So I ran out of gas for the first time ever

I was leaving my dads house yesterday when I ran out of gas right in front of his house (thankfully).

My gauge had been low for a couple days and I had been waiting for the light to go on. I don't normally wait that long, but for whatever reason this time I did.

I did start thinking that this last bit of gas had lasted quite a while. Well turns out I was actually out of gas. The light never came on, nor did the needle reach "E". It was still about a 1/4 inch above "E".

I filled it up with 5 gallons from a gas can and made my way to the gas station. I filled up and the needle went back to the top.

Does it sound like the fuel float sending unit thing is going bad? Will it just get worse from here on out? It seems to be operating fine now.

 

How many gallons went in at the gas station ?

 

well, coincidentally, my debit card wasn't working so I had to go inside and I threw $40 on the pump, went to another gas station and then filled up the rest of the way. I didn't calculate how much gas went it. I should have, now that you mention it

 

I was just wondering if it was really empty or not

 

I'm pretty sure it was. Like I said, it had been sitting right above "E" for a couple days and I started thinking, how has the light not come on yet?

Once I put gas in it started right away without a hiccup

 

Maybe as simple as the light being burnt out ?

 

Either way a your asking for a burnt up fuel pump if let it run out like that too many times.

 

I'm up to running out of gas 6 times- but that's because my fuel gauge doesn't work at all. I'm pretty sure it's the float on mine- when I had the tank dropped to do the fuel pump, I gave the float and all of the other components a good cleaning. The float did look a little funny, (I think the arm was a bit bent or something) but seemed to work fine. I have no idea when I'll ever replace it.

 

why not just reset the trip everytime and fill up around 200-250 miles?

 

The first and only time I ran out of gas I had a similar situation in my Dakota. The miles were kinda high but the needle was above E and the light wasn't on. I ran out of gas doing 70mph on the highway. I punched it and was able to pull over and get AAA to give me some gas. On that truck, it was the gauge itself.

 

This happened to my on my 09 4.0

Tank stayed around a 1/4 tank of gas for a little longer than usual, but I thought it was just because it was a really good tank (UG estimated 24 or so, actual turned out to be 23.9). Then on the way to work it dive bombed straight to E (was it stuck?), the light came on, and it died across the road from the gas station 4.7 miles later. Trip said 441.3 miles. At least it wasn't far to carry the gas can.

According to that pump it would only take 16.5 gallons to the second click after adding 2.0 gallons by can. Ultragauge estimated about that much gas used so instead of putting Toyota's 21.1 gal spec into the gauge I have it set to an 18.5 gal tank now.

After that incident I just tend to go by the ultragauge's gallons used (trip) instead of the fuel gauge. I do a complete fill every time it gets up to around 11-13 gallons. I'd rather not go through that again. It was blissful ignorance to run 400 mile tanks every time though. Part of me misses that.

 

I had a similar situation with the gauge one time in my 2011 when I had it. It was sitting a little over 1/4 tank and I filled it up. Took the needle 10 mins or so to register up to full. Never did it again so I'm not really sure what happened there.

 

The needle moved once I put gas in it. I thought I was just getting some good mileage that tank or something. Oh well, hopefully it was just an anomaly

 

Mine did it for the second time in 4 months today. 1/4 tank on gauge: ran out of fuel. Easy to think 'just watch the trip mileage every time'. It has lit up between these events. Maybe my ADD or just life with 3 kids and a million other things going on that I don't alway fill up to 100% (daily gas price can change 0.10 - 0.15 /gallon) or using the trip for work mileage. Either way, I have a fuel gauge and expect it to work - especially in my Toyota.
Any mechanical / repair suggestions (besides pay attention)?