Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Last year, we were heading up to the hills in winter for the first time in the cruiser. I wanted to make sure it was pretty near empty when we arrived at our last stop so that I could get a decent hit of alpine mix. I had a fair fix on its fuel consumption by then, had filled the mighty 90 litre tank right up some days before and just knew that what was left in it should get us there with a fair margin for error.

Driving, driving, driving, driving. Then, coming into Porepunkah, about 7 km short of our target, Bright, no more juice, no more combustion, no more forward progress. Doh!

(f you ever find yourself in a similar position, my advice is don't delay and run through the mental arithmetic several times with your super unimpressed wife. Just grab the jerry can, idiot, hitchhike into town, idiot, get the cab back with the go juice, idiot, fill and start bleeding ASAP.)

Anyhow, back in Bright, added up what I filled up with and what I'd taken back in the jerry can, it came to 80.000 litres, about 10.00000 litres shy of what I was expecting. (Again, your wife is not going to be at all interested in this.)

Since then, I've had occasion to remove the spare wheel and I couldn't see a 10 litre sized ding in the fuel tank.

I know that when "filling" up, you do it on auto, then wait a bit, nudge the truck a bit, wait for the bubbles to subside a bit, slowly stick in a bit more, etc, etc. You can get 2-3 litres extra into it after the first click if you're not too fussed about the people in the queue after you.

In construction camps I've worked, where cruisers are like recta on canines (everyone's got one), they make an earthern hump in front of the diesel pump, so you can park up on an angle to aid filling. But they're new trucks - so is it a race memory from 60 series days?

I've been tempted to go with a full full full fill at the servo, then to race around a block of right hand corners and then to go back in and see how much more I can add. But the thought of maybe having to go in and pay Apu for 108ml of fuel on EFTPOS has kept me from it.

I guess there's an internal pickup tube in the tank that is supposed to go pretty much to the bottom and that if it doesn't go quite there or if some filter bit on it gets blocked then this could account for not being able to extract all the fuel that's in there. What does it take to check this? Does the tank have to be dropped? Can you get at it from inside? What am I looking for? (talking 1989 HJ60)

What's the deal with HJ60 90 litre tanks? they can't be filled? or they can't be emptied? or a bit of both?

Now look, I'm not asking for perfection here. And I'm not talking about going up or down steep inclines or leaping tall buildings. It's just that if I'm supposed to have a 90 litre tank, I'd like to be able to put round about 90 litres into it and, driving along a level highway, at constant speed, I'd like to get most of those litres back out and through the exhaust before things go quiet.

So what? Tell myself it's an 80 litre tank and learn to live with it?

yep. live with it.

Then get another tank underneath so that on your long adventures your fill capacity (my example ) should be 160 litres, but bridged between two tanks you never let the consmption go beyond 150 litres (145 if you don't want the jerry fill er up gag).

So, potentially my rig could see 1264k's on full tank, but

factor 30% for sand play involved and see 884k's safely

factor 22% for heavy duty trails 985k's

factor 16% for less difficult managed trails 1061k's

factor 11.5% for Blacktop city stop go 1118k's

This is my rig, and when its nearing empty and you can see the gauge move on inclines - be sure of your fuel

My 2c

I reckon I've never been able to get much more than 80 litres into my '88 HJ60 tank. I even checked the specs in the handbook, as I was sure it said 90 litres (it does).

juscruisin wrote:I reckon I've never been able to get much more than 80 litres into my '88 HJ60 tank. I even checked the specs in the handbook, as I was sure it said 90 litres (it does).

It is definately 90L. Is it possible that there is an air leak?

juscruisin wrote:I reckon I've never been able to get much more than 80 litres into my '88 HJ60 tank. I even checked the specs in the handbook, as I was sure it said 90 litres (it does).

i dropped my tank to clean it out a few months ago

i ran it down to a bit under E before i did it

dropped the drain plug and 10 litres came out

8 litre bucket and a bit more, so definantly about 10 litres.

what is the pickup in the tank like. Does anyone know if it actually reaches the bottom or not.

sambo wrote:what is the pickup in the tank like. Does anyone know if it actually reaches the bottom or not.

yeh i pulled mine out, and from memory it sits in a section about 100mmx100mm which is stepped down (lowest part of the tank) but its onlyu stepped down about 10mm.

The pickup is a cylindrical plastic screen about 4cm long and about 3cm diametre.

If the car was stationary and level this would allow you to use 95+% opf the tank, but when the fuel is sloshing around, you will suck air easily when your less than 80% id imagine.

Shadow wrote:

yeh i pulled mine out, and from memory it sits in a section about 100mmx100mm which is stepped down (lowest part of the tank) but its onlyu stepped down about 10mm.

Do you have to have the tank right out to do this, or can you get at it from the inspection cover in the wagon floor?

OtherBrother wrote:Shadow wrote:

yeh i pulled mine out, and from memory it sits in a section about 100mmx100mm which is stepped down (lowest part of the tank) but its onlyu stepped down about 10mm.

Do you have to have the tank right out to do this, or can you get at it from the inspection cover in the wagon floor?

inspection cover only gives you access to the float level senser

the pickup is on the front drivers side top corner of the tank, you should be able to see it if you jump under, it would be very difficult to get it out, i doubt theres enough room, and youd have to unscrew 3 screws somehow.

so its a tank drop affair i believe.

Not that big a job really, aslong as the bolts through the straps for the tank are not rusted (mine werent) but i have heard of others who ave to replace the bolts, but because they are a captive nut it becomes a pain in the arse.