I got my 01 TT Quattro 225 recently. I have been getting a little more than 400 miles from a full tank of gas. When I fill it the gauge stays on 'Full' for about 150+ miles. Then it slowly creeps down to a little more than a half tank and the gas light comes on. So I will be at a half tank per the gauge, but the 'miles till empty' meter says I have about 30 miles left on the tank. Then I fill up. My assumption is that the gauge is wrong (based on MPG and 16.8 gallon tank) and that I'm almost out of gas when the gauge says I have a half tank. Does anyone else have this problem? How many miles do you normally get from a full tank? Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

I get about 400 from mine as well but my gas gauge sometimes sticks. When it is empty or close to empty and I fill it up, the gauge takes many hours to register a correct reading.

Is it normal to go from empty, fill up the tank and have the gauge still show empty for 40 minutes or so and then slowly creep up?

I would suspect you are at the start of the defective instrument cluster issue. Google it or see my prior posts. I would also suggest it could be a sender unit but with all likelyhood, its most likely the instrument cluster showing its usual symptoms. Audi should be covering it but in the US we have not made enough noise in an organized way. A california law firm has started a class action suit to help Audi owners.

I might be jumping to conclusions so have the other items checked out.

C

 

Hmmm Thats interesting. Honestly, as of right now, its not even a problem because I know how many miles I get from a full tank, and the MTE meter works fine. And the fuel gauge doesnt seem to stick, as soon as I fill it, it shoots straigt up to 'full'...it seems to me that the gauge is just off, where above full is when it is full, when it gets to full i have a half tank, and when it gets to a half tank, its empty...if that makes sense. I have only filled up 2X so far. And i do have 70k on it.

 

when my cluster started going bad, my gas gauge was reading off by 1/4 tank, and my speedo off by 10mph (standing still, consider it at -10mph) Also, my temp gauge would jump to hot whenever the key was in the run position. Start watching everything carefully, and look for other readings that are starting to drift. And start saving for a cluster...

 

400 miles? Wow my 02 225hp only gets about 300. Would chipping it have dropped my mileage? I do drive pretty hard.

 

I actually have been getting around 425 mi per tank. It is all stock (no chipping) and the engine is well taken care of. I drive about 70% highway and about 30% city as well.

How much did the cluster cost you to replace?

That actually kind of scares me. I just got the car, so I wouldnt be 100% sure if the speedometer is off. It has to be close (im not flying past people or vice versa) but a small amount could be the difference between getting or not getting a ticket.

 

I get about 325 miles to a tank, but I live in a fairly hilly area. Like, on my drive to work, I go uphill steadily for about 4 miles straight, so the car makes about 4psi of boost the entire time, and that uses gas. Usually chipping wont hurt your milage if you drive easy, it may even help since your car is better utilizing the fuel and air its receiving. My car is making stock power (180hp - about 150 at the wheels, my friend (TomRitt on this forum) is making nearly 400 at the wheels with his highly modified A4. Last year coming back from H2O, we all filled our tanks, drove home as far as we dared before gas prices skyrocket, and topped off again. We both put the same amount of gas in our cars, to the 1/10 of a gallon. How crazy is that?

Massie, the cluster I got was paid for by the shady dealer that tried to hide the temp gauge error with a plastic stop that wouldn't let the needle move past the 12o'clock position. I threatened a lawyer, and he caved. Think I saw the receipt for it for around $600 : ( I think there is a possibility of getting reconditioned clusters for alot less than that. I did the labor though (possible on cars without the immobilizer). You can do it with a vag-com cable, but then you need to spend the $225 on the cable to do that.

 

Very common problem, but it is not necessarily a cluster issue, rather contamination of the sender by sulphur compounds in the fuel. Go to the AutoParts store your local Chevron and pick up 3 or 4 bottles of Techron. Run a bottle in your next full tanks of fuel and this should clean off the contacts.

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