I've always thought it was a bit odd that from empty my car would only hold 12 gallons. Come to find out they carry 16.6

Time to replace the level sender I guess. This would explain why im only getting 240 miles to a tank

 

How did you fill your tank? Don't you just fill it till the pump clicks off?

 

well, he refills when he THINKS its empty.

 

Ooooh, I see, so the sensor's thinking it's empty when there's really 4 gallons left?

 

Yep, S4's hold 63L (16.6gal) and S5's hold 70L (18.4gal). I fill when the light comes on and it usually takes 50-55L (63L tank), so either the sender's out a bit, or Mazda just built a nice reserve into the system. Probably the latter, as this is common in most cars these days.

 

my sender is screwy sometimes too once it gets below 1/4 of a tank left. sometimes it'll show almost none, and sometimes it never seems to move.

 

u guys sure? I thought S4's only hold 13.8 gallons...

 

nope, 16.6 for my 86 GXL, says it right in my owners manual

 

I get 160 miles to the tank.

and my sender works! :-(

 

remember you don't want to use those last couple of gallons except in an absolute emergency as the gas in the tank cools the fuel pump, and running it dry will often smoke the fuel pump.

 

I did not know that. Thanks Icemark. (Yay! Learn somthing new everyday!)

 

Theres a light that comes on?...

 

so when the s5 guys fill how many gal do you put in? what mpg do you get? whenever i ask that i normally get a mile per tank answer, which isn't very useful...

 

ya i tried to wait one time till the light came on and about 300 ft down the road it ran out of gas. lol

 

Hey NZ my 89 GTU only had a 16.6 gal tank, I know cause I ran outa gas one time and put a gallon in it to get to the gas station and I could only get like 16.4 gallons in it....I believe the verts were the only ones with 18.4 gallons

but good try

 

there were still 2 gallons in there, they were just too low for the pump to pick up. but good try

 

eh? I nearly ran my s4 down and it took at least 16 gallons.

 

my friend ran out of gas one time in his camaro, didn't fry the feul pump, but it did clog up his fuel filter.

 

My 90 takes 15 gal or so when the low fuel light comes on. Most Ive ever put it in was about 16 gal.

Actually, some of the gas in unusable. As in the fual pump pickup isnt low enough to even be able to pick up the gas. Its probably along the lines 1-1.5 gal of unusable gas.

 

BlackRX7, ALL S5's had the 18 gal tank.

 

whoa, most my car ever took was 13.5

 

really I'd like to see some evdince....my haynes manual say 16.6.....

 

The Haynes manual isn't the most reliable source. My owner's manual and service manual both say 18.5 gallons.

 

If you want to listen to what the FSM says, then the following is the fuel capacities.

86-88 NA - 16.6 gal.
86-88 TII - 16.6 gal.
89-91 NA - 18.5 gal.
89-91 TII - 18.5 gal.

Fikshun

 

My owner's manual says 63L for my 86 and I believe it - I've run out of gas twice in the last year and she took almost exactly 63L each time.

63L = 16.6 US gallons