How big is your Views gas tank?

[Nocade]

Just purchased a 2018 View 24 j last week and after driving it home 900 miles my low fuel light comes on after using 16 gallons of fuel. According to the Winnebago info on this model it should have a 26.4 gallon tank. So does the light come on with 10 gallons left in the tank? That’s what my salesman says but you can’t belive them. I do have to diesel gen option if that might have something to do with it. Anyone else experiencing this?

Mike

[luvlabs]

My 2017 fuel light comes on with about 8 gallons left. I base my fuel stops on my average MPG (about 15 since I tow a car) and how strong the headwinds are (I live out West). I also tend to fill up after a days drive which is 300 miles or less and so I rarely have the opportunity to even see the warning light.

Unless you are running your diesel generator, it has nothing to do with what your fuel level is. And if you running it, it will only be consuming about .5 gallons/hour. Not much.

I wouldn't worry about it, just start looking for a fuel station and try and stop within the next 50 miles or so. If you are driving out West . . . Fill it up as soon as you can as you may have some long stretches without fuel.

[Old Crows]

As LovLabs has suggested.

Sprinter fuel capacity:

26.4 gallons - tank capacity
21.1 gallons - usable fuel
5.3 gallons - reserve***

*** Reserve is probably 2.5 gallons actual but 5.3 is the baseline because you NEVER want to run the CRD diesel out of fuel or you will play hell getting it running again. You can damage the pumps because you need a volume of fuel to cool the high pressure pumps in the system. So, you want to tank up when you get down to the reserve light.

When you get down to around 5 gal remaining the last bar on the fuel gauge begins to flash. Conservatively, you have about 30-45 mile remaining, probably less.

And besides....these things make a hell of a boat anchor!!!!!

Figure 15 mpg (on a good day) X 20 gal or 300 miles. YMMV! Somewhere about 300 - 320 miles and you better start looking for a tanker.

PLAN AHEAD out west! Distances are great, conditions change within hours or minutes and fuel stops are a loooooog way apart. If you get in a bind, you want plenty of fuel, LP and water.

A few years ago, I drove from central Texas Hill Country to Glen Rose near Ft. Worth in our new View. I'd made that trip several times in our Sprinter based Class B. Easily there and 1/2 back on 20 gallons. Piece of cake. NOT. I started back with nominally a half tank. I didn't expect to run into 30+ mph headwinds and heavy gusts shortly after leaving for home. No worries. Made this drive before. Right! About 20 miles after the last pit stop, the reserve light came on. Ahh...no worries...only 45 miles my planned stop. Piece of cake!!!
Somewhere between Lost and Found I realized I Was deep into reserves. Slowed way down and drifted down every grade. Finally eased into the station and filled up with 24+ gallons. Lesson learned! Rely on the trip meter and plan ahead for unexpected conditions. Top off before making a long jump.

[Old Crows]

Oh Heck! Here's another issue to consider..... If you look at a Sprinter fuel tank, it is longitudinal and lies below the driver's seat and outside the frame rail. (I.e., right under the fuel fill)

It is a blow molded poy tank that has a couple of 'wells' in the bottom. It is not perfectly flat on the bottom. NOT like old school metal tanks.

The fuel system recirculates fuel from the tank to the CRD bits and pieces and dumps the excess back in the tank. (As before, it depends on the mass of fuel in the tank to cool the returning fuel.)
But back to the point.....

If you are full, flat, level and stationary everything is copacetic. The fuel is going to slosh around in the tank but you are good. If you get low on fuel.... lower than the 5, or so, gallons of reserve, here's what may happen. The fuel is going to slosh everywhere in that tank. Going up a hill it will move to the rear of the tank. Down hill to the front.... and everywhere in between. As the fuel gets lower, you run the risk of uncovering the fuel pickup (even though it is probably located near or in one of the wells. So a long 'drag' up hill or down may become a problem due to uncovering the pick up.

Now Mother Benz does a lot of things that really seem like strange engineering or sketchy thought processes compared to us 'mericans. There is a REASON why that reserve light comes on when it does with 5 +/- gallons remaining. Being 'cherman engineers they figure you don't need all the details. Just trust that there is a very good reason(s) why there's a 5 +/- gallon reserve.

We can only SWAG this: it is to provide enough volume for fuel cooling and to not uncover the pickup.

[Kayak73]

We just finished our first two week camp in our 18V24D. On the road we actually got 15.8 on two tanks of diesel and 16.1 on one fill up. Towing a Honda Fit @ 2500lbs. OK, what I like to do on any rig is fill up at the half tank mark. On this trip it was easy, we have made the trip many times to the same camp so we knew exactly where the diesel stops were and that we were buying diesel #2 (2% bio). Whee! On the way home we decided on a whim and based on weather coming to drive it all the way, 500 miles, in one day. I almost blew it but I found a diesel pump at FJ which said between 5 and 20% bio. I was just below 1/2 tank so what the heck, filled it up and drove home. I used the same logic on prior rig with a much larger tank but it also got about 8.5-9.2 mpg. It all adds up to look for a station around 1/2 tank and fill up. It is early in the life of the new V24D so I'm hoping to see a tad better fuel economy as the engine settles in a bit. Regardless I support the idea of fillup at or around 1/2 tank and being aware of where you are. Some places "out West" I would fill at 3/4 tank just to be safe. Anyway I don't know what we got on the last fillup since I have not topped it off yet, storms were coming and we got home after dark. Parked it and will fill up tomorrow probably with DEF and diesel. Ran the genny the last four hours because it heated up outside so that will probably be lower economy but still pretty danged good. The V24D was a pleasure to drive. I normally look for a stop around 250-300 miles but the 500 miles drive in one day was not a problem in this rig - nice! I paid for it the next day - stiff and tired - but home safe. As expected the storms fizzled out a bit and all we got was a lot of rain and wind. Nice to be home when the wind is gusting 25 - 30 mph though.

[Old Crows]

Kayak, good planning. 500 miles/15 mpg = 33 gallons. "Usable" tank and a half. Not too shabby.

Just suggestions:

1. Top up the DEF tank on at regular basis. Do not wait for the warning light. No data here but it appears that topping off periodically works better than waiting.

Again, no data.... but using DEF fluid from sealed bottles and known sources is better than the "community" DEF pumps at truck stops.

And "DEF" fluid is "DEF" fluid if it meets the ISO standard.

2. Use only MB approved oil, BEVO specification 229.51 or 229.52. Nothing else.
Change when the Maintainence Light tells you.

Cold! The oil level on the dipstick should be just at or a skoch below 1/2 way between the two red blobs on the stick. Stinking hot, just below the upper red blob. Oil volume expands when hot. Do not over fill or you will get a nasty warning on the dash telling you to remove some oil.

Get your manual and learn how to check oil level from the dash board.

[Tobey]

Good advice. However, I always drive "on the top half of the tank". My 2009 Navion 24j is getting 16.5 mpg driving 2300 RPM. After 150miles I need to stretch my legs anyway. And, if I encounter No Services stretches which are common out West, I have not worries. I worry about bio-diesel messing filters up.

[Rhawk]

Something to remember about fuel tank sizes. DOT requires that a fuel tanks can only be filled to 95% of rated capacity. What this means is that the 26.4 gallon tank only has a fillable capacity of ~25 gallons. That is assuming Winnebago lists the tank size based on the cubic inches of volume, not the actual fillable gallons.

Remember the Sprinter chassis motorhomes of past years? Our previous motorhome was a 2009 Fleetwood Icon (Sprinter Chassis) that had a published fuel tank capacity of 25 gallons. Is this 25 gallon tank the same as the new 26.5 gallon tank? Don't really know.

[Mooneypaul]

I have a scan gauge and it reads 26.4 when I fill up.

[jcurtisis]

My light comes on with about 1/4 tank left; When I filled it up last time that happened I put in just over 20 gallons.