Was my fuel tank changed?

[lucasarg]

I have a camry 97 v6 le. It has 254k miles. I was looking around to improve my mpg and i found out that my car has a 18.5 gallons tank. But when i go to the gas pump and fill it up it always stops about 12.5 or so gallons, even if i let it go to the E with the warning light on.

I am crazy?

Also when i hit the 12.5 Gallon mark at the pump the fuel needle tops off at the F.

[BamZipPow]

Snap some piccies of the bottom of yer gas tank and post them up.

Are you the first owner? Has it always been this way since you got it?

I guess you could drain the tank, drop it and inspect it to make sure there isn't a bunch of rocks or something like that in there.

[lucasarg]

Originally Posted by BamZipPow

Snap some piccies of the bottom of yer gas tank and post them up.

Are you the first owner? Has it always been this way since you got it?

I guess you could drain the tank, drop it and inspect it to make sure there isn't a bunch of rocks or something like that in there.

Ill post some pic during the week end. Man i feel cheated. I am getting horrible mpg, i thought "well it is a v6 and it has 254k miles". By the way im the third owner so once i see if it was change ill try to put a bigger one lol.

[fenixus]

smaller tank wouldn't impact your MPG, only car range. sounds like you are having some other trouble, maybe evap lines clogged or something, idk weird situation. is CEL on ?

as above check physical tank first.

[lucasarg]

Originally Posted by fenixus

smaller tank wouldn't impact your MPG, only car range. sounds like you are having some other trouble, maybe evap lines clogged or something, idk weird situation. is CEL on ?

as above check physical tank first.

By mpg i meant range, the car runs out of gas quickly because it is missing 6 gallons lol. My bad, right now i am getting about 22-24 (max) mpg on highway. I went to St. Louis MO, from Minneapolis and i swear every 150 miles i had almost half a tank gone. I was like WTF

Oh and cel is off.

I was looking for prices for the tank and i was really suprise how expensive it is. 180+

for a bucket that holds fuel?

[fenixus]

ok then
show us some pics of what you've got under the car

[ajkalian]

Originally Posted by lucasarg

I have a camry 97 v6 le. It has 254k miles. I was looking around to improve my mpg and i found out that my car has a 18.5 gallons tank. But when i go to the gas pump and fill it up it always stops about 12.5 or so gallons, even if i let it go to the E with the warning light on.

I am crazy?

Also when i hit the 12.5 Gallon mark at the pump the fuel needle tops off at the F.

It could be something like what happened to me. I was cruising down the highway, minding my own business and I saw what looked like one of those plastic grocery bags blowing accross the road. I didn't think anything about it. I just watched it blow here, blow there, and as I got closer it honed in on my car like it was a plastic magnet. The next thing I saw was it was lined up square in the middle of the car, and I ran right over it. NBD, it's just a plastic bag. Well it turns out that it was more than a plastic bag.

The next thing I heard was a big THUD as it hit the front of my car, and another THUD as it hit something in the center of the car. I pulled over and looked at the front of the car, and the license plate was all bent. When I got home I looked under the car, and when whatever it was, rolled under the car it put a giant dent in the gas tank on it's way towards the back of the car.

Here's what the front of the car looked like......


So my gas tank doesn't ever fill up to factory specs because of the dent in the tank. Maybe something like that happened to the previous owner.

Or it might be something sinister. The previous owner could have been a drug smuggler and hid something in the gas tank. Or maybe his angry wife poured some sugar and sand into the gas tank.

We'll all be waiting to hear what you find when you crawl under the car.

[bdy0003]

You haven't been running on fumes. Cars in the US are required to have a few gallons left after E so that you wont become stranded. Its also bad for the fuel pump. The most I have ever filled up was 15gallons, even though I have an 18.5 gallon tank and thats when the needle is way past the red.

I'm with fenixus, take pictures of your tank or inspect it for dents (although dents dont make that much of difference).

[SexieWASD]

Our tanks are supposed to be 18.5 gal? The most I can fit is 14.5. not that it bothers me, I keep it half full anyway because the car handles better with less gas.

[360glitch]

As stated above, your car is likely just not even close to empty when your E light comes on. Run it completely out and then see how much it takes.