gas tank size in 86 4kq?

[ricematthews]

The manual for my (ex) '86 4kcsq said something in the 18-18.5 gallon range.
This was confirmed a couple of times when the tank was very low and it took
over 18 gallons to fill.

I'm not sure you want to intentionally run the tank dry to find out for
sure, however.  I've always been told that it's never a good idea.

> Just surfing through Audiworld, and noticed that they say the tank size is
> 18.5 US  gallons, or 70 litres. My fuel gauge has a big 60 at the full
line
> (Canadian model), which corresponds to 15.8 US gallons.

Well, th 4kq is *supposed* to have a roughly 18 gallon tank, whereas the
FWD cars on that platform (cgt, 4k) have 16 gal tanks.

>
> Do I have a 60L or 70L tank? Or has the instrument cluster been changed by
> the PO?

Who knows what's up with the gauge, our US gauges just have tick marks,
no nifty calibrations to make a mockery of their accuracy!  I did see a
set that Stott Hare dug up somewhere, gas and coolant, that were
"calibrated" with some numbers, though.  Kinda cool looking.

> The most gas I've ever put in is 58L and the gauge was reading pretty much
> empty, deep into the reserve.

So, get a container, put a known amount of fuel in (like 4 liters -
enough to get you to a filling station), run the tank dry and pour in
your spare can, go to station and fill.  Allow for the amount burned
getting to station (distance divided by your typical fuel economy in
distance/volume - mpg - or multiplied by it in volume/distance - l/km)
and you'll know how much the tank *really* holds, within the limits of
accuracy posed by your fuel economy figure relative to distance from
filling station and their pump fuel counter.

--
Huw Powell

http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi/

http://www.humanthoughts.org/