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Manual fuel level test

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Old Oct 9, 2024 | 09:57 AM
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Delafield2000's Avatar
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Default Manual fuel level test

My 82 CE has been sitting for a couple of years. Started it up and it's running fine. I had filled it up and added Stabil before going into storage. I want to burn off all the old gas to near empty
and refill with fresh fuel. Problem is that I don't trust the accuracy of the fuel gauge. The gauge is seemingly indicating progressively lower amounts the more I drive, but as many on this forum know,
the gauge can be misleading...especially being 42 years old. Want to avoid running out of fuel while barnstorming through my rural area.
Has anyone here ever tried testing the actual fuel level in the tank using some sort of dip stick method? Not sure if the shape of the tank would make that difficult and if there are any precautions
of pushing a measuring stick or such into the fuel tank assembly.

Appreciate any thoughts or advise.
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Old Oct 9, 2024 | 10:30 AM
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Take a stick of sorts. Open the gas cap. Insert stick all the way to the bottom of the tank. Remove stick. Note how far up on the stick that it’s wet. Shouldn’t be an issue.
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Old Oct 9, 2024 | 10:38 AM
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Originally Posted by Piersonpie
Take a stick of sorts. Open the gas cap. Insert stick all the way to the bottom of the tank. Remove stick. Note how far up on the stick that it’s wet. Shouldn’t be an issue.
Thanks. But what I was hoping to learn is whether the tank is a pure rectangle or such with a flat bottom to help determine fuel level by this method, or is it either angled, have lower "pockets", etc. Thx
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Old Oct 9, 2024 | 10:43 AM
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Mostly rectangular, but it is angled on the top.

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Old Oct 10, 2024 | 08:31 PM
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Actually, the top sits pretty level in mine. The bottom slopes down forward. The only true "stick test" is to begin with a empty tank.
.
Add 1/2 gal. ( to the EMPTY tank ) Check with stick. Add another 1/2 gal. Check with stick. Do this All the way to full tank. And at each addition of a half gallon always refer to what the gauge is saying.
Don't forget to mark the stick each time you add fuel. And then you will realize all the marks will not be equally spaced. . Why? Cause the tank is not a perfect cube..
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Old Oct 11, 2024 | 05:31 AM
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Our best to do what he said, the angle of the tank makes it drain faster below what you can see as a half tank looking in. I go buy my mileage a lot. You just need to race from gas station to gas station....
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