Since running out of fuel on the way back from vacation this past summer with roughly 180km range on the dashboard left, the indicated range and fuel use just don't make sense. The local Skoda dealership has looked at it during a scheduled service, and they performed the reset of the system as prescribed by Skoda (taking the battery off to reset the bunch), but that hasn't fixed it.

The average MPG now seems correct, and we've been using that to calculated when to get gas, but that's not a real solution. Before spending the big bucks at the dealership for them to spend the VAG-billed hours to try and find a fix, I was hoping to get some insights or possible issues/solutions here.

The symptoms are as follows:

• Incorrect range (150-200km too much) indicated (both the range in the virtual dashboard and the lights on the side are incorrect)

• Correct average MPG reading

• Looks like the average MPG has increased about 1,5L per 100km

• No fault codes

Car: 2019 Superb Combi Sportline 2.0tsi 272 4x4 (so the pre-facelift Mk3 with GPF and 7DSG)

Does anyone have any idea, where to start or what the issue may be? Thanks in advance so much!!

It's a known issue with the AWD Superb, unfortunately.

Due to the AWD drive line through the tunnel, the tank is "split" on either side.

Sometimes the fuel doesn't get balanced or transferred between the two, causing fuel to prematurely run out, despite hundreds of KMs Range left.

I don't know wat the fix is, sorry.

FWD Superb don't have this issue.

If it's due to the saddle tank arrangement it could be that the cross tank suction pump has failed or is intermittently failing... From memory the tank has two pumps. One to lift to the engine and one for balancing between the two halves of the saddle tank (don't ask me why they used this arrangement rather than just a simple low level pipe connection).

Thus if the balancing pump fails you effectively 'lose' about a third of a tankful.

Edited 26 December, 202526 Dec by skomaz

I believe there's a small suction jet pump in the left hand side tank that transfers the fuel across the saddle. If that fails then you'll lose whatever's in that side of the tank.

On 26/12/2025 at 22:45, skomaz said:

If it's due to the saddle tank arrangement it could be that the cross tank suction pump has failed or is intermittently failing... From memory the tank has two pumps. One to lift to the engine and one for balancing between the two halves of the saddle tank (don't ask me why they used this arrangement rather than just a simple low level pipe connection).

Thus if the balancing pump fails you effectively 'lose' about a third of a tankful.

I suspect (but not certain) that the transfer pump isn’t a pump in the conventional sense. There is just one electric pump sending fuel to the engine, but there is a T on the output and one arm of the T goes to a “pump” in the other side of the saddle. This pump works by squishing the petrol through a restriction which increases its speed. The high speed fuel passes an opening to the fuel at the bottom of the tank. The high speed causes low pressure (Bernoulli effect) which sucks up fuel from the bottom of the tank. So x amount of fuel leaves the T arm of the electric pump and x+y amount of fuel arrives back in that side of the saddle. The y is the fuel transferred to the pump side of the saddle.

So no moving parts or electrical supply, but the possibility of the restriction becoming blocked by some dirt etc. meaning the pump doesn’t transfer fuel.

Thanks for the feedback! Your suggestions will be at the top of the list!

However… The range, average fuel efficiency and liters filled at the petrol station still add up to 70l (ran it nearly empty once and filled up 69, hehe, liters), so that would indicate both the tank halves are connected perfectly fine right? Or is that incorrect to assume?

37 minutes ago, Fr13ndlyGhost said:

Thanks for the feedback! Your suggestions will be at the top of the list!

However… The range, average fuel efficiency and liters filled at the petrol station still add up to 70l (ran it nearly empty once and filled up 69, hehe, liters), so that would indicate both the tank halves are connected perfectly fine right? Or is that incorrect to assume?

The fuel consumption will be based on the ECU counting the injection pulses, and their duration. That is to say, the amount of fuel delivered into the engine, not the rate at which the indicated fuel quantity is decreasing.

The other parameters are derived in software and the software was probably not written to cater for a failed ejector pump, so I don’t think we can say either way what fault the symptoms point to, however a failed or blocked ejector pump seems the most likely.

Edited 28 December, 202528 Dec by nicknorman

displayed gauge values aren't linear at all, top half is about 40 liters, second 30l

-> https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/408362-fuel-tank-capacity/#findComment-4745642

displayed remaining range is calculated from last ?? km consumption vs remaining fuel amount,

which has ~10% offset in the middle of the tank

16 hours ago, nicknorman said:

The fuel consumption will be based on the ECU counting the injection pulses, and their duration. That is to say, the amount of fuel delivered into the engine, not the rate at which the indicated fuel quantity is decreasing.

The other parameters are derived in software and the software was probably not written to cater for a failed ejector pump, so I don’t think we can say either way what fault the symptoms point to, however a failed or blocked ejector pump seems the most likely.

Thanks, will have that looked at as well!

6 hours ago, MartiniB said:

displayed gauge values aren't linear at all, top half is about 40 liters, second 30l

-> https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/408362-fuel-tank-capacity/#findComment-4745642

displayed remaining range is calculated from last ?? km consumption vs remaining fuel amount,

which has ~10% offset in the middle of the tank

I'm aware of the non-linearity of the gauge, and the adjustment of the predicted range depending on your driving and driving modes over the last period, but that doesn't explain a discrepancy of nearly 200km (+/- 25%) between actual range and indicated range. Non-linear and adjustment based on driving style despite, 0 fuel left will always also have indicated range 0. And that's not the case right now.

@Fr13ndlyGhost

Hello, I have the same problem as you, identical, except that I have a Superb 4 2.0 TSi 4x4 2024. Did you manage to solve the problem?

@Rigor Yes found the issue. Had it looked at by a VAG specialist, after the dealership had looked at it and according to the official Skoda Workshop manual/Operations system thingy they use a reset of all systems and taking it off the battery for a couple minutes to reset it should fix it. And there was no follow-up to that in their system, that should just fix it and no further action. Unfortunately that didn't fix it...

So I took it to the VAG specialist that also installed the OEM tow hook when the dealership said it wasn't possible, and they did manage to fix it after "calling with Germany" and finding out all it needed was a bit of extra cable tree of about 30cm.

They confirmed to me that the official Skoda manual thingy stops after the (battery) reset (they use the same system), but they decided to take a physical look in the fuel tank. They found issues with both fuel pumps and floaters. I checked the invoice and they replaced this:
- Jet pump with float

- Fuel Transfer Module

- Float for fuel gauge

(Translated this from Dutch, so might not be 100% correct and unfortunately no parts numbers on the invoice...)

This fixed the issue, indicating correctly again! Happy to have that with the current fuel prices ;)

While my fuel gauge has been pretty accurate, I always reset my trip odometer at each fill up as a backup.