This question is for anyone who has ever replaced their fuel tank underneath. I have an 06 Chevy crew 2500HD D/A, I had the 26 gallon tank replaced underneath with a 45 gallon tank yesterday. The installer said that the computer will reset itself to register the miles you can travel. After filling the tank it only showed the nomal 392 miles. It is 175 miles from the installer's shop to my house, after 135 miles the gas gage just started to move and the fuel distance i can still travel started to drop,So my question is will i have to go through a couple tanks of fuel or does it have to be recalabrated to show a 45 gallon capacity ? The installer did'nt seem to know alot. Thanks for any responces.
Looking forward to this thread as I have been thinking about doing the same deal. But still between this and just adding the 35 gallon tank in the bed.
Pete
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The fuel level gage will work okay but the "miles to empty" will not be correct because it is calibrated to the 26 gal tank. I have had a 52gal for almost two years an I don't look at the miles to empy reading. I was told that the dealer might be able to recalibrate this but I never tried.
We replaced the stock tank in our F250 V10 last year with a Flow Master 43 gallon tank. We didn't have to calibrate anything but the truck also was a 1999 so it didn't have the digital tank readout. For us the big difference was that it stayed on Full a long time before it started coming down with fuel usage.
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It seems like the miles to empty is a direct reading from your fuel gauge. So my guess is that the truck will start to learn it can go more miles before running out.
it might also keep reading 392 miles until the tank is getting closer to 3/4 full, then start reading a bit lower. Yet that poor computer, will find that you are driving a long ways on a small tank of gas.
I think I would have rather had the 30 gallon tank in the bed, then a pump to refill the main tank. That will really mess with the computer though. It will read 392 miles to empty, then get to 3/8 tank, and the gauge will start climbing back to 3/4 full, or 292 miles to empty, and do this twice before the 30 gallon in the bed tank is empty.
Good luck with it, and in a couple of tankfulls, you will probably know if the miles to empty will change to relate to the new tank capacity. Just let it get really low before refilling, and the truck will learn that it went 600 miles while using up 42 gallons of fuel, when still at 1/8 tank full.
The computer uses the fuel guage to determine how much fuel is in the tank, to get the total gallons remaining based on the size of the tank programmed into it. There is no way for the dealer to update the trucks computer as to the tank size, they are limited to the "flashes" from GM. You have to look to aftermarket tuners for this, EFILive is the only product I know of that can do this. You will have roughly twice the miles to empty till you are below 1/2 tank, by 1/4 tank the computer is pretty accurate (on my 3500). I have noticed from filling up to 3/4 tank takes forever, it moves slow from 3/4 to 1/2, faster from 1/2 to 1/4, and falls like a rock below 1/4.
I have a 2010 Chevy 2500 HD duramax 4X4 - had a 45 gal under frame tank installed by Transfer Flow in Chico, CA in place of the factory tank.
When mine was installed, they advised that the only computer reading which would not be accurate was the amount of miles one could travel before running out of fuel. The mileage computations, and gallons used, and fuel guage all read correctly.
However, my fuel warning light comes on when I have about 10-11 gallons of fuel left. And the installer said not let it get down below four to five gallons if you can help it due to "sloshing". I have been very happy with the extended travel, and so far have never had to put in more than 39 gallons of fuel - and at this point, never with the fiver attached! My "gallons used" calculations on my dash computer are usually accurate to within 1/2 gallon.
UPDATE>>>>> I talked to transfer flow today and they said the 45 gallon tank should read like the orginal 26 gallon tank, a half a tank is roughly 22 gal. it shold not read full and then still put another 20 galllons in. they said it sounds like they forgot to put the extented float wire on, so i called them and yep they did not install the extented wire. now it's a 3 hr, ride back to get the wire installed and 3 hrs back home and around another $60 in fuel, so if your looking to get a lager tank installed i recommend you do not go to On The Road Inc in rocklin Ca.
I am fixing to go get my truck after they hav installed a 50 gal. Transfer Flo tank in my truck bed, first I have to take a heart pill before filling it up the first time. I will let you know what the fuel gauge does after using it. It comes with the Traxx system that monitors what is in the main tank and the Aux. tank, and will fill the main tank when it get down to 1/2. I can watch it in a monitor on the dash.
RDSKNFN_57 wrote: UPDATE>>>>> I talked to transfer flow today and they said the 45 gallon tank should read like the orginal 26 gallon tank, a half a tank is roughly 22 gal. it shold not read full and then still put another 20 galllons in. they said it sounds like they forgot to put the extented float wire on, so i called them and yep they did not install the extented wire. now it's a 3 hr, ride back to get the wire installed and 3 hrs back home and around another $60 in fuel, so if your looking to get a lager tank installed i recommend you do not go to On The Road Inc in rocklin Ca.
So, make a camping trip out of it and see if they'll pay your fuel bill to get you there. :-) Nobody's closer to you than that?
Lyle
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