Hi all --

I regularly see >600mi. tanks during the non-winter months In fact, when I filled up last Friday morning before leaving for HF2008, I had 601.7mi. on the odometer + 125MTE

Have I mentioned that I *love* this car - I have no voice this morning, because I spent yesterday afternoon at our MiHG booth at HF2008, talking to people about hybrids in general, & my personal favorite in particular

 

While I'm going to fill up tomorrow just to get the numbers for my return trip from Madison WI to Detroit MI, it's all expressway, currently I'm at 430 or something like that, with 70 MTE on the gauge.

I've had several 500+ tanks, my personal best was 675 miles.

 

FYI- I read somewhere that the tank level indicator needs to move by 20% for the computer to consider tank level as legitimate. If you drive and drive and the tank level never goes down ( because you keep topping off ) the CPU considers the tank level indicator to be "stuck" and flags a trouble code, maybe a check engine light too, but I forget the specifics... other than the tank level must move in a certain amount of time/miles.

You CAN get really long tanks ( 600mi + ) by over-filling your tank.

The 15 gallon tank is "nominal" tank size.
There is about 2.5 gallons of air space ( or more ) in that tank.
I have been able to shove 17.5 gallons in there once or twice by parking on a hill with the fill tube on the highest side. That will get you a 600+ mile tank for sure!
-John

 

Yeah, you can pump and pump and pump and you might get the 600+ mile tank (not to say that the people that have gotten it did that) - but you are getting no better FE in that case just a longer tank.

As a matter to consistancy I always fillup until the pump automatically turns off (normally the same gas station and same exact pump).

And as an update on my current tank... It looks as though 500 will be in my future (and maybe 600 if I can keep the wife away from the car). According to my spreadsheet that tracks all my individual trip data I am at 113 miles driven, 2.733 gallons used for a MPG of about 41.3. That means at 13.7 gallons used (MTE indicator) I should be at 565 miles driven. My current indicator is about 445 MTE which is on par with this estimate. If I choose to use the final 1.3 gallons in the tank I think 600 might be attainable, but I already hate running it past the MTE.

 

The spring and autumn months, when I don't need A/C in the summer or the engine is cold in the winter, are when I can regularly get 500+ miles per tank.

 

One can "laterally bump" the vehicle to remove more air from the tank for additional fuel. This refers to pushing the vehicle side to side and waiting for the fuel drop down further into the tank. There is a diminishing return for this manuever and don't try this when the station is busy.