Concerns about Fuel Tank size (towing around Australia)

[FrogPond]

Hello AULRO community.

Our family of 6 is about to embark on a 4.5 month trip up through the middle and round the west coast of Australia towing a van (about 2500kg), with a new (to us) D4. We are sticking mostly to the main roads when towing, and then day tripping out to see as many of the great sites as we can.

First time we've done anything like this - I'm a bit concerned about fuel with the 82L capacity; not sure what the economy is like when towing that sort of weight.

Anyone done something similar? Is the LR tank essential?

Thanks in advance for advice / suggestions!

[d3viate]

Diesel, Petrol ? I don't know what you have heard about the wild west but we do have servos regular, rarely will you have to go 350 kms between servos if sticking to the black stuff so if you are chewing that much juice and cannot get there you must be going some sort of speed indeed.
If you are worried about fuel and cannot sleep, stick a couple of jerrys on the rack.
The worst mileage you will do is punching into the wind over the Nullabor if it so happens while you are there but being Murphys it seems whichever way you are going, east west or visa-versa it is rarely up your dot.
Its a great day when it is though.
If the winds are forecast strong into you when you are crossing, just leave earlier in the morning when they are not so strong and pull up earlier in the arvo.
The best thing about a LR tank is bypassing the servos, unless you like pulling up that regular at places like that but our servos are not those fancy ones you people over that side seem to have with your Lattes and kiddy playgrounds but our attendants do have free attitude.
If you have kids and are stopping at every servo, the money you are spending on junk and higher priced fuel will pay for the tank in the end.
Anyway, don't worry, its not hard driving around Oz and after a while you will wonder why you were worried.

[ADMIRAL]

Ditto to D3viate.

As long as you have planned your trip, the availability of suitable fuel should not be an issue. However an aux tank gives you enormous flexibility on when to buy ( when to stop ) , and if you want to go seriously trekking off road, gives you the range to do so without worries.

The main issue with an aux tank on your D3/4, is you cannot have one under the car, without relocating the spare wheel to a SWC ( single wheel carrier ) This pretty much doubles the cost. I don't like putting fuel in jerrycans on the roof, but plenty of people do. ( actually, I don't like anything heavy on the roof, fuel or tyres/rims ) If you decide to go down the path of on the roof, think carefully about how you are going to get the weight up and down, and in the case of fuel, how you are going to get it into the tank.

I have a LongRanger aux. tank and a Dolium SWC. No real issues with either. Our D4 is my other halfs drive car, and the wheel carrier is liveable without complaint. Just a case of getting used to having to open it up, before accessing the rear end.

Do some more research before making a decision. Plenty of data on this site.

[Fatso]

With a family of 6 the weight you will be carrying would be more of a concern than extra fuel , No probs in WA for servo,s, if as said you stick to the black stuff . Have a good trip . :)

[Redback]

Hello AULRO community.

Our family of 6 is about to embark on a 4.5 month trip up through the middle and round the west coast of Australia towing a van (about 2500kg), with a new (to us) D4. We are sticking mostly to the main roads when towing, and then day tripping out to see as many of the great sites as we can.

First time we've done anything like this - I'm a bit concerned about fuel with the 82L capacity; not sure what the economy is like when towing that sort of weight.

Anyone done something similar? Is the LR tank essential?

Thanks in advance for advice / suggestions!

82l is not the capacity, it's 82 usable litres, the capacity is closer to 90lts, anyway I agree with all above, with the weight your carrying I reckon you'll get about 600k to a tank if you drive properly and don't drive into the headwinds the WA coast is infamous for all day.

If you have the money, get an auxiliary fuel tank, you could put the spare on the van or a roof basket or spend a bit more and get a wheel carrier as well, but it's not essential.

Enjoy your trip, Baz.

[Tombie]

Look at it this way...

Plenty of Caravan towing nomads are using falcons, commodores etc with std tanks to do trips....

:)

[FrogPond]

Thanks for all the good information - I'm a bit more relaxed about this now.
D4 is Diesel, and all the kids are under 11 (so not too heavy).

Budget is a bit tight, so will be going with the standard tank.

[AnD3rew]

Agree as above, if you are sticking mainly to main roads and plan well you won't have a problem. The tank is a little small but no real issues. I have the LR tank but I plan to go a bit further from the main roads and can skip some of he dodgier looking fuel stops if I want.

[outasight]

We just did a 4 week long trip Melbourne to Cairns & back towing a 16' single axle approx. 2 Ton Jayco Expanda pop top. with a SDV6 3.0 D4.

Economy varied directly in relation to speed, as well as winds & hills - all as expected. Sitting on an indicated 80-90km/h gave an indicated 11.5L-12.5L/100km useage whereas at an indicated 100-115km/h indicated up to 14L-15L/100km. I was generally doing the latter :o

All these indicated L/100km figures are at least 1L extra in real life.

I was not game to go on low fuel too long & planned fill or just found fuel ASAP when needed. I got about 4 fills of 74L(these would have been when I thought it was VERY low!). Most fills were between 62L & 70L. I believe the tank to be about 82L CAPACITY. All these fills were often to the top of the neck(visible) which I don't normally do at all around town.

Bottom line is unless you do the lower speed with a full van of 2.5+ Ton you will only manage approx. 400-450km max. between fills. Trust me as I was only going about 400km on occasions due to speed more than anything, and my van isn't really big or too heavy.

Having said all that, I didn't think that a couple of hundred extra $ over the 9,000km we did was worth all the effort, wasted time & nuisance of driving slow ... :angel:

Regards,

Les.

[pohm66]

Hi...

When we did the "Lap" towing 2 ton we generally didn't have to worry about the size of the tank and running out of diesel except on 2 occasions.

1) Twice our designated refuel stops (note: only one in that area) were closed due to pump problems. One place was Tom Price.... next town was about 180ks away and parts and tech had to come from Port Headland. Apparently browsers were off line for 12 to 18 hours.

2) Hit a STRONG steady 45deg cross wind, worst than head on, and fuel consumption at 80kph was about 19 litres per 100 so just over 400k range.

We always carried 2 jerry cans on the roof rack for peace of mind.

Hope this helps.....

[Tombie]

May I ask? If you were towing... Why would you put fuel on the roof?

Between the trailer and vehicle you still needed a roof rack load?

Can you elaborate for more info for those looking to do this trip.

[Rok_Dr]

I just pack a couple of jerry cans on/in the van. Even when I was towing with the range rover and getting 25l/100km, I only used them to get to a town with cheaper fuel.

Cheers

Steve

[pohm66]

Hi Tombie,

Was towing a 2 ton caravan. Carried 40 litres and a 2nd spare on the roof.

http:// www.aulro.com/app/data/500/medium/DSC02880b.jpghttps://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/04/188.jpg

[mowog]

There will be lots of interesting little side trips between towns which you wont be able to do because of limited fuel range. I towed a 2300kg Coromal and I needed to find fuel by 400klm. It was a pain always worrying about fuel. With aux tank its all to easy now.

[goingbush]

Hi Tombie,

Was towing a 2 ton caravan. Carried 40 litres and a 2nd spare on the roof.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/04/188.jpg

:eek: somone dosent like flies !!

with a van like thats its very easy mod to mount an extra jerry on the front and an extra two on the back to balance it out.

[TDV6]

On our lap around the island we averaged 19L/100K using a 2.7L TDV6 towing a three ton off road van and carried two jerrycans on the drawbar and an extra two in the van. This gave us good range to pick and choose where we got fuel.

Remapping the car reduced fuel to approx 17.5L/100K on a trip from Qld to Tassie and return, on that trip the cans on the drawbar remained empty with just two in the van that were rarely used.

Ryall

[Paradiddle]

We have been doing a lap for the last 5 months towing a 3 tonne van, 3 kids, bikes, kayaks,....lots of other crap we haven't used. Plenty of fuel stops around if you stick to A and B roads. I always carry a spare 20 litre jerry though. Ran into a couple of roadhouses that were restricting fuel.
The price is a killer though. Has ranged from $1.40 to $2.10 a litre.
Fuel is the part of the budget that you can't change much (but you can always eat cheaper or use cheaper accommodation).
Have fun!

[Landy Smurf]

I went up around there in a 4x2 hilux. 66L tank averaging 9.5L/100km it was petrol.
I had a 20L jerry can that i only used to get away from the more expensive fuel(tight ass here).
I had no problems but i was not towing anything but still had a bit of weight in the ute.
I would not bother with an extra tank if you just have a 20L jerry can.

[TerryO]

There will be lots of interesting little side trips between towns which you wont be able to do because of limited fuel range. I towed a 2300kg Coromal and I needed to find fuel by 400klm. It was a pain always worrying about fuel. With aux tank its all to easy now.


I agree with Mowog, with our 2.5 ton off road Pop top I find about 400 to 450 km is about all you get before you starting seriously hoping the next gas station isn't far away

If I was planning on taking some side trips then I'd feel a lot more comfortable with an auxiliary tank. At the very least I'd be taking two x 20 litre Jerry's with me as a precaution.

Enjoy the trip.