burtcheca
farmer/cabinetmaker
Went to Washington DC this weekend. My daughter wanted to go to the Smithsonian and I wanted to take her to the Viet-Nam Memorial with me. She's now 12 years old and understand and pays attention to the things I talk to her. It was a wonderful trip with perfect weather and no traffic. It took about 46-48 gallons to get there from our place in Florida, 800 miles in highway at 55 MPH all the time and very few stops. I drove for about 15 hours with a 2 hours stop to rest some and then back to the road; same thing coming back yesterday.
When I left Washington DC both tanks were full (33 gallons total). Started the trip back home taking from the rear tank, when it was empty I switched to the front and few minutes later I filled the rear again. Then something I thought was amazing started happening after 3 or 4 hours on the road, I noticed that the the fuel in the front tank was not decreasing as fast as usual and we were getting closer and closer to Florida. When we were close to Savannah, Georgia I said to my wife: "I can not believe we are about 4 hours from home and still have half of the front tank left and the rear tank is full. We did some math and the engine appeared to be making about 20 MPG, something I was never able to reach with my 10,000 pounds van. When finally we were about 20 minutes from home the front tank was empty and I switched back to the rear. I thought the needle was going to go all the way to the right, to F but no, it just went to a little less than half. I thought it was stuck or with a problem so I switched back to front and yes it went to empty again. Switched back to rear and only reached to the same spot, a little less than half a tank. It was sucking fuel from both tanks at the same time!
How can that be possible?
Any idea what happened?
Thanks, Burt.
When I left Washington DC both tanks were full (33 gallons total). Started the trip back home taking from the rear tank, when it was empty I switched to the front and few minutes later I filled the rear again. Then something I thought was amazing started happening after 3 or 4 hours on the road, I noticed that the the fuel in the front tank was not decreasing as fast as usual and we were getting closer and closer to Florida. When we were close to Savannah, Georgia I said to my wife: "I can not believe we are about 4 hours from home and still have half of the front tank left and the rear tank is full. We did some math and the engine appeared to be making about 20 MPG, something I was never able to reach with my 10,000 pounds van. When finally we were about 20 minutes from home the front tank was empty and I switched back to the rear. I thought the needle was going to go all the way to the right, to F but no, it just went to a little less than half. I thought it was stuck or with a problem so I switched back to front and yes it went to empty again. Switched back to rear and only reached to the same spot, a little less than half a tank. It was sucking fuel from both tanks at the same time!
How can that be possible?
Any idea what happened?
Thanks, Burt.