size of gas tank? 98 lumina ltz?

[Ali1]

I googled and i think these vehicles have a 16.6g gas tank. On the dash, my gas was pointed at empty, and i filled up but it only took 13.4g. So is my guage wrong/inaccurate?

another quick question, do these vehicles let you know when you have low gas or do i just have to look at the guage?

[gw84]

if it's a 3.1L it's got a 16.1gal tank, I bet it's a 3.8L which has a 17.1gal tank. No, there is not indicator for low fuel except for the guage. Don't wait for a light to flash, or you will run out of fuel

because these cars use a float, the amount of fuel needed to fill the tank will vary.

edit: the above information was found in the haynes repair manual, however according to the owner's manual, the capacity is 16.6 gallons.

[maxwedge]

Correct 16.7.

[Ali1]

i have the 3.8l v6


so what happened to the other 3 gallons? was there actually 3 gallons in there before i filled it up?


should i keep in mind that everytime its pointed at empty (on a flat surface), theres approximately 3 more gallons inside?

[maxwedge]

On E some gages will still have " some" fuel left, varies in every vehicle, you shouldn't run it that low for the sake of fuel pump life anyway.

[Ali1]

lol... can you blame me? with the gas prices these days, i didn't think it would cost me $57 to fill up my tank

[lanerd]

scary! I've put 17.1 gallons into my 3.1 Lumina.... yikers if its only 16x gals

[gw84]

Here's something I've noticed with my '93 and '99 luminas. With the '99, once the pump stops, I can only add a small amount of gas. Also the needle on the guage doesn't go past F. However on the '93 I can add quite a bit of fuel after the pump has stopped and the gas guage will often go way past F. As a side note, I can tell a big difference in the gas mileage between the two. The '93 (3.1) gets better than the '99 (3.8) ...go figure!!!

[Ali1]

so that means my guage is off by a significant amount right?


how do i fix this, so i get an accurate reading?