[WallyF]

I am curious about the fuel capacity of the E90. In the owners manual on page 60, BMW states the capacity as 15.9 gals/60 liters . On page 106 and 151, it says the capacity is 16.1gals/61 liters.

I have noted that the Consumer Reports (May,2006) article and the Road and Track (March 2006) article show a 15.9 gals/60 liters capacity.

I have also been out on the various BMW web sites around the world and the capacity varies from 60liters/15.9gals to 63liters/16.6 gals.

I would think that BMW would make one size tank for the E90.

Any ideas?

wallyf

[TENCHI]

that is kinda weird. I would like to know too

[chonko]

Originally Posted by WallyF

I am curious about the fuel capacity of the E90. In the owners manual on page 60, BMW states the capacity as 15.9 gals/60 liters . On page 106 and 151, it says the capacity is 16.1gals/61 liters.

I have noted that the Consumer Reports (May,2006) article and the Road and Track (March 2006) article show a 15.9 gals/60 liters capacity.

I have also been out on the various BMW web sites around the world and the capacity varies from 60liters/15.9gals to 63liters/16.6 gals.

I would think that BMW would make one size tank for the E90.

Any ideas?

wallyf

Well I normally run mine till when I have about 8 miles or less left on the range and the gauge shows that it almost empty. At the pumps I have seen between 16.1 to16.3 gallons to fill my tank.
So just like you, I am not sure of what to believe. Could be that BMW as usual is been conservative in that regards. My other guess, could be that tank size is the same but depending the atmospheric temperature and pressure you can have a varying volume of Petrol at the pump.

[SRT]

The tank capacity is one thing, but the fuel in the filler pipe makes up for a bit of what you fuel up, as well as the fuel left in U-bend of the hose at the pump or whatever back channels after the nozzle goes *clunk*

So what you pump out is not necessarily in the tank... for e.g - a 62 litre fill up is probably 60 tank, 1 filler pipe and 1 U-bend / back-channel - it won't be those exact ratios, but you get the point

That's all I can come up with to explain the fluctuation in capacity levels - or as mentioned above, the density of the fuel based on temperature, etc - that can be a contributing factor too. Also, if you're car is leaning, a little bit of the tank stays empty - all of these possible factors explain the differences

By the way, while we are on the subject of fuel... is it not ill-advised to let your tank run so low?

[KC Bimmer]

Originally Posted by chonko

Well I normally run mine till when I have about 8 miles or less left on the range and the gauge shows that it almost empty. At the pumps I have seen between 16.1 to16.3 gallons to fill my tank.
So just like you, I am not sure of what to believe. Could be that BMW as usual is been conservative in that regards. My other guess, could be that tank size is the same but depending the atmospheric temperature and pressure you can have a varying volume of Petrol at the pump.

That's weird, I run mine to 8 or below as well, and the most I've ever filled up with is 15.9xx. Who knows.

[Hankdoll]

Originally Posted by KC Bimmer

That's weird, I run mine to 8 or below as well, and the most I've ever filled up with is 15.9xx. Who knows.

Perhaps Chonko frequents a crooked gas station?

[ALPINE6SPD]

where is fleet he will know

[E90Fleet]

Tech manuals say 60L ( 15.9Gallons acording to 1st post )

As said before, the slight difference would be what the filling neck holds, with 1 litre sounding about right


For interest, the USA cars have a different tank from the Euro cars.
The Euro tank is listed as holding 2 litres more ( about 0.53 gallons more )

[aphall]

Yet another mystery solved by Fleet.

[Robbie!]

I drove the car almost dry recently and put 61 litres in the car.

[chonko]

Originally Posted by Hankdoll

Perhaps Chonko frequents a crooked gas station?

Who knows. I may have to change from the Shell station.

[shadowcoder]

So my E90 330 (Feb 2006 built) manual claims that the fuel tank capacity
is 16.1 US gallons including 2.1 reserve.

The OBC was saying that I had 10 more miles worth of gas. With the worse
estimate this is about 0.3 of a gallon inside the tank.

I went to the gas station and filled up. The tank took in 17.29 US gallons (yes
it's not an error and the gas station is not a crooked one since it's owned
by a friend). Adding to that the 0.3 already in the tank we have roughly
17.6 gallons of fuel in the tank.

Now from the capacity claimed by BMW this is off by ~1.5 gallons which is
so much that it can not be explained easily by the filler pipe, temperature etc.

And mind you I didn't have the patience to take the gas all the way to the
top to be able to see it at the top of the filler pipe. So I could have put
more gas. Possibly not much but definitely more.

So I don't think Fleet or anyone else has solved the mystery yet or given
a reasonable explanation as to why we see such discrepancies especially
of this size.

Thx,

sc.-

[NaTuReB0Y]

somehow i thought the tank was 18.9 gallons.....my bad.

[ahnh77]

most cars have a reserve area that holds usually 1 or 2 gallons of fuel...just so you don't run out of gas....

my b5..would chime when it hit near empty...when it hit empty..it would give off a second chime and the gas meter would actually go back up....letting me know that i'm on reserve...the car would stop and run out gas exactly when it hit empty the 2nd time....wow..if vw can be this accurate with the gas meter...why can't bmw or mercedez do this?

anybody with portable gas tank want to experiment and let us know?..hehehe

[sobriquet]

I love how Fleet sweeps in to answer questions at the mere mention of his name. The Bimmer equivalent of throwing up the bat signal.

[rolling18]

also keep in mind that the fuel expands a little when its very hot out...
could be enough to cause variable readings..

[GoTrojans]

I dont normally put gas in until the on-board reads "-- miles" and on multiple occasions have seen the pump read a couple tenths over 16 gallons.

[maximinimaus]

Originally Posted by WallyF

I am curious about the fuel capacity of the E90. In the owners manual on page 60, BMW states the capacity as 15.9 gals/60 liters . On page 106 and 151, it says the capacity is 16.1gals/61 liters.

I have noted that the Consumer Reports (May,2006) article and the Road and Track (March 2006) article show a 15.9 gals/60 liters capacity.

I have also been out on the various BMW web sites around the world and the capacity varies from 60liters/15.9gals to 63liters/16.6 gals.

I would think that BMW would make one size tank for the E90.

Any ideas?

wallyf

The gasoline models have 63 l, the diesels 61 l according to the German E90 product information brochure.

[330m]

Originally Posted by GoTrojans

I dont normally put gas in until the on-board reads "-- miles" and on multiple occasions have seen the pump read a couple tenths over 16 gallons.

You're brave. Surely this is bad as the pump will be sucking sludge from the tank bottom?

I usually don't go below 1/4 full, just stop at the first Shell station for V-power 99 RON. If I let it go any lower, I might not pass a garage in time.

In regard to an earlier post, you don't pay for the fuel in the pump hose, only what comes out of the nossle, so the gallons dispensed won't include that fuel in the hose.

Some pumps trip early and some wait till fuel almost spurts out the filler cap, so it's difficult to get an accurate figure.

[mkoesel]

Originally Posted by 330m

You're brave. Surely this is bad as the pump will be sucking sludge from the tank bottom?

On the other hand, if you always let it run that low, then you are never going to have more than one tank's worth of "sludge" in there to begin with. At least that's my theory. 100k miles later, and absolutely zero problems.

I should add that I've never once run the car completely out of gas, which would be bad for the pump obviously.

[330m]

Originally Posted by mkoesel

On the other hand, if you always let it run that low, then you are never going to have more than one tank's worth of "sludge" in there to begin with. At least that's my theory. 100k miles later, and absolutely zero problems.

I should add that I've never once run the car completely out of gas, which would be bad for the pump obviously.

Point taken, but why do it? Are you trying to court running out of fuel deliberately?

Do you know the distance to every garage wherever you happen to be? What if you get to -- miles and the next garage is 50 miles away? Or one that only has low grade fuel?

Why have all the risks when you have paid for a car with a display to help you avoid them all? Sounds like you are just asking for trouble.

Why not disconnect your speedo, you don't need it - just guess how fast you are going.

[mkoesel]

Originally Posted by 330m

Point taken, but why do it?

Because I live life on the edge. :rocks:

Nah actually, I do it because of what I said above - I figure it minimizes the chance that I'll end up with crap at the bottom of the tank.

Why not disconnect your speedo, you don't need it - just guess how fast you are going.

Well because that'd lead to speeding voilations. No tix handed out for running out of gas.