2009 Fit - Gas tank size > 10.6 gallons?
 

My understanding is the fit has a 10.6 gallon tank. Today I let the gas run down to near empty and then filled it up. To my surprise I was able to put 11.9 gallons in! I filled it all the way up until the gas reached the cap.

Anyone have any ideas how this can happen? Why is the tank rated at 10.6 gallons yet I can put more in? Is it possible that the fill tube can be well over a gallon? I wasn't even completely out of gas when I filled.

BTW, I'm trying to get an accurate gas reading and filling to the cap is the only way I know how to do it.

Any ideas?

The tube from the gas tank (under driver's seat) to the gas cap is quite long and holds about a gallon of extra gas. so, uh, yes you are right. I am sure someone know the exact volume of the tube, but not I.

The owner's manual suggests not to top off the tank. With gas going down, I find it comforting that I can now get a full tank of gas for around $30....

Hmm, never thought of looking at the owners manual for such a thing. Always did this with my prior vehicles

Anyway, without topping off how else would someone get a measurement of accurate gas mileage?

I had a 2003 Civic HX that supposedly had a 13.2 gallon tank. I filled it up one day with 14.4 gallons of regular Chevron. I think the pumps lie.
I've been filling my 2009 Fit with the same gas when the light goes on and it usually takes a little over 9 gallons.
I wish the tank was a little bigger but ............

miles driven divided by gallons filled equals mile per gallon.

owners manual has the tank size.
i think honda kept it the same as the GD3 which would be 10.8 gallons just tank.

Hey bro. We just got our '09 fit sport. I ran the tank EMPTY. I know your not supposed to do that, but we were on a road trip and almost to a preferred gas station. Anyway, it only took 9.8 gallons. So, your over 11 gallons seems like the pump may have been off or something. I don't know...just thought I'd share my story that happened just tonight.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/littled2121/SPg...6/IMG_0094.JPG

lol you ran till it stalled? wow, great thing for a new car :-p!
I personally filled 9.6 gallons when my light turned on. Uusally that means theres approx 30 miles left...and i average about 32mpg. I doubt the new tanks are even smaller.

I didn't say that, but it was down there...I drove about 15 miles past the light being on. So..that's why I said it was EMPTY.

when the light comes on you have about 1.5 gallons left in the tank give or take.

I agree, I think it comes on when you have about 50 miles left. But still, my tank was pretty low.

i read something about the gd3 that says that about when the gas light comes on.

One of the funniest sights in recent memory was a Prius on the shoulder in Colorado, fueling from a one gallon gas can!

haha good.
yeah u totally had at least half a gallon left in your tank.

Oh, sorry...I guess that doesn't qualify as EMPTY to you. In my world however, a half gallon is EMPTY. Sorry for any confusion.

I keep a 2.5 gallon gas can in my trunk(have for years) so I knew I could run the tank pretty low and didn't even care if I ran out. I was able to go for a very long time with the light on and never ran out of gas. Finally I decided to stop and was able to put in 11.897 gallons @ $2.759 totaling $32.82. I'm looking at the receipt right now.

I suppose the pump could have an inaccurate meter but I doubt this is the case considering the pumps are relatively new. I even think by law they are required to check their meters every now and then. In any case there is a brand new gas station down the road so next time I run really low on gas I'll do the same thing just to double check the other station.

BTW, if you don't fill your tank to the very top then there really is no way to accurately calculate your mileage. Another alternative might be to put a dip stick down your tank to make sure you stop at the same point you did previously when you filled it up. I doubt many would go to such an extreme though.

Look bud, I'm not calling you a liar..as you quoted me talking to someone else. All I'm saying is honda says we have a 10.8 gallon tank. I drove my '09 fit tonight about 15 miles past the fuel light coming on...and filled it up with 9.8 gallons. So, if you filled 11.89 gallons, I would think the pump was off. It would almost seem like that was the only thing possible. How could you fit 11.89 gallons in a 10.8 gallon tank? Really, you should call your DOT or someone that controlls that sort of thing, beacause I've heard of plenty of gas station ripping customers off.

It's always good to have a spare!

Perhaps a small hole drilled into the top of the tank would provide a visual cue to overfilling. If you have a hard time seeing it, ckick your lighter! JK! Darwin knew.

If you can see the gasoline, it's full. I think I'll trust the auto shut-off, and not worry.

Hey dude, never said you were calling me a liar. Just keeping to the thread topic so everyone is a participant whether they like it or not. This includes you. DUH!

I was going to mention/ask about that... I've been stopping when the pump's auto-shutoff kicks in, but I assume not all pumps do it at the same point?

Thankfully, regardless of any minor differences in pump shut-offs, my gas mileage is still trending upwards, as expected.

haha i like your sarcasm, but really, the original poster asked about the capacity of the tank. 9.6 is not the capacity.
Sure half a gallon is empty. I once drove my dad's corolla till the gas light went off cos i guess there really was no gas left into the tank...i would say that's truely empty, but i personally almost never see my light come on before i fill up.

It's cool man, I like to be confused every now and then. :)

In regards to when pumps shut off, they are supposed to be auto-off around the same time, but its based off of pressure/vapors etc. And that will vary with ambient temps among other things. It's neither a good, nor bad idea to just leave the gas station when it auto-stops. For the average individual who isnt concerned about super accurate mpg measurements, or concerned that they'll have to stop at the gas station 30 miles earlier than compared with completely topping off (in the case of the fit); leaving it at auto-off would be good.

I have found that when the gas light turns on, I still have a little under 2 gallons left. The second time I drove until my gas light came on (I forgot to get gas when going out of town) and I made it 40+ miles uphill to the gas station.

I, freaking out the whole way up that the gas light turned on as we were exiting town, was very stressed that we would run out of gas in the middle of nowhere, on a hill, hopefully with space to pull of the road, in my car of only 2 weeks old. I was convinced I would end up rear-ended as we tried to push the dang thing uphill to get it off the road.

I hate to say it, but my husband was right. We made it to the gas station and put in 10.2 gallons.

owners manual:
http://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/p.../AAA0808OM.pdf

Gas Tank: 10.8g (US) capacity (this does not include fill tube). See very last page (service information summary).
Low Fuel Light: Comes on when 1.7g (US) remaining (p 62).


If you fill up at the same station and same pump every time, and stop fillup at the same point every time (whether it be 1st shutoff, 2nd shutoff etc), this will give you pretty accurate mpg figures. Of course other things do factor in, such as temp, time of the day you filled up.

A guy over in this forum(link below) says he fills from completely empty to the top and it's 13.45 gallons. This explains how I was able to put in 11.9 gallons. Looks like I had roughly 1.5 gallons left in the tank.

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/eco-...-per-tank.html

I got a pretty "bad" mpg figure last time I filled up, but with the tank 1/4 full (gas price was going up significantly the next day), a difference in half a litre of gas meant a 1 mpg difference. At the rate the pumps go, cutting it off 1 second or so late can throw off the calculations quite a bit.

Aside from the dipstick method, I think the only sure way would be to fill it until you can almost see the fuel about to overflow. I don't think I'm THAT worried about my mpg accuracy though...

So you really think he got 2.65 gallons in the fill tube? You honestly don't find it possible that pumps can be off and rip you off? If you really don't thinks so...I'm sorry to hear it.

No idea. Maybe there's more than just a "fill tube" being filled. Maybe there is still room left in the top of the tank somewhere that the manual is not stating. Isn't it possible that Honda is rating the tank size based off a generalized assumption of where most pump shutoffs occur?

The only way to put this to rest is for some people in this forum to take their tanks down to empty and beyond(to be safe have a spare gallon on hand) and then fill up. Why don't you try it and help me out instead of bashing me for not knowing?

Sorry, I wasn't tring to bash you. I don't think it's a good idea to run them that low. I try not to. I don't know if the fit is the same as my civic, but in the civics case, the fuel pump is inside the tank, and uses the fuel to cool itself off. I've heard it's hard on them if you run them that low. I could be wrong, but that's what I read on the 8thcivic site.

Ok, then we have a couple options instead of completely running out of gas.

1) Run until the light comes on and then go another 30 miles before filling. Since you have over 1.5 gallons when the light comes on you should be more than safe.

2) or, maybe fill when the light comes on to the very top and then add 1.5 gallons. Although I am a bit weary about testing this way because I do believe there is more than 1.5 gallons left and it's just not documented.

In either case you should be able to get an idea if the Fit will actually hold more than 10.6 gallons as stated in the manual.

Try it out, let me know... I'd think you'd get gas spilling out putting 1.5 gallons in after it stops, but let me know how much you can get in.

Just a couple of general thoughts...

Gasoline temperature compensation could account for some of it.
- http://www.ooida.com/straight_talk/T...n%20slides.pdf
- http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/mc-mc..../Essence-E.pdf

If you fill your tank past the click-off point you risk having liquid fuel run down the vent pipe into the charcoal evap canister, which can ruin it over time. If you're trying to determine fuel economy then just always fill from the same pump and/or average your last five fills.

I had 1/8 of a tank this morning and filled up. I was able to put 10.8 gallons in. I filled to the VERY TOP of the tank and then drove 54 miles so it wasn't that full for very long.

When I calculated the mileage I got 32.68 mpg. Traveled 353 miles on 10.8 gallons. I drive 54 miles one way to work at a steady 70 mph 90% of the way. I have about 1500 miles on the car so far. Hope after the first oil change I get better mileage.

Honda may be stating usable fuel, not total. I'm not sure how they worded it.

The most I've ever put in my '07 is 36 litres, or ~9.5 US gal.

My fuel economy got ~20% better in the first 10,000kms (from ~10.5l/100kms to ~8.5l/100kms), and then an additional ~10% better (down to my current average of ~7.5l/100kms) by 15,000km.

That's ~10,000 miles, so closer to two oil changes I'd say.

Yesterday I purchased gas as soon as the light went on. I was still on the positive side of empty and was able to put 10.9 gallons in. And I still had room for a tad more. This is the second time I put in over 10.6 gallons. And at different gas stations. So I don't think it's a problem with where I am filling up. Unless of course all U.S gas stations are in cahoots. Now that is something that wouldn't surprise me.

My understanding is by law the gas stations need to have their pumps inspected for accuracy every so often. There is only a very small variance allowable for the meter to be inaccurate.

I kow that they are closely regulated and monitored. Just my poor attempt at being sarcastic or facetious.

In my '07, I would regularly put in 12 gallons after the light came on - did this for over a year, different gas stations, different seasons.

I've only filled up my '09 once so far, and didn't want to see how much I could stack in the tank, but I put in about 9.6 gallons right after the light came on.

You know that you don't need to do this right? You just need to use the mileage travelled and the amout filled (even if you only use a quarter, half or any other portion of your tank)

Yeah. I'm just trying to figure out how many miles I can get on a tank and just how big the tank really is. I admit it may have not sounded that way.