The 500 mile club

[wagonman76]

There are lots of times when I could have gotten 500 miles from a tank without running it way low and making the fuel pump howl. Ive got a 15.7 gallon tank. But I almost never put over 14 gallons in it when filling up. 500/14 = 35.7 mpg, which I have exceeded many times.

This last tank I could have technically gotten 605 miles, but Id probably have burned up the fuel pump trying.

[trikkonceptz]

I still remember having to fill up when my light came on and the trip read 278 miles. I remember stretching it once to 299 thinking I was going to run out of gas...

Now I hit 300 at the half tank line .. LOL what a difference out of the same car ..

[Matt Herring]

Congrats Trik!

I'm trying to get to 600 miles with my 4runner but I don't drive highways more than 10-20 miles a month and my best tank was 569 with a 20+ gallon tank on a road trip. Maybe next summer roadtrip I can pull it off. Just trying to get to 500 miles during my 90% town driving regular tanks.

008-09-02 569.6 mi. 20.55 US gal $3.64 27.72 US [edit] Full tank driving with 90% highway/10% city. Heavy use of P&G in neutral. Was able to neutral coast it down from 60mph to 35mph on some long stretches. Ideal weather for driving. Never allowed mph to go above 60mph using pedal (did coast above 70mph in some stretches). Never allowed rpm above 1700 entire tank.

[gascort]

Congrats!!!!! I've been trying to hit 500 in the 'scort but the closest I've been is 471. Now you have a real lofty goal - 600. You can do it!
I feel the same thing here with changed attitudes about how far you can go, except worse... in my mustang, with a 40% larger tank, I always felt extremely happy to get more than 300 miles on a tank. With the new car and mods, I see that number come and go with less than 1/2 the equivalent fuel used!
I do agree with those mentioning not running the pump low. Liquid gasoline has a fair specific heat and convects well, which removes lots of heat from the pump. Best not to run more out of there than was meant to...

[Ford Man]

I've broken 500 miles on a tank several times on my '88 Escort before joining ecomodders.com. At my lifetime average since joining of 44.829 on the 12.9 gallon tank I would be able to travel 578.29 miles. Most tanks will also hold more fuel than the owners manual states. I have filled the tank on the '88 Escort which is supposed to be a 12.9 gallon tank and put as much as 14 gallons in it by topping it off. As someone else stated running the fuel tank too low can cause the fuel pump to overheat and fail. I've replace the fuel pump a few times on the '88 Escort and everytime the tank had less than a 1/4 tank. I rarely let my tank go less than a 1/4 tank anymore and usually fill at around 1/2 a tank so I know it has enough gas to keep the pump cool.

[slurp812]

Originally Posted by trikkonceptz

Well due to circumstances beyond my control I had to let the fuel in the Vibe run down until the little yellow light came on. Not so bad until I realized I was over 45 miles away from my normal fill station. So did I pull off at the next exit and fuel up, HELL NO, time to drive her until she's dry or leaves me stranded.

So I called the wife and warned her of the impending phone call to come to my rescue with a full gas can. But to my surprise the Vibe made it home and to the gas station.

508 miles ... the farthest I have ever driven that car on one tank of gas. As my fuel log shows it only took 12.2 gallons to fill from that point, leaving at least a gallon in the tank. So I proudly became a member of the 500 mile club, with ambitions to break in the 600 mile club in the future.

Perhaps the only member with an automatic .. LOL

My accord, with a LARGE 17 gallon tank (I could use ~16 gallons) got me to 600 miles, ONCE! I got regular high 500s. My Civic Si has smaller 13.2 gallon tank, and the light seems to come on much sooner, 9.8-10.5 gallons, so I rarely hit 400 trying hard in that car.

[Tourigjm]

Originally Posted by Doofus McFancypants

I have my fuel log spreadsheet calculate "Max Range". I take the MPG of the tank at the last fillup - and extrapolate out to see what the full tank would have been. not that i would actually drive it that low - but if i DID - My last tank would have put me at about 540 Miles ( although i filled up at 400 miles with about 11.8 Gallons) extrapolate that to the 15.9 gallon tank and you get anout 540 miles to drive it dry.

I do the same thing with my calculations. I have several tanks that would have broken 500, however even my best tank wouldn't break 600, 595 was the highest potential (est 12gal tank

[Andyman]

I exceeded 500 miles on a tank in my Honda Civic CX. It went something like 510 miles going about 55 MPH on the highway. It took about 10 gallons to fill it up. The camshaft was a little retarded and the ignition timing was a little advanced. I had a resistor connected to the MAP sensor to lower its voltage signal to the computer. It ran too rich without it, probably because of the old timing belt. I did that trip a few years ago.

[groar]

I find hard to keep a good mileage all over a tank : my daily mileage is varying for more than 33% so often I fill up after half a tank.
I have a big respect for these guys :

• Dan goes for KiloTank (with AC!) - CleanMPG Forums
• Honda Insight 1600+mi commuting tank attempt - CleanMPG Forums

Denis.

[ac7ss]

I remember my dad had a bonus tank on his diesel rabbit. I believe we easily made 900 miles on a tank. (3 fills Port Angeles, WA to Los Angeles, CA and back, the last fill was only because fuel was so cheap in Oregon. 2,500 miles.)