How big is the tank in this TANK?

[CheaperJeeper]

Been driving my stock 95 3/4 ton 4WD Suburban for a week now. Started with a half a tank of pump diesel (according to the guage), and filled the tank up with my homebrewed BIO to give me a tank fill of (approximately) B50. Since my pump isn't metered I couldn't measure exactly how much it took to fill it up but it seemed to like it took 20 gallons or more. So how many gallons does this beast hold, anyway?

Since filling it I have driven 236 miles of mixed hiway/city driving - a lot of it in stop and go traffic - and the guage is still showing just a tick over 3/4 full. I've been driving it pretty easy - hardly ever getting it above 2000 RPMs. I haven't felt the need to rev it up more than that a couple of times because it accelerates decently and cruises at 60 without ever getting above the 2000 RPM mark.

I don't know at this point if I'm getting great mileage, or the guage is way off, or a little of both.

 

[Big T]

Stock tank on the Suburban holds 42 gallons. You can easily get 600 miles out of it on highway use. I've done 640, but it was getting close. Most of the 4x4 Burbs will get 16 to 17 mpg at 70 mph on the hwy. First half of the fuel gauge is slower than the second half. First half you're a mileage hero, second half brings you back to reality.

 

[Drago]

I like my bigass tank, the once a month fuel up is nice. makes you wonder how much fuel we've wasted just going to and waiting at the pumps.

 

[CheaperJeeper]

Stock tank on the Suburban holds 42 gallons. You can easily get 600 miles out of it on highway use...

Boy, I sure hope so! 600 miles / 42 gallons = 14.3 mpg! Even at only 16 mpg you should get 672 miles...

Of course at that point the cost of the fillup would be pretty painfull!

 

[guybb3]

Furthest I've ever gone in mine was 820 miles but I was crapping looking for a diesel station by that point

 

[Big T]

Boy, I sure hope so! 600 miles / 42 gallons = 14.3 mpg! Even at only 16 mpg you should get 672 miles...

Of course at that point the cost of the fillup would be pretty painfull!

The most I've ever put in at a fill up is 39 gallons and I think I was at 670 miles on that one. The manual says 42 gallons for the listed capacity. I imagine the difference is reserve and yes at that point you're sharting in your pants.

 

[WarWagon]

They hold enough to make you swipe your card more than once.
Leroy's new design fuel sender gives you an accurate picture vs the stock sender. I find the gauges fail reading empty when there is 3/4 tank left.

 

[CheaperJeeper]

They hold enough to make you swipe your card more than once.
Leroy's new design fuel sender gives you an accurate picture vs the stock sender. I find the gauges fail reading empty when there is 3/4 tank left.

Yeah, I've been suspicious about the stock sender. My guage needle swings and wobbles a lot when just driving down the road. When driving I have to watch it a few seconds to determine the center point of its high/low swings, and that's what I take as my "real" reading. Of course once I stop for a few seconds it settles down and gives a steady reading. Seems like the tank doesn't have enough baffles in it and the fuel is just sloshing around in there - causing all the gyrations of the guage needle.

That's not to say that the steady reading is accurate in terms of what fraction of a full tank is in there. That's a different kettle of fish since almost every tank guage has some inaccuracy due to the non-linear motion of the float arm's short swinging arc relative to the geometry of the tank. Does "Leroy's" tank sender somehow overcome this geometric mismatch?

 

[ak diesel driver]

the baffle that is in it probably broke loose, pretty common. mine started doing it a few months ago

 

[vstech]

it's huge.

plenty of miles on that tank, the sender is junk, merely an indicator of fuel in the tank... fill totally full, and the needle is pegged super high above the F mark, run for miles and miles, and the E mark is NOWHERE near the bottom of the tank. I usually am comfortable running the truck waaay past the E mark.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

the baffle that is in it probably broke loose, pretty common. mine started doing it a few months ago

What baffle? The 42 gallon BURB tank has NO baffles in it, just a big friggen tank is all. The standard tank was a 28 or 30(can't rememebr which right now), but MOST diesels came with the 42 gallon tank. I've only seen a handful of BURBS with the smaller tank, and they were all fleet trucks with 350's. The furthest I have ever pushed mine was 780 miles, but I'm paranoid about not running it dry. Most I ever put in has been 36, but liek I said I don't like running it low.

 

[guybb3]

What baffle? The 42 gallon BURB tank has NO baffles in it, just a big friggen tank is all. The standard tank was a 28 or 30(can't rememebr which right now), but MOST diesels came with the 42 gallon tank. I've only seen a handful of BURBS with the smaller tank, and they were all fleet trucks with 350's. The furthest I have ever pushed mine was 780 miles, but I'm paranoid about not running it dry. Most I ever put in has been 36, but liek I said I don't like running it low.

Ferm that's not so. When the coating was flaking off the inside of my stock tank and I had to replace it, my Spectra replacement did not have a baffle but my stock tank did. It looked like 2 C shaped pieces of metal facing each other.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

Ferm that's not so. When the coating was flaking off the inside of my stock tank and I had to replace it, my Spectra replacement did not have a baffle but my stock tank did. It looked like 2 C shaped pieces of metal facing each other.

My 95 is the stock tank and doesn't have any baffles in it, so maybe GM put them in later on to help with the sloshing problem and the bouncing fuel guage. I put a mirror down inside mine to make sure and there were no baffles nor traces of where they might have broken off from.

 

[Big T]

Please see my ad in the classifieds: Parting out '95 Suburban. Have the 42 gallon tank, make me an offer. It has only seen California Extra Virgin Diesel, cept for slump busting road trips. Never had problems with a sock. Make me an offer.

 

[guybb3]

My 95 is the stock tank and doesn't have any baffles in it, so maybe GM put them in later on to help with the sloshing problem and the bouncing fuel guage. I put a mirror down inside mine to make sure and there were no baffles nor traces of where they might have broken off from.

Mine is the 96 so I'm sure you're right. Mine sucks a little air into the fuel manager when it gets below 1/4 and I do some cornering and hard stopping. I would have much rather had the baffle in there.

 

[CheaperJeeper]

Mine is the 96 so I'm sure you're right. Mine sucks a little air into the fuel manager when it gets below 1/4 and I do some cornering and hard stopping. I would have much rather had the baffle in there.

Unbelievable! What kind of engineer designs a vehicle fuel tank with the capacity of a freakin' oil drum and doesn't put any kind of slosh baffle in it?!? GEEZ!

 

[Drago]

Unbelievable! What kind of engineer designs a vehicle fuel tank with the capacity of a freakin' oil drum and doesn't put any kind of slosh baffle in it?!? GEEZ!

it's to keep the water and dirt well mixed...

 

[CheaperJeeper]

it's to keep the water and dirt well mixed...

So it doesn't build up in the tank, right? LOL, that sounds just the kind of "secondary benefit" that some pencil-necked bean counter would come up with (the $2 per unit manufacturing cost savings being the first benefit, of course).

After driving it for 7 days worth of commuting it got down to 3/8 of a tank at 443 miles, so I decided to fill it up. Took a hair over 29 gallons. Now if the guage was 100% accurate, 5/8 of a 42 gallon tank would be 26.25 gallons. So since it took 29 the guage isn't THAT far off - less than 10% - even on the second half of the tank.

I have to admit I was hoping for a little better than 15-1/4 MPG, but since the driving was about 50% surface streets, 25% stop & go freeway, and 25% "regular" highway driving at around 60 MPH that number isn't too terribly disappointing. My daily commute is about 27 miles and take me anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes, depending on the time of day, so I average 15-30 MPH pretty much all the time.