Long story short:

Fuel tank read empty. I filled it up to the brim, but it was only 7.5(US
gallons). Fuel tank spec says it's 9.9US gallons.

Looks like my fuel tank sending unit's a bit pessemistic. I hear a
knocking sound when it's low on gas.

Did my fuel float get filled up, thus rendering a too-low reading? Shame
if it is, since I replaced it new about 6-7 years ago.

S1500 wrote:

Your reserve is going to add another half gallon (?). I'd say that's
about as accurate as you can expect. And anyway, it's better than
reading quarter full when it's empty.
Personally, I fill up when the trip mileage reading gets towards 180
miles in the Triumph or 250 in the Rover, but then their fuel gauges
don't work at all.

In article <xt-dncfy_6XC13zZnZ2dnUVZ_o6dnZ2d (AT) comcast (DOT) com>,
S1500 <s1500 (AT) comcast (DOT) net.nospam> wrote:
Pretty well all older vehicles have gauges that read empty when there's
still some fuel left.

--
*I believe five out of four people have trouble with fractions. *

Dave Plowman dave (AT) davenoise (DOT) co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

S1500 wrote:
My present car , old but not a classic , holds 70 litres if I fill it
when the warning light comes on I can never get more tha 50 litres in .
so there are 4 gallons sploshing round in there when it says empty.
Steve the grease

In article <44e25383 (AT) 212 (DOT) 67.96.135>,
R L driver <nospam4me (AT) onetel (DOT) net> wrote:
My 'new' one has a 'miles to empty' function on the OBC, and running it
very low (under 10 miles left) on the motorway once when I expected a
service station but there was none, it actually took the whole stated
capacity of the tank. It has got twin senders in the fuel tank though to
try and give an accurate reading under all conditions.

It's interesting to watch the miles to empty after a cold start. As the
engine warms up the miles remaining actually increases...

--
*I took an IQ test and the results were negative.

Dave Plowman dave (AT) davenoise (DOT) co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Willy Eckerslyke" <oss108no_spam (AT) bangor (DOT) ac.uk> wrote

Does a 1500 Spit have a reserve then? If so I'm oblivious to it .... but of
course that's quite possible.

R L driver wrote:

Or somebody's been a bit careless with a trolley jack!

DougP wrote:

Ah, making a wrong assumption, was I? The Herald and Vitesse has one, so
I thought the Spit would as well. On the Vitesse, there's a lever around
where the fuel pipe leaves the tank. You have to open the boot to switch
to reserve, which is a pain, but not as bad as being stuck in the middle
of nowhere.