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I never run my cars even close to empty (usually fill up above 1/4 tank). But, one particular day last week, my wife came home and said "the fuel light is on" and that she'd had a busy day and asked if could I please fill up her car in the morning. The next morning, before I got in the car, I checked the M-B Connect App, and it showed fuel level at 3% (grrrrrr)... I climbed in the car and the "Range" no longer displayed a mileage estimate, just a yellow "Your-wife-is-out-of-gas" hieroglyph.
The fuel gauge showed only one very small yellow segment, so I knew I still have a tiny bit of "reserve" in the tank. I set out on the 10.5-mile route to Costco. At some point along the route, I noticed the small yellow segment had disappeared from the fuel gauge, leaving a totally empty display. Yes, I'm sweating at this point... I'm also looking ahead for easy places to pull off, in case the car dies, while silently wondering how long M-B Roadside would take to dispatch me a few gallons of gas. But at last, I pulled up to the gas pump with no hiccups (phew)!
I'm a numbers nerd, so I remembered that my GLS had a tank capacity of 23.8 gallons. So you can imagine my shock when I noticed 24.035 gallons had been dispensed, when the handle shut off automatically (I never top it off).
So I came home and double-checked the official specs on the MBUSA Media website, which says:
Then I looked in the owners manual, which says:
So, how much fuel have you pumped into your X167? Am I the only one with an anomaly? Do I need to have words with Costco, since their pumps are apparently a tad "optimistic?"
Some other explanation? Are the Germans being truthful (hehe)?
Thanks in advance for humoring me...
Last edited by mercedesbuff; Jan 8, 2024 at 02:25 PM.
As noted, the filler neck and such are not included in the tank capacity, so you can get more in than the tank capacity
Temperature has a noticeable impact on gasoline density (about 1% for every 15 degrees) so a cold day could versus hot day could change the capacity .5 gallon or so. Of course, the tanks being under ground make it much less of a difference than the ambient air temperature, but if you live in a cold area, you can get over capacity for sure (and perhaps less on a hot day).
Temperature has a noticeable impact on gasoline density (about 1% for every 15 degrees) so a cold day could versus hot day could change the capacity .5 gallon or so. Of course, the tanks being under ground make it much less of a difference than the ambient air temperature, but if you live in a cold area, you can get over capacity for sure (and perhaps less on a hot day).
Interesting... Thanks for adding this. I hadn't thought about applying actual science. It was a cold morning, around 20°F.
What he did was to measure the capacity of the filler neck only, which probably isn't included in tank capacity.
I hadn't considered the filler neck before... Thanks for adding that. Maybe Costco's pumps are accurate, after all. I must've been seconds from empty... (I really was sweating).
2017 AMG C 43 (W205); 2019 E 300 (W213); 2008 ML 320 CDI (W164)
For the 2008 Mercedes ML 320 CDI, the owner's manual gives the fuel tank capacity as 95.0 litres which includes a reserve capacity of "approx." 13.0 litres.
I wanted to know exactly what the standard fuel tank could hold for long trips. I filled up to the brim (obviously well after all the many pump click-offs), ran the vehicle completely dry and then again filled up to the brim. This is what I found:
* Filling up, the pump starts to click off after 99 litres.
* Continuing to fill to the brim, the system holds 109.653 litres.
* The vehicle completed 1 241 km on 109.653 litres. That's 11.32 km/l or 8.836 l/100km for this particular trip. (diesel)
* When the first fuel warning comes on, there's around 12 litres left in the tank.
* When the 2nd fuel warning comes on, there's around 4 to 5 litres left in the tank.
* I have now driven the vehicles for the last 11 years (2013 to 2024). Average fuel efficiency 10.60 km/l over 260 000 km travelled.
The bottom line is I would much prefer the onboard computer system to provide the estimated fuel remaining rather than a calculated range which fluctuates considerably depending on the fuel efficiency the system is using at any given point for range calculations. You can do your own range calculations with much more confidence and reliability, but you need to know, more or less, how much fuel there's left in the tank.
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