Damn! German Engines, Y U SO GOOD?

[Fear Deer]

Ok, i need some explaining LOL as im a bit surprised and admired.

So today we were on our little sunday cruise, except we didnt notice our fuel was on the reserve when we departed (well, wasnt yet but nearly)

Suddenly, 70KM away from home, we had the reserve light warning, and the computer told us we had 60KM Left of fuel. around 15KM's away from home, it read we had 0KM of fuel, so we thought...Crap...we are gna run out of fuel. And from that moment, while it read 0KM of Fuel left, my dad was barely pressing the throttle, averaging 1100RPM-1200RPM, and we made it to the fuel pumps, which are near home, so we did around 15KM while the car said we would do 0 More. while we were 10KM away we started feeling hiccups and the fuel pump sucking on air...seriously? What happened!!? How did the engine create an explosion with just air, while maintaing the 6 cylinders busy rotating...

Seriously, i need an explanation for this as im admired xD ,Long Live German Engines! :lol:

BTW: its a diesel; 3.0 TDi quattro

[Andreas¹]

Clarkson did the same on Top Gear (remember their race from Basel to Blackpool?).

His car said 0 for ages and they found out he could still do 120 miles (= 193 kms) on the fuel he had left.

[Fear Deer]

I remember he did something like that on an A8 with a 4.0 TDi (which is now replaced by 4.2TDi) From lodon to edinborough and back, but he travelled longer with 0, and he had more hiccups

We felt around 2 hiccups or so, and we kind of heard the pump whining sucking on air.

We also had Air conditioner on

[GTAMADDOG]

Lol. The indicator which tells you how many miles you have left in my mums MK6 Golf sometimes goes up instead of down. She once started a journey with 30 miles remaining and ended the journey with 45 miles remaining.

 

Pretty sure the Germans are unaware that the cars they make don't actually need fuel.

[Fear Deer]

:lol:

the indicator displays a value based on average consumption.

Sometimes we leave home, or are in a city, and it shows 500, but once we enter the highway, it raises up a bit, sometimes it even raises by 100km or more, it depends of the consumption being made and the type of driving. My dad, while it was showing 40KM, had to get fast inside a busy street, so he put in Sport Mode, made an acceleration up to 3900RPM, and it imediatelly dropped to 20km, but then made it back up to 30km with time.

When my dad fills it up to the top, (he aint done it in a while tho, cose diesel is expensive now and its around 110€ to feed it fully xD) he leaves the gas station with around 950km on the display, buit if he enters the highway sometimes it shows 1030KM or so. When we had a 1.9 TDi A4, when we filled it up, we once saw 1200KM on the display , while on the highway, around 130km/h. My dad doesnt really go much faster than that, sometmies he does but not for long

[killalldude]

In the fuel tank, there is a sensor that moves up and down depending on the level of fuel within the tank. Although the tank is empty (the sensor is at the bottom of the tank and it's telling the needle on the dash to show empty on the gauge), there is still some fuel left in the pipe that connects the fuel tank to the engine. It's not actually running on fumes, there is just a little bit fuel left for the car to sip on.

 

If you're wondering why German engines are so good, its because they don't dump their money into defense. They can use their money for better things, like car engines, for example. :cheeky:

[Fear Deer]

My dad, on the highway, (extraurban), can make an average consumption of 5.8L/100KM on a 3.0 V6, Diesel, allwheel drive. So yep..germans, Y UR ENGINES SO GOOD!

[Camel]

Not just German cars that do that. I once ran out of petrol, apparently and had no cash on me. Drove about 20 miles after the screen read zero and the needle was below empty to get home. And then to the petrol station the next day which was a further 2 miles away. The car did seem a bit sluggish after that as all of the crap from the bottom of the tank gets pulled through the fuel line and into the engine. Which is never a good thing and it can cause expensive damage.

 

I think they're just made to slightly under estimate the amount of fuel left in it incase you do "run out" so that you can get home or to a petrol station.

[Speed]

 

[Fear Deer]

I see =)

Thanks speed, an image speaks more than 1000 words :)

+rep

[Ryzza5]

You'd think they'd redesign that system by now as well. The normal fuel gauge is fairly predictable, but I think the computer one takes into account your current and average MPG to rpedict how many KMs you have left as well. My car is twin-charged so practically runs off air most of the time anyway :)

[Leadfoot[YT]]

http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/3/7/0/102370.jpg?v=1

 

http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/3/7/1/102371.jpg?v=1

 

I was on Cracked trying to find that. Thank you. :) I've always thought the lack of correction for this is a somewhat fool-proof safety thing, too. :hmmm: :p

 

-Leadfoot

[Speed]

I only read it on Cracked the other day so I sort of knew where I was looking, still took a while trawling through my history though :)

[Ryzza5]

Forwarded those pics to my mum, she will hopefully benefit and stop panicking when the needle drops ;)

[Fear Deer]

Forwarded those pics to my mum, she will hopefully benefit and stop panicking when the needle drops ;)

i do that too :(

cose if a diesel stops coz of no fuel..its not just fill it up and go..gota bleed the circuits..prime the engine..blerghh!

[Camel]

Don't you have to do that in some modern petrols too? According to my car manual I have to pump a primer or something to make it work again.

[Ryzza5]

Not that I'm aware of. Your car must be speshul.