1998 Super Custom KZH106W 3.0L Turbo Diesel Fuel issues?

I just put in $100 fuel and its gone from full bars to 1 bar with fuel light indicator in only 300km drive? Seems to eat fuel like a truck... Drove to and back average speed 95 - 110km. I never seem to fill more than 60L where it says these cars are meant to have 70L capacity. I think the electrical system is messed up too cause the bars are often switching from more or less and sometimes overnight when I sleep next day I have few less bars, like it burns fuel while its not even running. Any similar issues or solutions?

Nothing specific but with mine, the fuel gauge can vary a fair bit - especially if going up or down hill. I guess because the sensor is at the front end of a flat tank.

I've also read that the gauge will show empty / empty light illuminates with a lot of fuel left - similar to what you've said.

I can't really comment on how thirsty yours is, but I've got a petrol one and it's not cheap to run!

Hello dragonshare2 and welcome to the forum.

These vans are thirsty, especially when compared to a car.

The tank is 70L so maybe you need to drive until truly empty, although this can be both scary and a pain. As g00se points out the tank is fairly flat. It also has a big chunk out where the spare wheel sits. I’ve never found the gauge that reliable, again compared to a car.

There is a drain plug on the bottom of the tank so you could drain all the fuel out then add in back 5 or 10L at a time and take pictures of the gauge.

I dropped my tank and before doing so I drained the tank and a lot of fuel came out so have plenty of big containers handy or you’ll make a mess at best.

Final thought, does your low tank warning light work? It’s another useful measure of capacity.

Thanks guys and yeah the warning light does work but I never know how empty it is exactly cause sometimes warning light comes up then the bars completely disappear then come on again, the most I have filled is around 60L whereas the fuel bars seem incorrect because if its a 70 liter tank It should let me know when 10L left but says 0L/0 bars and I usually fill it till max at 55 - 60L when that happens. Its been quite a ride dealing with this old beast but yeah seems to eat a lot of fuel sadly. Wondering if there is anything I can do to make it more fuel efficient.

Ah, you've got a digital dash! The analog fuel gauges are bad enough ....

Out of interest, you said how many km you get for $100 aud but next time you fill up, can you work out km per litre? The best way is to fill it up, use use most of the tank and then see how many km you travelled and how much diesel you need to fill up again. But a full tank is am expensive thing these days!

I did about 300 - 330km with $100 fill at $2.20/L and had one bar left with indicator light which quickly went to 0 bars (on both fuel screens) in 30 minutes.

I never know if I have 25 / 50 or 100km when that indicator light goes on cause it goes from 15L indicator tank (on the second fuel screen) to 0/0 bars in no time so its hard to tell.

I am wondering if there is build-up of waste in the fuel tank preventing the full 70L capacity. Not sure how these things work, I only started driving few years ago and don't know much about cars.

You are on the forum for fuel issues do the search there is tons of information on here, having driven a Toyota in Aus (24,000 klm) we never passed a fuel station with out filling up if we were less than 1/2 full. In the UK we can legally run our SC 1kzte on WVO we pay 30p ltr from our local Indian takeaway, this works out at around 150 mpg at our pump prices . Loads of advise on the web about WVO the 1kzte is the best engine to use WVO 4-5 years now with a few problems but its a learning curve and well worth the effort.

JT69 wrote:

You are on the forum for fuel issues do the search there  is tons of information on here, having driven a Toyota in Aus (24,000 klm) we never passed a fuel station with out filling up if we were less than 1/2 full. In the UK we can legally run our SC 1kzte on WVO we pay 30p ltr from our local Indian takeaway, this works out at around 150 mpg at our pump prices . Loads of advise on the web about WVO the 1kzte is the best engine to use WVO 4-5 years now with a few problems but its a learning curve and well worth the effort.  

I get it but I just took the path of least resistance and the replies came so... Not sure what you mean by WVO. Thanks

Waste Vegetable Oil, but I don't know if it goes solid when it's really cold.

Oh nice, I will look into it thanks guys.

13.5L/100 km is not out of the ordinary range of fuel consumption for one of these.
Any combination of normal tune up items like air filter, map/turbo pressure sensor filter, valve clearances etc could improve it… but not by much.

WVO is only viable if you have a reliable continues supply otherwise not worth the hassle, would be good in Aus with there ambient temp. Colder countries your into 2 tank systems fuel heaters etc only worth it for high mileage users.