Low gas warning

Anyone else notice this thing is laughably innacurate? It goes on with I think 22 miles till empty. Usually with 3-4 miles I’m in the single digits.

I’ve noticed this on both 3rd gens I’ve owned.

I looked for a thread. Couldn’t find one.

 

I don't recall exactly when it comes on, but it's been generally accurate. If it says 30 miles to go initially it will say 20 miles to go after about 10 miles of normal driving.

What I have noticed is that even if I run it down to 10 miles or less to go and then fill up it never takes more than about 19 gallons. I think the tank is like 21 gallons so it's holding a couple gallons in reserve it seems.

 

There is a reason they are called idiot lights. If it came on and was dry on zero miles, there would be thousands of cars on the side of the road each day. Then that one guy that saw two Tacos on the shoulder in a week would really be freaking out.

 

I’m not saying it’s innacurate once it hits zero. I recognize there is still gas in the tank after the warning hits zero. I’m talking about when it actually is counting to zero it does not even remotely correspond to the miles driven.

 

It's changes in real time based on driving feedback. Just like mpg scale. Same reason some get 400+ miles to empty on fill up and some show like 385 or 350. I find it to be fairly close.

 

Lol!

 

I don’t trust the mpg readout thing or the gas mileage counter. I agree with OP it doesn’t count too well.

 

Damn . . . With all the shit in the world . . . This is what you worry about?

G.

 

Who says I’m worried. My exact words are that it’s laughably innacurate.

 

You guys don't do a gas run once that needle hits half tank?

 

I do a gas run when this silly warning says I’m out of gas completely. Which means I still have 2-3 gallons of gas left.

 

Sounds like a recipe for disaster but I digress.

 

I think that is the point so you dont run out of gas.

 

I hit 0 before as I cruised in to a gas station. Was on a very isolated toll highway....

 

I never go under 1/4 tank. But the miles are just an estimate based on your avg mpg. It changes or is not solid if you hammer on the pedal or do different stops. Cruising on the highway with no traffic is different though, and should be really accurate.

 

That's because it's always calculating. For example, if it says 200 miles to empty, it's used the previous mpg to decide you have 200 miles left. Let's say you did the previous 100 miles at 80 mph. Now you slow down to 55 mph and utilize a much higher mpg number. The indicator is not going to add miles left to empty, it's just going to move slower as it approaches zero.
In the example above, even though the indicator says 200, in reality you might actually go 250 miles until it gets to zero.
It also does not make instantaneous corrections. Like if you are going 80 and it gives you a miles to empty number, you slow down to 55 it does not just change quickly. It might take a hundred miles before it gets back on track because it uses avarages instead of actual real time numbers.

In addition, you ever notice your outside thermometer? When driving down the highway at 75 mph, especially in the hills and varying terrain, the temperature can change quickly and go up or down a few degrees in just a few hundred feet! Go through a tunnel in the summer time lol. Even though it's 80 in the sun, its only around 60 in the tunnel. Yet, your outside temp gauge won't change more than a few degrees until you are out the other side. That's because it samples at a slow rate to keep some sort of a stable readout. Could you imagine going down the road and your temperature gauge is bouncing around and then you look at your miles to empty and one minute it says 160 miles to empty, then as you slow down it bounces up to 210 miles to empty, then as you give it the gas to pass a car it goes down to 90 miles to empty? It would suck right? The engineers know what they are doing.

 

If you run it till it's almost empty once in a while, at least you get most of the water out from the damn Ethanol......I try to do it once in a while but it's a hit to fill an empty tank, I run Lucas gas trtmnt in my 03 Taco, supposed to help get the water out and clean the injectors. Lots of moisture here in Hawaii, we get our fuel barged to our island and pumped to storage tanks at Chevron and Tesoro, which by the way is the only refineries in Hawaii on the island of Oahu, the different suppliers like Shell, Aloha Gas etc....get their gas from either Chev or Tesoro and these guys supposed to do water draws, drain the water from storage tanks daily, but you know that don't happen!
Sorry for the rambling, but just some FYI for all you upper 48 states......Thanks, if you read this, oh by the way, right now it's $3.45 for regular-87 octane

 

I believe the owners manual says there is 3.1 gallons left when light comes on.

 

I hear what you are saying and fully agree with you in theory. But in practice, it still seems more innacurate than that based on my driving conditions. My commute to work is approximately 20 Miles. There is one traffic light, no traffic, and I go about 45 mph the entire time, often in cruise control. When that thing pops up warning me, it goes from about 23 miles left to 15 in maybe a couple Miles and single digits within a few more miles, all while driving about 45 on cruise control. I don’t mind because I know it’s wrong, I just find it odd.