e. to within 3 inches of the filler, except when I am only going a short distance and then parking (i.e. less than a gallon's worth!).

Cold petrol can otherwise expand and overflow out the back.

So - are we saying that a 400SE shape has bigger tanks than the MK2 350i?

[taimar78]

The 400SE owners manual lists the fuel tank capacity at 61 litres/13.5 gallons.

[adam quantrill]

Well I never, been driving these things 15 years, man and boy, and I didn't think I had much more to learn.

I have just checked both the SE and 350i manuals, and _all_ wedges have 60.75l capacity. Even fixed heads and 200's. So now I have to calibrate the fuel guage _again_, having previously assumed it was 44l.

Also - what with the cold night last night, early morning fill and hot day, despite driving 2 miles from the filling station to work, the tank oozed petrol out of the filler neck and trashed the coach lines under it! Grrr....

[hamish400]

From bone dry (engine stuttered to a halt) to brim full (visible in the filler neck) my car took about 61 litres.

Rgds
Hamish

[cirks]

I get bored waiting for the breathing between the tanks to sort themselves out so usually give up at about 9 gals. Not surprisingly in mine, that doesn't get me very far. I'd be surprised if I could get another 4 gals in drip feeding it though....

Edited by cirks on Thursday 5th April 23:07

[350zwelgje]

cirks said:

I get bored waiting for the breathing between the tanks to sort themselves out so usually give up at about 9 gals. Not surprisingly in mine, that doesn't get me very far. I'd be surprised if I could get another 4 gals in drip feeding it though....

Edited by cirks on Thursday 5th April 23:07

Seems that there are different interconnecting diameter of hoses used to connect the two tanks. I have several and a very huge one (think like 60-70mm diameter) near the top. Was very hard to get a replacement when doing all stuff related to fuel hoses! Filling up to nearly full is no issue for me. Just requires a light pushing/rocking of the car while filling up, and then slowing down as the air bubbles out with petrol, for the last 5 litres and up to its 60 litres capacity...

[adam quantrill]

I think most of my problems over the years have been from the fuel gauge hitting empty well before it actually is empty. So I have a couple of gallons in there still, and can't get more than 11 in.

This time around I'm going to calibrate the gauge properly!

[cirks]

adam quantrill said:

I think most of my problems over the years have been from the fuel gauge hitting empty well before it actually is empty.

most of my problems come from the car doing 11mpg on the road so the fuel gauge unfortunately hits empty just after showing full