[Mike SX]

Upon collection of our i30 & i20 in October 2010, a service technician told us that the Indicator would be inaccurate until we had filled up several times "so do not reset the trip, leave it untouched for at least 8 fill ups, and it will sort itself out". To date, we have left the i20 untouched (never had any problems at all with the car).

But, the i30 went back for a locking problem, (OK now), another technician reset the trip, and did not think it mattered.

Could someone please explain, the correct operation - the handbook seems vague, we appreciate that driving and road conditions could alter a situation.

Hi,

These are my findings from 83 000km +:

Resetting the trip does not matter in the least.  The computer remembers the overall fuel consumption regardless of how many times you press the little button.  The more fillups that you make the better the accuracy.  For example, initially the i30 CRDi gave a DTE of just over 600km, but after a few months, that levelled out a DTE of 907km.  If you disconnect the battery, you are back to square one and the whole process begins all over again.

But, even from the beginning, as the tank empties, the DTE becomes closer to the real DTE.  So, what I am saying is, from about 200km DTE onward, the figure is closer to the real DTE. 

There are a number of other nuances with the trip computer's DTE that have been mentioned elsewhere.  Somewhere on here I have reported on this in detail including graphing the who process.   If you do a search, I am sure you will find previous posts.

In short, the first advice you got was either misunderstood by you or the person did not know what they were talking about, other than the computer's DTE gets more accurate over time.  It has nothing to do with resetting, unless he was talking about disconnecting the power (or pulling or blowing and therefore replacing the related fuse).

Bob

[Mike SX]

Upon collection of our i30 & i20 in October 2010, a service technician told us that the Indicator would be inaccurate until we had filled up several times "so do not reset the trip, leave it untouched for at least 8 fill ups, and it will sort itself out". To date, we have left the i20 untouched (never had any problems at all with the car).

But, the i30 went back for a locking problem, (OK now), another technician reset the trip, and did not think it mattered.

Could someone please explain, the correct operation - the handbook seems vague, we appreciate that driving and road conditions could alter a situation.

Thank you for your help, it's good to get the information from someone who has carried out a high mileage.

We avoided resetting the trip, until now. Have read your very detailed post of 24/5/08.

I have met several customers of the dealership, and when they asked the same question, they all had the same answer, it now seems obvious that the computer better translates the driving conditions over a long period of time. Maybe the confusion was connected with "resetting the trip", as you said, it makes no difference.

Mike

[Myowni30]

Upon collection of our i30 & i20 in October 2010, a service technician told us that the Indicator would be inaccurate until we had filled up several times "so do not reset the trip, leave it untouched for at least 8 fill ups, and it will sort itself out". To date, we have left the i20 untouched (never had any problems at all with the car).

But, the i30 went back for a locking problem, (OK now), another technician reset the trip, and did not think it mattered.

Could someone please explain, the correct operation - the handbook seems vague, we appreciate that driving and road conditions could alter a situation.

When you say reset the TRIP, not sure what you are referring to.

You can reset options 1, 2 or 3:

1/  Tripmeter  - Resetting the Tripmeter only resets that.

2/ Average Speed  - Resetting the Average Speed can do 2 different things.

3/ Average Fuel Consumption  - Resetting the Average Fuel Consumption can do 2 different things.

Resetting the Average Fuel Consumption after each fill up or at the beginning of each journey will then show you an approx Average Fuel Consumption for that short distance, but will not be very accurate.

But if you leave it, and don't reset it, it will give you a better reading after many fill ups as it will then average the fuel over those tanks and mileage driven.

From my experience of leaving it over 2500 miles, it's about 4 miles per gallon out. It says I'm averaging 43mpg but the fuel used over that distance says it has actually done a more realistic 39mpg.

In other words, the longer you leave it the better it gets at averaging the correct overall consumption  

Same goes for the Average Speed, it just builds up an average  

[Mike SX]

Upon collection of our i30 & i20 in October 2010, a service technician told us that the Indicator would be inaccurate until we had filled up several times "so do not reset the trip, leave it untouched for at least 8 fill ups, and it will sort itself out". To date, we have left the i20 untouched (never had any problems at all with the car).

But, the i30 went back for a locking problem, (OK now), another technician reset the trip, and did not think it mattered.

Could someone please explain, the correct operation - the handbook seems vague, we appreciate that driving and road conditions could alter a situation.

When you say reset the TRIP, not sure what you are referring to.

You can reset options 1, 2 or 3:

1/  Tripmeter  - Resetting the Tripmeter only resets that.

2/ Average Speed  - Resetting the Average Speed can do 2 different things.

3/ Average Fuel Consumption  - Resetting the Average Fuel Consumption can do 2 different things.

Resetting the Average Fuel Consumption after each fill up or at the beginning of each journey will then show you an approx Average Fuel Consumption for that short distance, but will not be very accurate.

But if you leave it, and don't reset it, it will give you a better reading after many fill ups as it will then average the fuel over those tanks and mileage driven.

From my experience of leaving it over 2500 miles, it's about 4 miles per gallon out. It says I'm averaging 43mpg but the fuel used over that distance says it has actually done a more realistic 39mpg.

In other words, the longer you leave it the better it gets at averaging the correct overall consumption 

Same goes for the Average Speed, it just builds up an average 

Hm,

But to have an indication of the "approximate" distance to empty (DTE), do you:

1.  Not press the Trip button at all, as the DTE will automatically reset each time you refuel and will indicate the "approximate" DTE.
Or,
2. Refuel & then hold in the Trip to reset the DTE.

When fuel stations are scarce and distances are long & overnight, I would prefer to know the DTE; rather than the fuel consumption.

[Myowni30]

Hm,

But to have an indication of the "approximate" distance to empty (DTE), do you:

1.  Not press the Trip button at all, as the DTE will automatically reset each time you refuel and will indicate the "approximate" DTE.
Or,
2. Refuel & then hold in the Trip to reset the DTE.

When fuel stations are scarce and distances are long & overnight, I would prefer to know the DTE; rather than the fuel consumption.

You will get a more accurate DTE if you DON'T reset the Average Fuel Consumption at all. As I said. it will become more accurate over time.

You can still reset the TRIPMETER (distance travelled) and also the AVERAGE SPEED, they will not have any bearing on the DTE or average fuel consumption.

On a previous car several years ago I installed an after market Car Computer, this had far more settings, and you could input the exact distance travelled and how much fuel you had used. It would then give a very accurate readout of instant and average fuel consumption 

[Mike SX]

Hm,

But to have an indication of the "approximate" distance to empty (DTE), do you:

1.  Not press the Trip button at all, as the DTE will automatically reset each time you refuel and will indicate the "approximate" DTE.
Or,
2. Refuel & then hold in the Trip to reset the DTE.

When fuel stations are scarce and distances are long & overnight, I would prefer to know the DTE; rather than the fuel consumption.

You will get a more accurate DTE if you DON'T reset the Average Fuel Consumption at all. As I said. it will become more accurate over time.

You can still reset the TRIPMETER (distance travelled) and also the AVERAGE SPEED, they will not have any bearing on the DTE or average fuel consumption.

On a previous car several years ago I installed an after market Car Computer, this had far more settings, and you could input the exact distance travelled and how much fuel you had used. It would then give a very accurate readout of instant and average fuel consumption  

OK, got it at last!

Hm,

But to have an indication of the "approximate" distance to empty (DTE), do you:

1.  Not press the Trip button at all, as the DTE will automatically reset each time you refuel and will indicate the "approximate" DTE.
Or,
2. Refuel & then hold in the Trip to reset the DTE.

When fuel stations are scarce and distances are long & overnight, I would prefer to know the DTE; rather than the fuel consumption.

You will get a more accurate DTE if you DON'T reset the Average Fuel Consumption at all. As I said. it will become more accurate over time.

You can still reset the TRIPMETER (distance travelled) and also the AVERAGE SPEED, they will not have any bearing on the DTE or average fuel consumption.

On a previous car several years ago I installed an after market Car Computer, this had far more settings, and you could input the exact distance travelled and how much fuel you had used. It would then give a very accurate readout of instant and average fuel consumption  

Have to disagree here.  The DTE is not affected by resetting the fuel consumption readout.  It is independant of the fuel consumption displayed on the trip computer.  Try it - press and reset the fuel consumption as much as you like during a trip - it will not change your distance to empty.  Believe me, I have tried it many many times - it has no effect on the DTE.  Think about it, the trip computer's fuel consumption readout is only giving you the fuel consumption for the trip (since you last reset it).  However, disconnecting the power to the computer (by removing the fuse or disconnecting the battery) will change your DTE as you are resetting the whole computer and all the information it has about your vehicle and overall driving and fuel consumption.  The sensor in the fuel tank will determine how much fuel is in the tank when the computer is switched on and try to give you a DTE, but it won't take into account the information it has gathered over time (which I stress has nothing to do with the readout on the display). The readout of LPH is merely a readout since last you reset the readout.

Bob

[Mike SX]

Ok,
DTE will get more accurate irrespective whether the Trip button is touched, or not.
For DTE accuracy, the Service Technician probably just indicated that it would not be necessary to touch the trip button at all; DTE improves with distance travelled, as long as battery power is maintained, otherwise it resets.....
Thank you for all your assistance
Mike

[Myowni30]

Hm,

But to have an indication of the "approximate" distance to empty (DTE), do you:

1.  Not press the Trip button at all, as the DTE will automatically reset each time you refuel and will indicate the "approximate" DTE.
Or,
2. Refuel & then hold in the Trip to reset the DTE.

When fuel stations are scarce and distances are long & overnight, I would prefer to know the DTE; rather than the fuel consumption.

You will get a more accurate DTE if you DON'T reset the Average Fuel Consumption at all. As I said. it will become more accurate over time.

You can still reset the TRIPMETER (distance travelled) and also the AVERAGE SPEED, they will not have any bearing on the DTE or average fuel consumption.

On a previous car several years ago I installed an after market Car Computer, this had far more settings, and you could input the exact distance travelled and how much fuel you had used. It would then give a very accurate readout of instant and average fuel consumption  

Have to disagree here.  The DTE is not affected by resetting the fuel consumption readout.  It is independant of the fuel consumption displayed on the trip computer.  Try it - press and reset the fuel consumption as much as you like during a trip - it will not change your distance to empty.  Believe me, I have tried it many many times - it has no effect on the DTE.  Think about it, the trip computer's fuel consumption readout is only giving you the fuel consumption for the trip (since you last reset it).  However, disconnecting the power to the computer (by removing the fuse or disconnecting the battery) will change your DTE as you are resetting the whole computer and all the information it has about your vehicle and overall driving and fuel consumption.  The sensor in the fuel tank will determine how much fuel is in the tank when the computer is switched on and try to give you a DTE, but it won't take into account the information it has gathered over time (which I stress has nothing to do with the readout on the display). The readout of LPH is merely a readout since last you reset the readout.

Bob

Okay. In that case then the DTE part of the computer must have its own memory that does not get reset as you say unless it loses all power.

[L30N]

Just to stick my oar in...
I agree that resetting the trip button has no effect on DTE.

On my i30, adding fuel is the ONLY way that DTE reading will increase.
So DTE might say 100 miles after stop-start driving, then when driving economically it will simply stay at 100 miles for a while or decrease very slowly (eg by 1 mile for every 3 or 4 miles travelled until it corrects itself). I prefer the i30's method to most other cars, when driving a works Volvo the other week the DTE went up and down like a yo-yo depending on the speed I was going.

[Mike SX]

when driving a works Volvo the other week the DTE went up and down like a yo-yo depending on the speed I was going.

I agree, the Jaguar XJ is the same as the Volvo, no point in using it, as it constantly fluctulates.
I prefer the i30.

[i30sean]

This is interesting for me as I got my i30 CRDi last week and filled it up to the top, have done 268mls on the trip and it says 242 DTE. When I filled it up it said 487mls DTE so it has already extended. I have just over half a tank left and will do around 250mls over the next 5 days so will see what happens !

i30Sean.

Update Today my journey to work is 26mls and checked the DTE on leaving home and on arrival at work it had only gone down by 19mls not the 26 

[KK]

Talking of which ...

I'm on my first long trip - Tasmania to Queensland (I'm in Brisbane now). I let the low fuel warning light come on and then refilled. It took 56.8 litres and that is into a 53 litre capacity fuel tank (according to the manual). Either the specs are wrong or the fuel dispenser at the service station is set to rip off customers!
The filling was a slow process to get the maximum into the tank.

KK

[Lorian]

I've put more than 53l in on a couple of occasions, thankfully they are being conservative*.

*For our UK members this could also mean liberal.

[Dazzler]

Hi Kevin,

We have had a couple of members get almost 60 litres in (the concensus seems to be the excess is accounted for by the fairly long inlet pipe - the tank itself may be 53 litres)

Are you pleased with the economy so far (on this long trip)?

[Myowni30]

Talking of which ...

I'm on my first long trip - Tasmania to Queensland (I'm in Brisbane now). I let the low fuel warning light come on and then refilled. It took 56.8 litres and that is into a 53 litre capacity fuel tank (according to the manual). Either the specs are wrong or the fuel dispenser at the service station is set to rip off customers!
The filling was a slow process to get the maximum into the tank.

KK

On one occasion it took about 57L to fill the tank.  This I find strange as I am sure I have let the tank get lower than that since and have not got more than 51L in (but at different filling stations).  Did the first filling station do me, think they may have done 

[mjt57]

We have had a couple of members get almost 60 litres in (the concensus seems to be the excess is accounted for by the fairly long inlet pipe - the tank itself may be 53 litres)

What? The inlet pipe can hold 7 litres? Assuming that it's a 50mm pipe it would have to be at least 900mm long.

Could this be right?

[Dazzler]

We have had a couple of members get almost 60 litres in (the concensus seems to be the excess is accounted for by the fairly long inlet pipe - the tank itself may be 53 litres)

What? The inlet pipe can hold 7 litres? Assuming that it's a 50mm pipe it would have to be at least 900mm long.

Could this be right?

I guess that is possible and as you say they might be conservative with tank capacity...

[neoto]

I put 59.36 L of diesel in my i30 previous week. The trip computer was showing me --- for ~10km. It turned to --- just under 50 km, so I presume I had fuel for 40 km left. That's about 2 L of fuel, hence the tank must be able to hold at least 62 L of fuel. 

[mjt57]

Since picking mine up on Wednesday evening, I've made one biggish trip, a 340km round trip. The dealer had filled it for me, and DTE was reading about 570 km or something like that.

I now have about 400 kays on the clock, the tank is reading about half full and DTE is around 380km.

The manual says that when DTE gets below 50 km (or 30 miles) it flashes a set of dashes until it's filled up again. Why would they design it to do that? All other vehicles with a DTE feature that I've owned run down to the last km.

Surely, this last 50 kays is the most crucial, especially for CRDi owners. Of course, if you let it go much past that point, then I s'pose you deserve the inconvenience if you run out. But if it's on a busy freeway with limited roadside parking, then that's another matter.

[Phil №❶]

mjt57

No sure if you're aware, but actually running out of fuel is a bad thing in diesels. Unlike petrol engine cars, this car does not use an in tank fuel pump. If you run out of juice, you will have to manually prime the fuel by hand from the tank to the fuel filter. Not the worst job in the world, but not recommended on a busy freeway either. Perhaps the dashes are to tell you that an immediate fill is required. 

[mjt57]

mjt57

No sure if you're aware, but actually running out of fuel is a bad thing in diesels.

Yes, I'm aware of it and have been shown how to prime the fuel system in case this happens.

I'm not sure why you're pointing this out to me, as I expressed my concern about the DTE going into flash mode below 50 kays to empty.

[Dazzler]

The manual says that when DTE gets below 50 km (or 30 miles) it flashes a set of dashes until it's filled up again. Why would they design it to do that? All other vehicles with a DTE feature that I've owned run down to the last km.

Surely, this last 50 kays is the most crucial, especially for CRDi owners. Of course, if you let it go much past that point, then I s'pose you deserve the inconvenience if you run out. But if it's on a busy freeway with limited roadside parking, then that's another matter.

The distance to empty is very conservative and quite inaccurate so I guess they aren't confident of the accuracy under that figure..

The distance to empty is very conservative...

And because of that I suspect that the DTE could be allowed to run down to zero before blinking and one would still not run out - not even close.

I'm in agreement that the last 50Km countdown should be shown. What I do is set the trip so that I can do my own countdown. Quite silly that I need to do that. My reckoning is that ~5 litres remains and probably >100Km is possible before being dry.

[Dazzler]

In my Hybrid which counts down to zero the fuel light comes on a bit after I've done 800kms showing a distance to empty of around 100kms remaining .. My tank is 65 litres but the most I've ever got in is about 56 or 57 litres I think 

Because of the combination of petrol and electric motors I am not game to run it right out ... but as the Trip PC says around 6.4 LPH average and my calculations suggest actual of about 6.7 LPH, my guess is I still have a minimum of 50kms and maybe up to 80kms left when DTE is nil 

[beerman]

What's the point of having 2 engines if one won't go into limp home mode???

If you run out of petrol are you stuffed, even if the batteries taking up all that room in the boot are full? That's why I love the wife's duel fuel falcon. No stress switch her over (then stress that your driving with $1.40 petrol rather than 58 cent gas).

[Dazzler]

I don't know if she will limp home on the electric motor but I doubt it (I reckon the next generation will because I think it is switchable) 

[Surferdude]

I don't know if she will limp home on the electric motor but I doubt it (I reckon the next generation will because I think it is switchable) 

Put a can of fuel in the  boot and go test it out Dazz. We await your report.

[Dazzler]

I don't know if she will limp home on the electric motor but I doubt it (I reckon the next generation will because I think it is switchable) 

Put a can of fuel in the  boot and go test it out Dazz. We await your report.

I'm down to about 60kms left  (haven't filled up after doing over 800kms on the weekend + went to work and a few other places today) I have about 10 litres in a 20 litre jerry can.. But I'm not sure if I am game.. I might do some googling first .. I don't want to come to a grinding halt in traffic or on the highway 

Just found this warning on the net...

" Don’t drive your Toyota hybrid for too long on empty, or you’ll eventually need to get towed to the dealer. Toyota gave us some more information about how its hybrids function once they’ve run out of gas after we’d published this story. It turns out we were lucky we didn't deplete the battery of our Lexus HS250h any more than we did when we drove it with an empty fuel tank. All Toyota and Lexus systems are programmed to attempt to start the gasoline engine when the battery reaches its “recharge threshold.” If the engine does not start after three attempts, the system shuts down and requires a technician to reset a fault code before the vehicle can get moving again, even if fuel is added to the empty tank. There is no way for a driver to know when the battery charge gets low enough that this automatic shut-down occurs, but it’s a necessary precaution to protect the battery pack from harm. "