Fuel Disappearing Diesel

madasadad · 8th December 2007, 11:16

Living in Northern Ireland gives me the opportunity to buy my diesel in the Republic of Ireland at approx 85p per litre, a substantial saving when covering 30k miles per year. Yesterday morning with 35 miles showing on the readout to empty, and 70miles to the border, I called into a local filling station and put in 7litres of diesel. When I restarted the engine, needle hadn't moved and readout still showed 35 miles. Curious I thought and drove off, thinking it would sort itself out further up the road. About a mile later, the reading was still the same, so I returned to the filling station and asked the pump attendant if it was possible for the pump to indicate a delivery of fuel, but not actually deliver it. A simple no would have sufficed, however he called the manager who then proceeded to fill a 5litre can with fuel in front of me, whilst I felt a tw*t. Common sense told me that it would be impossible for a pump to register fuel delivery when none was present, but I couldn't believe my Car was lying to me!. So, full up on humble pie, I then went to another filling station, and put another 5litres in to see if that made any difference. Again, Judas betrayed me and showed only 35 miles to empty. So, 2.5 gallons later, the Civic still hadn't registered the fuel having been added. When I eventually filled up later, all was fine again, and the needle and range indicator behaved again. Any ideas?, I'm not overly concerned since I always plan my journeys to fill up in the South where possible, or if I'm not going to make it, I fill up at home. It was the first time in 20000miles that I hadn't put a full tank of fuel in!

civicfan · 8th December 2007, 11:40

Probably the culprit is the electronic fuel sensor - in my Citroen Xsara a few years ago I had an early version of this - I could fill in 15 litres without a change in the computer readout (and gauge!)
Just another pseudo-modern gimmick no one had asked for but everybody gets - probably because it's cheaper to make (?)

TTDegs · 8th December 2007, 11:46

You need at least a couple of gallons (10 ltrs ish) for the car to realise that more has gone in

This is to stop it getting overly optimistic / pesimistic as you drive up and down hills

madasadad · 8th December 2007, 12:02

Possibly, however, I added 12 litres to approx 3 litres already in the tank, which is 3 gallons'ish, so I'm surprised it didn't register any improvement when the 12 litres were added. Must be a Civic thing

, another one

Maldax · 8th December 2007, 12:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by madasadad

Possibly, however, I added 12 litres to approx 3 litres already in the tank, which is 3 gallons'ish, so I'm surprised it didn't register any improvement when the 12 litres were added. Must be a Civic thing

, another one

Yea it is a pain! I have added £10 and then another £10 the following day with nothing showing up and must have had a quater of a tank in!

Did read somewhere on here that it has something to do with the shape of the tank as it has a ridge in the middle and the sensor is on the wrong side of the ridge

TTDegs · 8th December 2007, 12:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by madasadad

Possibly, however, I added 12 litres to approx 3 litres already in the tank, which is 3 gallons'ish, so I'm surprised it didn't register any improvement when the 12 litres were added. Must be a Civic thing

, another one

I should have added - 'in one go'

aslz78 · 8th December 2007, 14:57

I had the same thing on my Focus when i was going to pick the civic up, put about £7 of petrol in, but the computer didnt recognise any, still got me there fine tho.

jelliedrik · 23rd January 2008, 00:25

hi there...i just got my civic type s gt 2.2 ctdi before christmas + have found the same as you, that when refuelling, the range didnt go up at all! i also found that when i drove the car to 0miles...i was able to continue driving for another 50/60miles! i have never drove it til it ran out so goodness knows how far i could have got. also im doing a test at the minute on border fuel vs not border fuel...apparently its a false enonomy + you mite get more miles from the dearer stuff.

8th December 2007, 11:16	#1 (permalink)
madasadad Supporter Triangular Exhaust Join Date: 21st February 2007 Location: Carrickfergus Posts: 272 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Disappearing Diesel Living in Northern Ireland gives me the opportunity to buy my diesel in the Republic of Ireland at approx 85p per litre, a substantial saving when covering 30k miles per year. Yesterday morning with 35 miles showing on the readout to empty, and 70miles to the border, I called into a local filling station and put in 7litres of diesel. When I restarted the engine, needle hadn't moved and readout still showed 35 miles. Curious I thought and drove off, thinking it would sort itself out further up the road. About a mile later, the reading was still the same, so I returned to the filling station and asked the pump attendant if it was possible for the pump to indicate a delivery of fuel, but not actually deliver it. A simple no would have sufficed, however he called the manager who then proceeded to fill a 5litre can with fuel in front of me, whilst I felt a tw*t. Common sense told me that it would be impossible for a pump to register fuel delivery when none was present, but I couldn't believe my Car was lying to me!. So, full up on humble pie, I then went to another filling station, and put another 5litres in to see if that made any difference. Again, Judas betrayed me and showed only 35 miles to empty. So, 2.5 gallons later, the Civic still hadn't registered the fuel having been added. When I eventually filled up later, all was fine again, and the needle and range indicator behaved again. Any ideas?, I'm not overly concerned since I always plan my journeys to fill up in the South where possible, or if I'm not going to make it, I fill up at home. It was the first time in 20000miles that I hadn't put a full tank of fuel in!

8th December 2007, 12:02	#4 (permalink)
madasadad Supporter Triangular Exhaust Join Date: 21st February 2007 Location: Carrickfergus Posts: 272 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Possibly, however, I added 12 litres to approx 3 litres already in the tank, which is 3 gallons'ish, so I'm surprised it didn't register any improvement when the 12 litres were added. Must be a Civic thing, another one

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This thread is about: Disappearing Diesel, it's in Engines and Transmission at the Honda Civic forum Civinfo; Living in Northern Ireland gives me the opportunity to buy my diesel in the Republic of Ireland at approx 85p per litre, a substantial saving ...

8th December 2007, 11:40	#2 (permalink)
civicfan Supporter Magic Rear Seat Join Date: 13th September 2007 Posts: 735 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Probably the culprit is the electronic fuel sensor - in my Citroen Xsara a few years ago I had an early version of this - I could fill in 15 litres without a change in the computer readout (and gauge!) Just another pseudo-modern gimmick no one had asked for but everybody gets - probably because it's cheaper to make (?)

8th December 2007, 11:46	#3 (permalink)
TTDegs Super Moderator Civinfo master Join Date: 4th August 2006 Location: Cardiff Posts: 5,638 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	You need at least a couple of gallons (10 ltrs ish) for the car to realise that more has gone in This is to stop it getting overly optimistic / pesimistic as you drive up and down hills

8th December 2007, 14:57	#7 (permalink)
aslz78 The voice in your head Locking Wheelnut Join Date: 17th September 2007 Location: Spalding, Lincolnshire Posts: 169 Thanks: 2 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I had the same thing on my Focus when i was going to pick the civic up, put about £7 of petrol in, but the computer didnt recognise any, still got me there fine tho.

23rd January 2008, 00:25	#8 (permalink)
jelliedrik Valve Cap Join Date: 22nd January 2008 Location: portadown, northern ireland Posts: 2 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	hi there...i just got my civic type s gt 2.2 ctdi before christmas + have found the same as you, that when refuelling, the range didnt go up at all! i also found that when i drove the car to 0miles...i was able to continue driving for another 50/60miles! i have never drove it til it ran out so goodness knows how far i could have got. also im doing a test at the minute on border fuel vs not border fuel...apparently its a false enonomy + you mite get more miles from the dearer stuff.