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How many gallons of gas does the max tank really hold?

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Old Aug 2, 2005 | 11:27 AM
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How many gallons of gas does the max tank really hold?

I was looking over the MSRP sticker the other day and i noticed the Max is supposed to hold 20 gallons. That seemed a little too high, so i drove my car almost dry the other day and filled up, it was a little under 17 gallons. So my question to you guys are how many gallons does it take to fill up your 04-05 Max's?? Do you think this is something nissan can get in trouble with?
Old Aug 2, 2005 | 11:31 AM
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I've filled both my 95 ~ 18.1 gallons, and it has ( according to Nissan) an 18.5 G tank ... run it until you compleltely run out i.e cannot start it and need to push it to a gas station, and see how much actually fits.

Suing over fuel tank capacity seems not too cool when other issues are better defended over a larger scale audience.
Old Aug 2, 2005 | 11:31 AM
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When you say almost dry, do you mean until the gas light came on? There is still a significant amount of gas in there even at that point.
Old Aug 2, 2005 | 11:32 AM
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I think you really have to drive your car until your tank is bone-dry, then you fill 'er up, to really find out if it holds 20 gallons or not...but that's something i don't think you would like to do or have done already...
Old Aug 2, 2005 | 11:34 AM
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Originally Posted by NmexMAX
I've filled both my 95 ~ 18.1 gallons, and it has ( according to Nissan) an 18.5 G tank ... run it until you compleltely run out i.e cannot start it and need to push it to a gas station, and see how much actually fits.

Suing over fuel tank capacity seems not too cool when other issues are better defended over a larger scale audience.
You beat me to the punch...but I do agree with you.
Old Aug 2, 2005 | 11:35 AM
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Take the tank out and tip it over to totally drain it.
Old Aug 2, 2005 | 11:40 AM
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Every last dop counts .... make sure you shake it a couple of times, and don't use your cell phone when doing so
Old Aug 2, 2005 | 11:46 AM
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We have the largest tank of all cause we'z American. The Canadian says their Maxima holds 16.7 gallons. The Aussie says their Maxima holds 70 litres, which is about 18.5 gallons. I think it's the conver$ion factor
Old Aug 2, 2005 | 11:54 AM
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well i drove the car for about another 20 miles on the yellow light. Also on the info screen my car could not report how many miles i had left because it was so low the last reading was 19 miles i drove another 6 or 7 before i filled up. regardless that should be half a gallon ok so we add that. It comes out to be 17.5gallons. Still not 20 gallons.

My real problem comes in with the EPA test with the advertised 20mpg city and 28mpg highway. I know thats a bunch of S***, so im gussing they might be using that 20gallon tank in there calculations, where in truth its much less than that
Old Aug 2, 2005 | 12:08 PM
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Originally Posted by belal242
well i drove the car for about another 20 miles on the yellow light. Also on the info screen my car could not report how many miles i had left because it was so low the last reading was 19 miles i drove another 6 or 7 before i filled up. regardless that should be half a gallon ok so we add that. It comes out to be 17.5gallons. Still not 20 gallons.

My real problem comes in with the EPA test with the advertised 20mpg city and 28mpg highway. I know thats a bunch of S***, so im gussing they might be using that 20gallon tank in there calculations, where in truth its much less than that
I think you need to drive another 80-100miles after the empty-light comes on to really empty the tank, then see how many gallons you can put in. As for me, I don't worry about EXACTLY how many gallons my car can hold because: I always fill'er up before the light comes on, and second, Ive got more problems to think about. For more details on this topic, use your search engine. This has been talked about months before.

BTW, just enjoy your ride!!!
Old Aug 2, 2005 | 12:17 PM
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Originally Posted by belal242
well i drove the car for about another 20 miles on the yellow light. Also on the info screen my car could not report how many miles i had left because it was so low the last reading was 19 miles i drove another 6 or 7 before i filled up. regardless that should be half a gallon ok so we add that. It comes out to be 17.5gallons. Still not 20 gallons.

My real problem comes in with the EPA test with the advertised 20mpg city and 28mpg highway. I know thats a bunch of S***, so im guessing they might be using that 20gallon tank in there calculations, where in truth its much less than that

Info screen and all that is BS and never reads correctly, and should never be "believed" Mine is always off ~ 2-3mpg, and blinks when it's thirsty.

There are typically 2-2.5 G left then the light goes on ..

When calculating EPA standards, it's closer to traveling @ 60-65mph ... and driving like a pu$$.

And you saying that they got those #'s from using a 20G tank ... hmm think about it ....

MPG = Fill tank up, Drive xxx amount of miles, fill tank up again ... calculate MILES PER GALLON ... (miles/gallon) = MPG, not the total # of gallons your tank has in its capacity .. or whatever you were trying to do ...
Old Aug 2, 2005 | 12:24 PM
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Just buy a new tank from Nissan, take it home and see how many gallons of water you can throw in there... that will give you the true capacity
Old Aug 2, 2005 | 12:24 PM
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Originally Posted by belal242
My real problem comes in with the EPA test with the advertised 20mpg city and 28mpg highway. I know thats a bunch of S***, so im gussing they might be using that 20gallon tank in there calculations, where in truth its much less than that
The size of the gas tank does not have anything to do with gas mileage. You are going to get the same miles per gallon if the tank holds ten gallons or 50 gallons.

Maybe you are thinking of cruising range or how far you can travel on a tank full.

I have been averaging 22 miles per gallon since my car was new, it never changes.
Old Aug 2, 2005 | 12:27 PM
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Originally Posted by 04RedOpMax
The size of the gas tank does not have anything to do with gas mileage. You are going to get the same miles per gallon if the tank holds ten gallons or 50 gallons.

Maybe you are thinking of cruising range or how far you can travel on a tank full.

I have been averaging 22 miles per gallon since my car was new, it never changes.
It does actually.. a larger tank holds more gas when full, so the extra weight would actually decrease the mpg.

Theoretically speaking, all else being the same, your mpg may go up as your tank empties since you are carrying around less weight. So the mpg plot on a single tank of gas should go up as the number of gallons in the tank gets smaller. This difference is perhaps minor for us - but important in car racing - where they account for all these things.
Old Aug 2, 2005 | 12:32 PM
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Take off a piece of clothing for every gallon you use... and maybe throw out a floormat or 2 ... Toss the CD's too ...

Old Aug 2, 2005 | 12:42 PM
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I suggest taking your car back to the dealer ASAP! Man something is DEFINATELY wrong. I'd also call Nissan's 1800 number and give them a good chunk of your mind also! Sue them if you have to.

Originally Posted by belal242
well i drove the car for about another 20 miles on the yellow light. Also on the info screen my car could not report how many miles i had left because it was so low the last reading was 19 miles i drove another 6 or 7 before i filled up. regardless that should be half a gallon ok so we add that. It comes out to be 17.5gallons. Still not 20 gallons.

My real problem comes in with the EPA test with the advertised 20mpg city and 28mpg highway. I know thats a bunch of S***, so im gussing they might be using that 20gallon tank in there calculations, where in truth its much less than that
Old Aug 2, 2005 | 12:48 PM
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Originally Posted by njmodi
It does actually.. a larger tank holds more gas when full, so the extra weight would actually decrease the mpg.

Theoretically speaking, all else being the same, your mpg may go up as your tank empties since you are carrying around less weight. So the mpg plot on a single tank of gas should go up as the number of gallons in the tank gets smaller. This difference is perhaps minor for us - but important in car racing - where they account for all these things.
If you want to go that far, then as the tank empties, the rear suspension rises thus may effect the cd of the car and can reduced the mpg. Drag effect mpg more than weight comparatively speaking, like putting big light weight wing on a car. Gasoline weights about 25-30% less than water, so a 17.5 gallon tank of gas weights about 113lbs, as much as most women wish they weight
Old Aug 2, 2005 | 12:56 PM
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