No, the tank capacity is 60 litres, but the rest of the system holds another two litres.
It's not recommended you use the remaining capacity. It's unlikely that you'll spill any on a modern car, that feature seems to be reserved to trucks these days, but that air space may be needed if the car sits in sun for a while.
Read the following below. Note that they say in that article that it makes no difference because the fuel pumps compensate for density variation BUT the article does show that it exists. Back to MASS being an important factor again. Note the penultimate sentence in the last paragraph. Would this explain why people get differing MPG returns? The density of air, for example, can change by as much as 10% over a 30° range.
From a company that specialises in flowmetering eqiupment:
Consider purchasing fuel for your car. How does a US gallon of gasoline purchased on a hot summer day in Las Vegas, Arizona compare with a US gallon of gasoline purchased on a cold winter night in Anchorage, Alaska? It was determined that a gallon is a volumetric unit, so logic would indicate that the same volume of gasoline was purchased. Yet the temperature difference would cause their densities, and hence their masses, to be different. Using this logic, more mass would be obtained by purchasing gasoline in colder weather. Thinking locally, one might conclude that it is more economical to purchase gasoline during the wee hours of the morning when the temperature is coldest.
As you might suspect, such is not the case. Gasoline pumps compensate for density variation that occurs due to temperature, and in doing so, they measure the amount (mass) of gasoline dispensed. Yet, a gallon of cold gasoline will occupy less volume than when hot. In essence, the measurement of a gallon of gasoline actually refers to its volume at a given temperature (such as 60 degF). As such, this is really a mass measurement unit because it refers to the flow of a specific substance at a given temperature, Returning to the quiz, let?s not be so hasty with the first three questions. They could be incomplete!
PART 3.1
Part 3 discussed the use of volumetric units (such as gallons) to infer mass when the composition and temperature is known. The example given was that of purchasing a gallon of gasoline in a hot and cold climate. The assertion was that a gallon of gasoline purchased in hot and cold climates might have different sizes due to their differing temperatures, but their masses should be the same because the retail flowmeter is temperature compensated.
A number of e-mails questioning this assertion and further investigation resulted in the interesting discovery that retail gasoline flowmeters are not temperature-compensated in the United States, but are temperaturecompensated in Canada. In other words, either the measured volume (in the US) or the measured temperature- corrected volume (in Canada) is used to infer mass.
Consider the following general analysis:
These statements imply that despite wide air temperature fluctuations, the temperature of the gasoline pumped through the flowmeter should be nearly the same as the ground temperature. Because the ground temperature does not fluctuate very much, the temperature variation of the gasoline will be small throughout the year, so the mass of a gallon of gasoline should not vary much throughout the year from a given tank. Following this logic, the mass of a gallon of gasoline sold in Alaska should be the same as one sold in Nevada.
Fluctuations in gasoline temperature cause gasoline density changes. The magnitude with which these changes affect measurement accuracy can be quantified by performing an uncertainty analysis to determine if temperature compensation is appropriate. An uncertainty analysis for this measurement would likely reveal a number of sources of measurement uncertainty, such as (but not limited to) the effects of ambient air temperature, gasoline temperature leaving the refinery, transport time from the refinery to the tank, ground temperature, tank level prior to filling, the volume of gasoline in the flowmeter piping, flowmeter piping temperature, frequency of use, and composition changes. As a minimum, such analysis would likely reveal that the consumer would not be advised to purchase gasoline from a tank that was just filled with warm gasoline. A detailed analysis may reveal other significant issues.
As a minimum, such analysis would likely reveal that the consumer would not be advised to purchase gasoline from a tank that was just filled with warm gasoline.
Which is probably what most people end up getting nowadays in the busier stations that get daily/bi-daily resupplies.
Let's do the actual calculations. Firstly how much the volume of a fuel tank changes with temperature. The linear coefficient of expansion of mild steel is 12 x 10-6 per degree C. The volumetric coefficient will therefore be 36 x
10-6.Over a 20 degree C temperature change a 55 litre tank will therefore expand or contract by 55 x 20 x 0.000036 = 0.04litres which is utterly insignificant.
The fuel itself has a much larger volumetric coefficient of expansion. 950 x
10-6 per degree CAgain over a 20 degree temperature change 55 litres of fuel will expand or contract by 55 x 20 x 0.00095 = 1.04 litre or about 2%.
What this tells you is that if fuel comes out of an underground storage tank at a temperature significantly lower than ambient temperature it will expand after sitting in the car's tank. If you brim the tank on a hot day and don't drive very far you're going to lose some fuel out of the overflow. I've actually had this happen many years ago when I filled the car from a petrol station a mile down the road on a summer's day and then left it on the drive. I then did the calculations above and now I brim the tank if I'm on a journey and leave a litre free if it's a hot day and I'm not going anywhere.
As for fuel consumption neither of the above factors are really significant and altitude doesn't affect the size of the tank or the density of the fuel at all as far as I can see.
Back in the early eighties the formula 1 teams had a fuel limit of xxx many litres, oneday someone figured out that when fuel is frozen it contracts, (water being unusual (I cant remember the word) in that it expands when it solidifies) so the teams then on froze the fuel to maximise the amount they could get in, thus the amount of boost they could use during the race.
Tom Burton
No inlet filter on mine. Maybe ADSA and Tesco's finest with odd drop of Shell is OK. Car is used full to empty all the time and does about
11K to 12K miles a year with me, had had sligthly lower use with prior owners. Jun 1991 now showing 144K miles.If you have corrossion on outside it's water sitting on top of tank and rotting it though from the outside. Then you will get stuff in the tank.
-- Peter Hill Spamtrap reply domain as per NNTP-Posting-Host in header Can of worms - what every fisherman wants. Can of worms - what every PC owner gets!
"PC Paul" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@brightview.com:
Every Volvo I've had from 1986 has had a black plastic tank with a white nylon baffle plate at the bottom. The three or so I've looked in to replace the in tank pump have been pristine. This is on cars with @200,000 miles on the clock too.
You know what - you could be right. Dredging my memory it was the tank on an E-reg Alfa 75 that had the holes in. For what I used that car for a bit of P40 did the trick ;-)
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