How much reserve fuel left after computer reads 0

RobMorris

RobMorris

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Chaps

Im trying to figure out my MPG.
After brimming I managed 550 miles to 0 miles remaining on the computer.
There must be a reserve - anyone know how many litres it is?

Cheers
 
Not sure on Litres but a fair bit, In my short experience with the B6's in the past 2 months ive had a 1.9 TDI and a 2.5 TDI Quattro and both of them have had horrid electrics and stupidly erratic computers/fuel needles.
 
I drive around for about 3 days on 0! But, I wouldn't advise this to anyone else, I can because I know that I too have that irratic fuel needle which can show 70 miles on the range one minute, then drop to 30 miles, then 10, then 0, all in the space of 1 minute and about 1 mile! It's been like it since I first bought the car back in July 2010 so I've just leant to live with it. I spoke to Russell Automotive (Audi VW specialists) about it and they said it could be one of two things, either the gauge / dis needs recalibrating via VCDS which is the cheapest of the two by far, think they quoted me about £60-£70 for that, or it's a knackered fuel gauge sender unit. They're are 2 fuel gauge senders in the tank, 1 either side of the tank as it has the hump in the middle to clear the proshaft/diff, that they quoted me around £200+ for.
 
The best way to calculate mpg is to keep your fuel receipt and note your mileage on it when you fill up. That way, after a couple of fill ups, you have a record of the amount of fuel used and mileage traveled.

Then to calculate mpg:

Multiply the amount of fuel you put in in litres by 0.22 (this gives you fuel amount in UK gallons).
Now divide your mileage traveled by fuel used (in gallons) and there's you mpg.

It's the best way as DIS is notoriously inaccurate
 
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doodah said:
The best way to calculate mpg is to keep your fuel receipt and note your mileage on it when you fill up. That way, after a couple of fill ups, you have a record of the amount of fuel used and mileage traveled.

Then to calculate mpg:

Multiply the amount of fuel you put in in litres by 0.22 (this gives you fuel amount in UK gallons).
Now divide your mileage traveled by fuel used (in gallons) and there's you mpg.

It's the best way as DIS is notoriously inaccurate
Click to expand...

this is all good and well but he is asking how much fuel is left in the tank when your DIS reads zero!

to answer the question its anyone's guess I have had it reading zero a couple of times and fill up with about 60 - 65 litres and thats as much as I can squeeze in before it overflows!
 
But his opening line is "I'm trying to figure out my mpg" :yes:

In my case, when I fill up when in the red, I get 65 litres in my 70 litre tank. Dis normally says 30-40 miles to go which would account for the 5 litres left in there so 0 to go would be any empty tank.
 
Zero on the range means you have less than 5 miles left, I've found this to be pretty damn accurate, but as said it is irrelevant when calculating mpg. Fill it up, do 200-300 miles then fill it up again to see how much fuel you used doing that mileage - it's not exactly complicated!
 
I wouldn't say so, The instruments on the B6 are about as much use as a chocolate teapot, they are completely useless as far as i can see, theres no clear instructions on how to re-calibrate them, on my 2.5 TDI Quattro I can put £20 Diesel in, DIS reads either 110 Miles, 150 Miles or 135 Miles. I actually get about 60 before it says "0" then i can openly drive for 2-3 days (30-40 mile?).

It 100% definitely does more than 5 Miles, to my parents and back is an 18 mile trip and i do it daily, My car hit zero yesterday and has done the round trip twice since, just filled up tonight on the way home because i didnt want to risk running out. Now after adding £20 fuel its on 135 Miles.
 
Legacy87 said:
I wouldn't say so, The instruments on the B6 are about as much use as a chocolate teapot, they are completely useless as far as i can see, theres no clear instructions on how to re-calibrate them, on my 2.5 TDI Quattro I can put £20 Diesel in, DIS reads either 110 Miles, 150 Miles or 135 Miles. I actually get about 60 before it says "0" then i can openly drive for 2-3 days (30-40 mile?).

It 100% definitely does more than 5 Miles, to my parents and back is an 18 mile trip and i do it daily, My car hit zero yesterday and has done the round trip twice since, just filled up tonight on the way home because i didnt want to risk running out. Now after adding £20 fuel its on 135 Miles.
Click to expand...

Lol, sounds about right. Gotta love em tho! :)
 
Haha no i just thought "He's obviously an Idiot" was abit harsh considering the well known issues with the DIS.
Some people have the luxury of a working fuel needle... i do not.... in either of my TDI B6's!!!
 
Ha, maybe envy then!? :lmfao:

Why not just have one of those green "reserve" tanks in the boot with 5 litres of diesel in it? When your car konks out, apply reserve tank, drive to nearest garage!
 
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Or just figure out how much you generally do on a full tank and whenever you approach that figure just fill up.

On a side note, I don't actually find my gauges to be bad at all.
 
Fuel gauge is a pain,up,down,its just inconsistant!
For the record. In the middle of a journey,my dis read 0 mile, im 40 milez from home.
Made it anyway :O phew.
I filled up to brim,think i got 69 litres.
Now that was close.
I know its not good running that near to empty. No choice in that instance.
 
Thanks all for imput. There is definitely a reserve after 0.
More than 5 miles I think 99% will agree.
Shame no one knows the actual answer.
 
crazy88 said:
On a side note, I don't actually find my gauges to be bad at all.
Click to expand...

Nor me, my fuel gauge is pretty consistent.

I generally run the DTE to 20-30 miles and rarely get more than 60l into a 66l (off the top of my head?) tank. I've run it doen to zero before but I don't usually see much point in doing so.

Legacy87 said:
I wouldn't say so, The instruments on the B6 are about as much use as a chocolate teapot, they are completely useless as far as i can see, theres no clear instructions on how to re-calibrate them
Click to expand...

That seems a little dramatic! after 5 years on this forum I've never read a statement like that before, granted the DTE gauges vary a bit but that's about it.

How many cars come with instructions on how to recalibrate the fuel gauge/mpg reading?!

In the DIY guides sticky is this, which will tell you exactly how to do it:

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/audi-s...adjusting-mpg-dis-shouldnt-effect-fuling.html
 
As above I have never had a problem with my gauges they work really well and are consistent

Also my DIS is accurate to .2 mpg yes thats point 2!! I have adjusted it with VCDS and every time I fill up I put all the details in to an app to record MPG and my DIS is always .2 out

the miles to empty can fluctuate but it depends on how you are driving and it will always drop first thing in a morning with a cold engine
 
stu_m said:
the miles to empty can fluctuate but it depends on how you are driving and it will always drop first thing in a morning with a cold engine
Click to expand...
+1

Drive the car like you stole it, then drive it like a Granny and watch the miles left INCREASE for quite a long time.

It estimates the miles left by calculating the mpg over the last 20 miles or so and using that to work out how many miles left you have. Since it uses a short term mpg figure it's not going to be either accurate or consistent over a ahole tank of fuel - unless you always drive the same way and average the same mpg. Which means that the miles left after it shows 0 isn't an exact figure, it will vary between car, driver and recent driving style.
 
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audi upgrades
When my 1.8t shows 0 miles it means it ran out last night 2 mintues from shell garage... Pissseddd now my dis isnt calculating remaining mileage do i need to reset this using vag com?
 
I meant he's a bit dumb to deliberately let a high performance car drag all the shyte at the bottom of his fuel tank through the fuel system! Nothing to do with the accuracy of the DIS.
 
I have no issues with my fuel gauge or my dis, usually when I fill up and have covered 20 miles the reading on my dis is pretty dam accurate to the actual mileage I get out of the tank. Today I filled up, 10 miles showing on the dis, brimmed the tank and got 67 litres into it.
 
Same here. As long as its not showing a 20 mile range and running out of fuel what's the problem?
 
AndyMac said:
I meant he's a bit dumb to deliberately let a high performance car drag all the shyte at the bottom of his fuel tank through the fuel system!.
Click to expand...
+1

I hate letting my fuel gauge go below 1/4 tank - only done it once in 35+ years of car ownership.
 
I too find my miles to empty to be extremely acurate.... to the point where cruising on a motorway you can see it recalculate as you go up and down gradients at the same speed... and as for dropping in the morning ... dont forget when you were last driving the car it was hot and was being fueled for a hot engine... when you turn it on in the morning the engine is cold so has to be fueled accordingly, a bit like pulling the choke out on an old car ( showing my age there )
 
Does no one here use Fuelly at all?
Just a thought as an add on.............something I've been doing for a little while now......extremely accurate too

Fuelly | Share and Compare Your MPG

After a recent long journey my DIS showed 39mpg, when I filled up with the trip showing zero miles I could only get around 67.4 litres in after brimming the tank?
Inputting the info to my fuelly account registered as something like 39.6mpg so pretty much bang on

My A6 has had 750 miles from one tank, I worked out around 9.87 litres left in the tank at an mpg of 48.4 or similar I calculated I could achieve around another 105 miles, giving a total of 855 miles!

After refuelling the DIS told me if I drove the same route i nthe same manner I could expect 915 miles till empty......not bad.

Having checked more than a few times I estimate the reserve to be around 10 litres, pretty much inline with what most of us think I guess?
However, if you've been hareing around and are getting approx 32mpg your range will be differet than if you are achieving 48mpg obviously.

Hope that makes sense?

Check out Fuelly.............its a pretty good tool for keeping track of your mileage, expenditure and what your car is costing to run on fuel.

All good really....
 
When the dis shows 0, along with the needle, it's not empty. It's on R. As in Reserve I assume? Sorry if I'm pointing out the obvious. I got down to 5miles left last week - first time ever. Put 64L in and (along with the Nectar points) that was enough excitement for me. I'm just not hard core enough.


I find my DIS to be accurate to 1-2mpg based on calculations I make once every 6months or so (when I'm bored).

I too like the way the car turns itself into a mini-refinery when you're cruising along... If the miles till empty is going up then surely that's the only answer?!
 
One of the fists things I do when I get a new motor is test this limit. I did this with my 1.9 TDI passat and proved I could get 50 miles after it went to 0, so I knew if I drove it like miss daisy I could manage to get home when there was no fuel avaialbe.

The S4 will do 22 miles after 0, again, I know where I stnd on that one too.
 
See some of the results I've managed to achieve below....

A6mpg-1_zps414cf476.jpg


44444B.jpg


44444A.jpg


44444.jpg


For the life of me I can't remember where, but in one of them after fuelling with the DIS showing ZERO miles I found I still had around 9.1 litres left and at the mpg I was getting I could get another 100+ miles potentially not that I'd like to experiment....lol
 
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To be honest, I usually put fuel in when the guage tells me to do so.
Never tried running the risk of running out - whats the point? - Plus I would need to bleed the system if it ran out.

I have found the fuel guage / trip computer adjusts to your driving style from the previous few minutes.
I have driven quite harsh on country roads to find the needle drop - then jump on an A road and sit at 65mph the gauge rises again slightly.
 
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