Reserve fuel capacity

[ItalianTuneUp]

On a motorway run the other day I noticed the fuel gauge was low down in the R territory (reserve), so I took it nice and easy whilst looking out for a petrol station. Amazingly, I noticed the car stated it was getting 51.2 mpg at a speed of about 55mph, which I thought was pretty good!

After finding the 'Range' menu, it quoted about 200 miles of fuel remaining, so I guess the S320CDI has a reserve capacity of about 4 gallons or 18 litres or so. Does this sound about right? The reason I ask is that I was getting a little edgy, half expecting the car to conk out at any moment.

 

[DSM10000]

You will get a low fuel warning message and a warning light well before it runs out.

 

[stevieb15]

I assume fuel tank to be 90 litres or 19.8 gallons, therefore 18 litres is almost 20% which I would have thought an absurdly large "reserve"

 

[dubsR33]

i have a CLK320CDI and i often get the reserve fuel warning when i still have 2 bars on the gauge..my commute to work is approx. 30 miles and i can do my journey twice before it I'm doing to zero bars

 

[IanS320]

I get the red tank symbol (no longer tries to work out range) with 14-15l space left in the tank (based on a 90l fill) the needle showing 2-3mm. I reckon I could do about 50miles in normal use before getting into problems.

 

[Dieselman]

Reserve is usually 8 litres on the 80 litre tank.

 

[cinek]

Reserve is usually 8 litres on the 80 litre tank.

Isnt it about 10% overall tank capacity, which goes up to 15% on large petrol engines (V8s)?

 

[ChrisA]

Isnt it about 10% overall tank capacity, which goes up to 15% on large petrol engines (V8s)?

My tank is 80ltr and it's a V8
10% is reserve

 

[ItalianTuneUp]

You will get a low fuel warning message and a warning light well before it runs out.

That's good to know, as running out of diesel is not funny. Re-pressurisation required etc, so I hear.

 

[ItalianTuneUp]

I assume fuel tank to be 90 litres or 19.8 gallons, therefore 18 litres is almost 20% which I would have thought an absurdly large "reserve"

Yes, that's what I thought, hence the post. Perhaps there was a large error margin due to something or other, making the figure shown inaccurate?

 

[machineheadrock]

i have a CLK320CDI and i often get the reserve fuel warning when i still have 2 bars on the gauge..my commute to work is approx. 30 miles and i can do my journey twice before it I'm doing to zero bars

I second this motion

 

[ItalianTuneUp]

I get the red tank symbol (no longer tries to work out range) with 14-15l space left in the tank (based on a 90l fill) the needle showing 2-3mm. I reckon I could do about 50miles in normal use before getting into problems.

This sounds similar-ish to my situation: around 20% juice left.

 

[ChrisA]

This sounds similar-ish to my situation: around 20% juice left.

Very similar, my light comes on at around 50 miles to go, approx 20%

 

[ItalianTuneUp]

Very similar, my light comes on at around 50 miles to go, approx 20%

No moths in your wallet then!