Gord's Green Z28

These cars supposedly are 15.5 gallon tanks unless they're 1LE's. I was driving today and getting the jerky feeling, fuel gauge is in the yellow. Time to get some gas!

I fill it up until it clicks off.....at 11.1 gallons. I slowly pumped some more in. It stopped twice. On the second stop, it was at 11.9 gallons. I stopped there and put the cap back on. Traditionally I get about 9-10 gallons in here. When the fuel gauge was at 1/4, I filled it up and it clicked on 7.7 gallons.

Anybody else getting the same results? I've heard everything from people running out of gas and then only getting 13 gallons in, to people getting over 16 gallons of gas in the tank.

87DJP2001

The gas gage is very inaccurate for one. The tank is 15.5 gals and you will never put that amount in (temp affects volume of gas). Also you don't want to run the tank so low that the fuel pump will overheat, my opinion is that GM included a safety factor for this Item. Myself the average fill-up is between 11/12gals.

mako350Z28

I once put 15 gallons in mine. The guage went past the "E" and I drove about another 30 miles after that. Never did that again. Typically a fillup was about 12 gallons at the 1/8 mark.

Black305RS

the most ive filled up in my 89 iroc was 13.7 gallons and i was dying around corners.

91Z-28

I put 14 gallons in my car on monday morning when the needle was almost on E. Today at about 1/4 I put in 11 gallons. I think I could probably put 15.5 in if I let it run dry but the real problem is the fuel gauge. When I am full it is just past F, but will fluctuate as I drive. It takes forever to get it to average around 3/4, but after that it gets down to E fast. Come to think of it all of my Chevy cars have had ****ty fuel gauges. My 92 Caprice would fill way past F and if the needle even touched E you were going to run out of gas. It also took about twice as long to get down to 1/2 than to get from 1/2 to E. My 96 Beretta was exactly like my Caprice. I wish there was a way to get an accurate gauge.

89Vert

If you got fuel injection, I wouldn't recommend going below half tank,

fuel is what cools the fuel pump, if you run low, there is nothing cooling the pump, then they burn out faster,
putting a fuel pump in a camaro isn't the most fun job in the world,
I hoping to never have to do it, and if it does go I'll be paying to have it done, and I'm a MECHANIC

Gord's Green Z28

Half a tank? That's like 5 gallons of gas for me. I don't want to refill every 130km.

This is interesting. Says 12.9 gallons is the size of the tank.



12.9 on the Firebirds too.



If it's really a 12.9 gallon tank than that would make sense that I was on the verge of empty the other day when I put the 11.1 to 11.9 gallons in. I think the 1LE's allow you to go all the way down to either .5 or 1 gallon instead of the 1 gall+ that a regular tank would.

89Vert

I usually put 30-40L in and get about 300-400km to that amount of fuel,

Gord's Green Z28

That's 25 mpg. What's your secret? Some people can get that on road trips, but not on an average daily basis.

89Vert

mostly freeway,

drops about 100km if its all city

DCJLove

<begin_stupid_american>Liters....??? Kilometers...???? What is this language you speak??? </end_stupid_american>

Yeah, 25 mpg?? You fuel injected boys are lucky!!! I get 13 - 14 mpg city and 15 - 16 mog highway. Yowza!!!!

I had noticed that my fuel gauge seemed horribly inaccurate! It *never* touches F when it is filled (unless on a hill) and pins itself on E at about 11 gallons spent. So, a 12.9 tank makes more sense than a 15. Interesting.

Black305RS

my friends 85 iroc had a 12 gallon tanks and my friends 89 rs suposedly had a 12 as well
however my 91 rs had a 15.5 and my 89 IROC has at least a 15 gallon tank. Also i get a little over 18 to the galllon and 250 miles per fill up

Gord's Green Z28

Hmm, turns out 12.9 is a british gallon (4.54 Litres). 58.9 L = 15.5 US gallons.

BUT, that still doesn't explain how I'm only getting 11 US gallons. I put 42 litres (11.1 US gal) in at the first click. Tried pumping slowly and got 2 more clicks, the last being at 45 litres (11.9 US gal)

Regardless of what the owners manual says, there is no way I could pump 15.5 gallons in there. Or even 14 for that matter. Who designed this gas tank? Only giving 75% of rated capacity.

Tru2Chevy

It's just that your fuel gauge is inaccurate. If you drive around another 45-50 miles past the point where you would normally refuel, you shouldn't run out of gas, and you should be able to put more gas in if you would like.

- Justin

Lonnie Pavtis

My 91 Formula takes 12 to 13gal when it gets below 1/8 tank. 12.65 gal tonight at 230 miles.

Years back I had another '91 & ran it out of gas. It took a sharp turn & it started to misfire. I then realized I forgot to stop for gas on the way to work. It was sputtering around turns & up hills for 5mi on my way to the nearest gas station. It finally quit about 200ft from the station & I coasted to the pumps. It took 16gal to the top of the filler neck.