D3 Tdv6 Range Anxiety

[DiscoDB]

So inflicted some self induced range anxiety today by running the tank down to near empty. Was seeing how good the fuel economy could be on this last tank full, gentle accelerations off the lights, limiting revs to 2000 - 2200 before it would shift up, and using as little throttle as I could tolerate that it made my right foot ache. Mix of urban and highway driving. After 790km still showing range to go 110km but gauge was telling me 1/16th of a tank remaining.

The result - took just under 80 litres at a calculated economy of 10.1 L/100km. Hmmmmm - my average over the last 7000 kms has been 10.1 L/100km. Ok - won't waste my time doing that again. 😀

More worrying is the blatant lying trip computer trying to claim 8.8 L/100km and over 100km still possible from the last few litres in the tank! The last few drops must be some good stuff or it has a bigger tank.

Or maybe a VW engineer must have come to work for Land Rover to do a programming cheat! Pity they did not bypass the EGR at the same time. 😈

[Ean Austral]

I haven't paid much attention but I think the computer only reads consumption for a certain amount of time then it just sits on whatever that number is after say 5 mins of driving. I can put my foot flat to the floor and it still reads the same numbers, unless I reset it then it fluctuates for a period of time then just sits on an average. have a look at it when you first start the car, mine doesn't drop then increase as I drive off.


I think this is where the range calculation on the computer struggles to be accurate. Then again I could be wrong , its happened once before.




Cheers Ean

[shanegtr]

Mine slowly changes with time. I think the issue is more that the average becomes more stable as the tank is consumed.


The result - took just under 80 litres at a calculated economy of 10.1 L/100km. Hmmmmm - my average over the last 7000 kms has been 10.1 L/100km. Ok - won't waste my time doing that again. 😀
I wish I could do your average use - 12.4L/100km is my current average. Cant complain thou as its better than my old previous 80 series land cruiser and far better than my sister in laws 200 series land cruiser (they recon they struggle to get lower than 17L/100km)

[Narangga]

Mine seems to have a mind of its own....

The work Aurion (2012 vs D3 2006) is far more accurate.

[Ean Austral]

It is a 90 litre tank from memory so if there was 10 litres left and assuming it would get every litre before cutting out the range reading is pretty close..




Fair bit of assuming, maybe's, if's etc etc but you get my drift.


I was told when I purchased the car ..Whatever you do DO NOT run it out of fuel.. no more was said .


Cheers Ean

[Narangga]

It is a 90 litre tank from memory so if there was 10 litres left and assuming it would get every litre before cutting out the range reading is pretty close..




Fair bit of assuming, maybe's, if's etc etc but you get my drift.


I was told when I purchased the car ..Whatever you do DO NOT run it out of fuel.. no more was said .


Cheers Ean

I thought it was 82 so 'just under 80' is cutting it pretty fine either way.

[TerryO]

Running out of fuel is a pain, my D3 has a faulty gauge so unless you drive by the trip meter then your in trouble.
Still after having had it happen several times I can get it running again in 5 minutes once 20 litres is poured back into the tank. Anything less than 20 litres and it can be a struggle. I have also fashioned a bent bit of wire to push the bleed valve on the fuel line to get the air out quickly.

The first couple of times it happened I flattened the battery trying to get it restarted, now no problems. Still not advisable to let it get that empty if it can be helped though as it can't be good for injectors or fuel pump etc.

[Ean Austral]

I thought it was 82 so 'just under 80' is cutting it pretty fine either way.


The warning light comes on with 9 ( from memory ) litres remaining and I drove 30ks after the light came on and put 84 ltrs in , so either the pump was wrong or its somewhere around 90 ltr tank.


Cheers Ean

[DiscoDB]

The diesel is meant to be 82 litres, but I believe the petrol has 86 litres. Does make we wonder if the calculated range has the wrong tank size loaded.

So I was pretty confident I would get 800 kms based on past consumption, and would not normally cut it so fine, but the fuel place I was heading to was 10cpl cheaper and on the way home. Plus I had maintained the low stated economy from when I last refuelled, so was expected to do better than before. Woops.

But never got a low fuel level warning (other than the gauge of course heading to empty).

Refuel, reset all the trip computers, blow the cobwebs out on the way home and the stated consumption jumps to 11 L/100km and range now states 940kms. No correlation between the two!

[Narangga]

The warning light comes on with 9 ( from memory ) litres remaining and I drove 30ks after the light came on and put 84 ltrs in , so either the pump was wrong or its somewhere around 90 ltr tank.


Cheers Ean

Yeah I know - Yours is bigger than mine... :angel: :wasntme:

[strydes]

Another thread recently discussed a 'fake' engine cutout when there was a few litres left to protect the fuel system, then you could restart and keep going to the real cutout. Though I'm not sure if that is D4 specific, based on your experiences I guess it might be.

[jonesfam]

The trip computer distance to empty is, at best a guide.
I have run the TDV6 D3 30k with the distance to empty at 0.00.


I also have a Scan Gauge 2 fitted which gives me a real time fuel use reading and an average for a specific trip.
890km trip to work the Scan Gauge averages are around (they vary sightly trip to trip) gives a speed average of around 92kph & 11.1 or 11.2 lt per 100k.


There are only minor towns, a drop from 900 meters to 35 meters over the whole trip & when I stop for 5 minute breaks & a walk-about I don't turn the car off which would make some difference.


Jonesfam

[NomadicD3]

The trip computer distance to empty is, at best a guide.
I have run the TDV6 D3 30k with the distance to empty at 0.00.


I also have a Scan Gauge 2 fitted which gives me a real time fuel use reading and an average for a specific trip.
890km trip to work the Scan Gauge averages are around (they vary sightly trip to trip) gives a speed average of around 92kph & 11.1 or 11.2 lt per 100k.


There are only minor towns, a drop from 900 meters to 35 meters over the whole trip & when I stop for 5 minute breaks & a walk-about I don't turn the car off which would make some difference.


Jonesfam

Thanks Jonesfam,
I've often wondered what happens if distance to empty gets to 0.0. I have always "assumed" there would be a few more K's in it. I based that on watching distance to empty as the fuel gauge goes down and have noticed that for most of the time the actual number of K's traveled roughly equaled the reduction in k's distance to empty that is until the distance to empty gets down to about 150k's then it seems there is more K's reduced from distance to empty then actually traveled and by the time DTE= around 80-100k's DTE was reducing by roughly 2km's for every Km actually traveled. I've never had the DTE K's below 20, as I didn't want to find out that my assumption was wrong then have to go through the whole bleeding process :D;)

[crawal]

I have been getting around high 9's except one someone else drives.
Most time the yellow light is on "cos there is plenty in the other tank"
We have an aux tank but you must pump into the main tank first .....:confused:

[90 Rangie]

My trip computer reads consistently 8 to 12% better than actual when not towing but is pretty close when towing 3ton. If into a high head wind will sometimes read slightly worse than actual. Because it is consistent I normally just add 10% and that is pretty close.

[DiscoDB]

My trip computer reads consistently 8 to 12% better than actual when not towing but is pretty close when towing 3ton. If into a high head wind will sometimes read slightly worse than actual. Because it is consistent I normally just add 10% and that is pretty close.

I have found that the actual error between the display and actual is surprisingly consistent. An average error of 13% or 1.3 l/100km. This tells me it is a real calculated value - but one with a bias to look more favourable. Coincidently the error brings the real world consumption to something that looks very similar to the LR published fuel consumption figures.

The range display though is very inconsistent. Generally over states but never by a consistent amount. By comparison my 2008 BMW estimated range is very accurate from full tank to empty tank only changing as the actual average fuel consumption changes up or down over the tank. I generally subtract 100kms on the D3 but it is not consistent.

[Gaviatrix]

Mine is optimistic on the computer readout but pessimistic on the gauge. The tank is 82L for the diesel, by the way - I went and checked! When my gauge is reading empty I usually can't get more than about 77 L in, but the range readout will probably still be showing about 100K or so in hand. I never do a long trip in WA without at least one jerry can of diesel with me - I don't have a long range tank. We have LR roof bars which never get removed, and a bull bar, and over the last 5 or 6 years have averaged about 11.8 around town, 13 with an off-road trailer on the highway, and with care on a long run and nothing much on top we get about 9.0 true (with the readout showing about 8.2). There's about a 1L/100 difference between cruising at 100 and 110 km/h - a bit more if there's a headwind. And you can take off at least another litre if we've got kayaks or the Thule box on the roof. Still, compared with most other serious fourbys, I think that's pretty good. My XJ8 does about 14.5 around town if I'm gentle and 17 if I'm not!

[Catmatt]

So inflicted some self induced range anxiety today by running the tank down to near empty. Was seeing how good the fuel economy could be on this last tank full, gentle accelerations off the lights, limiting revs to 2000 - 2200 before it would shift up, and using as little throttle as I could tolerate that it made my right foot ache. Mix of urban and highway driving. After 790km still showing range to go 110km but gauge was telling me 1/16th of a tank remaining.

The result - took just under 80 litres at a calculated economy of 10.1 L/100km. Hmmmmm - my average over the last 7000 kms has been 10.1 L/100km. Ok - won't waste my time doing that again. 😀

More worrying is the blatant lying trip computer trying to claim 8.8 L/100km and over 100km still possible from the last few litres in the tank! The last few drops must be some good stuff or it has a bigger tank.

Or maybe a VW engineer must have come to work for Land Rover to do a programming cheat! Pity they did not bypass the EGR at the same time. 😈

I'm fortunate to have long range tanks fitted so when full, my trip computer will show precisely 485K's to go until empty for at least 800-900k of travel before finally giving accurate readings :D

Like you though - I usually average 10.1-10.5L/100Km. I scrupulously checked this on a long trip recently from Canberra to far north Queensland towing a fully laden 7X5 high side box trailer and.....it was right on the money!! (BTW - I left Canberra full and only filled up twice to get to the Daintree)

I am very pleased with the performance and fuel economy of my 'smaller' V6 particularly after getting the ECU reflashed with the EGR software mod (They always remain closed).

My mate has the larger 3.0L and can never match the fuel economy. We've both sat side-by-side on cruise control on the open road and those additional 300cc and extra turbo males a lot of difference to fuel use.