I have an 05 MINI Cooper S hard top. I waited until the range on my on board computer went to "0" miles until empty then filled it up. The nozzle clicked off at 14.001 gallons. The owners book says that the tank is only a 13.2 gallon tank. Whats up with that? Any one else get that much in there. I used to have an 03 and this never happend. Did they change anything for 05 related to the gas tank?

 

1/2 a gallon in the lead between the tank and the gas cap maybe???

 

Thats alot of gas to hold in the line, however it is possible. I wonder why my 03 wouldnt hold that much. My guess is that the gas guage has been recalibrated. It is possible that the guage would read more empty than it actually was for 2003 and that is why I couldnt put that much gas in it when it was empty.

 

I have an 03 MCS and have drive over six miles to get gas after it said "0" miles to go.

Earl

 

Yeah, I heard something about a 2 gallon reserve. Ever heard of such a thing?

 

The 2 gallon reserve is part of the overall measure of the size of the tank. So the 13.2 number includes the 2 gallon reserve.

 

That means nothing. If the red idiot light goes on, you got 2.1 gallons of gas left

Old VWs USED to have real reserve tanks because the had no gas gauges!

 

Could be a lot of things:

1. The gas pump was off. Just because they say they have been tested sometime doent mean they are accurate now
2. There is some gas in the filler ... did you continue to pump after it clicked off?
3. You could have gotten one of those special BIG gas tanks that snuck onto the production line

 

There is no way you could get 14 gallons into the tank.

The pump is either inaccurate by accident or the gas station owner has it rigged to increase profit

 

Yah, I would say the pump was off or rigged. The most I ever got in mine with being dangerously low was like 12.9. That was bad for me too, I usually try to stay above quarter.

 

From August 2005:



And no it was not a very inaccurate gas pump - because the MPG calculations on the tanks before & after this fill-up were "typical". If the pump lied, I would have got a very low MPG.
In addition, many of my fill-ups in GBMINI#3 are above the claimed 13.2 gallon capacity - it's not a one-off rogue gas pump.

 

The same thing happened to me on my first road trip about a week after I got the MINI. When I filled up it totaled 14.2 gallons. I thought it was weird so when I got to my destination I got out the manual and found the gas tank capacity. At the time I too thought I might have been getting ripped off at the pump, it was right after Hurricane Katrina and prices were very high, but now I see I am not the only one that this has happened to.

 

Last time going to Lime Rock in an 03 I filled with the car sputtering on a hill.

13.98 gallons.

 

I have put over 14 gallons in mine as well, heh.

 

I tried calling the MINI hotline to ask this question but they are not open on weekends.

1-866- ASK -MINI
Ill give it a shot on Monday and let you know what they have to say.

 

I also run well over 13 gallons/fillup. I often think about asking the owners to show me the callibration certificate for the pumps because I never get into the single digits til empty.

I honstly think the gas pumps are rigged Just think, if they can add .2 gallons per tank, how much profit they can rack up a day.

 

I believe the fuel capacity is 13.2 PLUS the 2 gal reserve.


I have gotten over 13 gal many times at the pump.

 

Being made in the UK, the gas tanks are made to hold 50 litres. Converted to US gallons, that is 13.2 gallons.

The reserve, or when the light comes on, means there is 8 litres left in the tank. A few times the light has come on, within a block of a gas station. Took 42 litres to fill.

 

I am sorry but I can't believe that. It doesn't explain how I, and many others it seems, can get more than 13.2 gal at a fill up. I have seen a max of 13.8 gals put in.


The owners manual states that the tank capacity is 13.2 and a reserve of 2.1. This leads me to believe that the total is 15.3 gal.

 

I haven't run out of fuel yet in my 05 MCS. And I've had several fill ups in the 14.4-14.6 gallons range at various stations. So I don't buy the miscalibrated pump explanation...

I'm glad that the actual capacity exceeds the published capacity. I wish it was even a few gallons larger to allow for a 400 mile range. The fewer trips to a gas station the better!

btw, I previously owned an 04 MCS and my refueling records suggest that the 05 has a larger gasoline capacity than the 04.

 

Thats not true. The 2.1 is simply when the red idiot light goes on

 

I've always suspected (at least in California) that those gas pumps with the rubber boot that keep fumes from going into the environment actually suck back some gas out of your gas tank and back into the hands of your friendly gas station.

 

If I fill up, and continue to fill after the nozzle stops, I can get almost 2 more litres in the filler tube. That explains why you can get more than 13.2 gallons into you MINI, not your tank.

The tank is 50 litres, or 13.2 US gallons. No more, no less. Including the reserve

 

Most I ever got in my tank was 9 gallons, but I never run it to empty either.

 

I just checked my fuel mileage log, and since I've bought my 2005 MC, I've filled it up 11 times, and 6 of those have been more than 13.2 gallons. The most was 13.9 gallons last week. I ran it almost out though, my "miles remaining" meter went to 0 and than back up to 2 or 3 miles multiple times.

Practically every car I've owned has held at least 1/2 to 3/4 gallon or more fuel in the filler neck, above the rated capacity of the tank.

-Keith