ryans

I was just curious if anyone knows the size of the 944 (early model) gas tank. I bought an autometer programmable fuel gauge. It came factory calibrated with the Ford settings. The ford settings are pretty similiar to ours so I haven't calibrated it yet.

944
71.6 ohms Empty
3.2 Ohms Full.

Ford
73 Ohms Empty
10 Full

When I fill up my tank the guage is over full. When I hit the E I go to fill up and put in 13.8 gallons. I'm just curious how close to running out I am.

triscadek

My 87 is 21.5 gal and I'm pretty sure that early cars were less. Sorry to not be much help.

EDIT: Just did a search for fuel tank capacity, and came up with 17.1 gal. for early cars.

Waterguy

Early cars are 66 litres (17.4 US gallons.) You have a ways to go yet. Sort of like the last two gallons are the "reserve" on the stock fuel gauge. Yeah, thats right, just like you planned all along....

ryans

wow, i never knew it was that big. Even when I had a functional gas gauge when I'd fill up the most I ever put in was near 14 gallons.

thanks for the info.

kennycoulter

yeah and a mustang's is 15.4 and they dont go by a reserve.... i think the neck holds a half gallon or 3/4.

SamGrant951

When is the early cutoff for gas tanks? 85.5? 87?

On pelican the other day someone said the 86 951s had a 16/17 gallon while the 87+ had the 21 gal...I always thought all turbos/s2s, etc had a 21 gal tank..

tifosiman

This has been debated here, but from my personal, non-scientific observations, the 85.5 cars were the change-over date to the 21 gallon tank (mine has one). This has been true of the 944 cars I have seen in person.

Oddball clubsport and cup car models may have had a smaller tank, I am uncertain about those. I'll crawl under a cup car next week and check that for you.

Zero10

I have an 86 with a 80L tank.
I as well believe the changeover was in 85.5

visualpascal

Does the reserve light really come on with 2+ gallons left in reserve? I too have only ever been able to put about 13-14 gallons in the tank. Hmm....maybe 17 gallons is smaller in Germany, who knows.

--Chris

slinky

There is a reserve light?

I usually wait to fill mine up til it gets pretty low, but I've never seen a reserve light come on. Also, even though I think it's close to empty, I can't put more than 13 or 14 gallons in. The pumps clicks off, but the guage on the dash only shows 3/4 full. Something is obviously screwed up here!

Bret 944

The reserve light doesn't come on in any of my cars until the needle is almost below the last mark. It may have something to do with (like slinky's) the needle only going up to about 3/4 tank when full. Normally, in the '88, when the light comes on, and I drive to the nearest gas station, I can put in between 17 and 18 gallons. Once I put in 19 gallons, and it was becuase I drove like 60 miles after the light came on. But evidently I still had 2 gallons left!! These things make awesome economy cars!!

TKS

I've put in 18+ gal. after the light came on in my '86, and the gauge also only goes up to about 3/4. I've found even mid-speed cornering has a big effect on it too, bigger than I've seen in other cars. I've seen it go from 1/2 to 1/4 after one right-turn off ramp, and back to 1/2 once I was going straight again. I use it as more of an approximation than anything, and that combined with the trip odometer let me know when it's really time to get gas.

visualpascal

I know this has been covered before, but how many miles are other drivers with the different size tanks? Last long drive I got 390 before the light turned on...

--Chris

Dal Heger

The reserve light is wired separate from the gauge. It's a separate wire leading all the way back to the tank, with a switch on the tank end. The float will actually trip a switch when it gets low enough.

ALL 85.5+ tanks are plastic and 21.1 gallons.

My light comes on with the needle under the empty line on the gauge. I usually fill up quickly after that, but have at least 3 gallons left. The most I ever put in was about 20 gallons, I drove with that light on for quite a while before I chickened out and filled up.

Dal.

M758

Early tanks are 17 gallons. Typical fill-ups in my 84 are 13-14 gallons. I usally fill with in 20 miles from when the light starts to goes on.