Hi everyone,
I hope that someone who has some good car knowledge can help me find an answer to this puzzle please.
I will explain in detail below but I just can't physically put as much fuel in to the fuel tank as I have been able to in the past. This isn't a MPG question; but a full tank capacity question.
The car in Question is an N16 Nissan Almera 1.5 Petrol 53 plate which I have owned since January 2005 and has been very reliable indeed (the most reliable car I have ever owned).
The car has a 60 litre fuel tank according to the manual and I can confirm it must be around this size because in the past when I have refuelled, I normally put in around 55/56 litres or so to brim it when I am just above the red mark.
Historically, on a full tank I have been able to complete 11 round trips to my workplace and home (approx 50 miles round trip); this would leave me just above the red mark and this is when I would refuel with about 55/56 or so litres. Also, when full I would get 2 rounds trips to work before the needle moved down from "above" the Full mark to the Full mark - hope that makes sense.
Now, over the last few months I began to notice that I was only getting 10 round trips to work and only 1 round trip before the needle moved down to the Full mark instead of the usual 2, which I put down to the cold weather etc etc.
But over the last 3 or 4 refuels I have noticed that I am getting less fuel in to the tank from the pump. In fact, on Saturday I had run the car so low that the fuel light was on, I was almost at the bottom of the red mark and the fuel computer couldn't even work out how many miles I had remaining; in fact, this was the lowest I had ever run the fuel level down to. So I went and refuelled and completely filled it up to the click, and then a couple of little bits more and all that had gone in to the tank was 51.5 litres. Where has my other 8.5 litres gone? I would understand the odd litre or two, but we are talking nearly 2 gallons here!
I looked back over the last couple of receipts and they were all in the 52-53 litres range as well. The MPG seems to be about right too.
It just seems like something has made the fuel tank significantly smaller almost like putting a big dent in it would do or something along those lines. I have had a look under the car - not that I really know what I am looking for - and if what I think is the fuel tank is the fuel tank, then the bottom of it looks fine at least.
Does anyone have any idea whatsoever that could be causing this?
Any ideas, advice or tests would be greatly appreciated so that I can take it to the garage which some idea of what to tell them.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
All the best,
Face
I hope that someone who has some good car knowledge can help me find an answer to this puzzle please.
I will explain in detail below but I just can't physically put as much fuel in to the fuel tank as I have been able to in the past. This isn't a MPG question; but a full tank capacity question.
The car in Question is an N16 Nissan Almera 1.5 Petrol 53 plate which I have owned since January 2005 and has been very reliable indeed (the most reliable car I have ever owned).
The car has a 60 litre fuel tank according to the manual and I can confirm it must be around this size because in the past when I have refuelled, I normally put in around 55/56 litres or so to brim it when I am just above the red mark.
Historically, on a full tank I have been able to complete 11 round trips to my workplace and home (approx 50 miles round trip); this would leave me just above the red mark and this is when I would refuel with about 55/56 or so litres. Also, when full I would get 2 rounds trips to work before the needle moved down from "above" the Full mark to the Full mark - hope that makes sense.
Now, over the last few months I began to notice that I was only getting 10 round trips to work and only 1 round trip before the needle moved down to the Full mark instead of the usual 2, which I put down to the cold weather etc etc.
But over the last 3 or 4 refuels I have noticed that I am getting less fuel in to the tank from the pump. In fact, on Saturday I had run the car so low that the fuel light was on, I was almost at the bottom of the red mark and the fuel computer couldn't even work out how many miles I had remaining; in fact, this was the lowest I had ever run the fuel level down to. So I went and refuelled and completely filled it up to the click, and then a couple of little bits more and all that had gone in to the tank was 51.5 litres. Where has my other 8.5 litres gone? I would understand the odd litre or two, but we are talking nearly 2 gallons here!
I looked back over the last couple of receipts and they were all in the 52-53 litres range as well. The MPG seems to be about right too.
It just seems like something has made the fuel tank significantly smaller almost like putting a big dent in it would do or something along those lines. I have had a look under the car - not that I really know what I am looking for - and if what I think is the fuel tank is the fuel tank, then the bottom of it looks fine at least.
Does anyone have any idea whatsoever that could be causing this?
Any ideas, advice or tests would be greatly appreciated so that I can take it to the garage which some idea of what to tell them.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
All the best,
Face