Take into consideration that this was tested on a 1275 Single Point Injection car as earlier parts may be slightly different depending on year.
Results
I drove for 1 3/4 hours from when the needle was totaly covering the red before the engine started to complain. The engine idled without problem and when the accellerator was pressed it hesitated severely but did not stall. Being gentle with the accelerator I managed to get to the fuel station without adding the five litres I had in the boot, so there is a quantity of fuel still in the bottom of the tank. I added the five litres from the can and topped it off squeezing in as much as I dare, it started to fill the nossle thingy. It took 26.32 litres.
Conclusions
The total fuel that was added was 31.32 litres
The engine still ran at idle without problem so Guestimate 0.7 littres still in the tank when run near empty, taking fuel capacity to 32 litres.
There is still room at the top of the tank that cannot be accomodated by fuel simply by the design of the filler neck. Guestimate there is room for another 1 to 1 1/2 litres.
Guestimate that the fuel filler neck and sender unit on the fuel injected cars takes up 1/4 litre and the fuel pump another 1/4 litre.
Total would equate to 34 litres tank capacity, which Rover state as correct. However what Rover do not clearly state is that figure is tank capacity or fuel capacity which leads to some confussion. Much like the power figures stated by manufacturers. The figure is correct but only they know why it is correct and no one else can replicate it.
Take it from me that if you drive the car with the needle in the red till the engine stops you will get 32 litres into the tank. Judging when the car is going to run out of fuel is the hard part as different engines have different fuel consumption. Like I said I drove for 1 3/4 hours from when the needle was totaly covering the red and that was lead foot driving on country roads.
The very point of the needle will line up with the bottom of the red and not read any farther. When this happens, it realy is time to fill up.
The fuel 'guage' is an indicator rather than a calibrated guage and only indicates that you should fill up, it is not calibrated in litres or gallons.
Edited by Mini Sprocket, 10 January 2006 - 01:08 AM.