Dash fuel warning inaccurate?

On a road trip this past week and misjudged my fuel for one of the remote legs. Finally found a station when my dash indicated I had 7 miles until empty. It took 18.7 gallons to fill. That makes me think there were about two gallons left in the tank. What's with the discrepancy?

 

They build in a little margin I'm pretty sure

 

The “7 miles until empty”, is just 7 miles until you should fill up. “Empty” is not a scientific term with cars. If Empty was truly Empty, the roadside would be littered with abandoned cars.

 

My light comes on around 17 gallons used. It's a 21 gallon tank.

 

Common with Toyota’s. It’s in order to keep the fuel pump cool and happy so it doesn’t burn out. Toyota knows that there are people who keep their tanks on pretty much empty all the time and it’s their way of making sure people’s stupidity doesn’t ruin their reputation of reliability.

 

There is 3 gallons left to keep the fuel pump submerged so it doesn’t overheat or run dry. It’s not reccomended to use that extra 3 gallons regularly since it could severely damage the fuel pump. It’s best to just fill up according to the gauge

 

Normal, been discussed numerous times.

 

Be glad you had 2 gallons .

 

Thanks. Found the empty term odd. I typically fill between half and quarter tank, but was in a really remote stretch between Arizona and California

 

Yep, I fill up all my vehicles before reaching a quarter tank (usually when dipping below a half tank)... just in case I need to travel an extended distance in an emergency. That’s happened a few times, like on 9/11 when gas stations were packed and price gouging.

 

Yeah, well, it looks like we're gonna discuss it again. In case, ya' know, we missed anything the first or second time around...

 

It's to keep you from actually going empty. I've gone all the way to zero where it just says "please get fuel" or something like that.

 

Some people have not been on this website as long as others. We all have to start sometime. Plus most if not all people will come on and ask their question, without researching the whole site. Nuff said!

 

Exactly why we have a search function!

It answered the OPs question and it also provided reassurance that this topic has been brought up by others so they know they are not the only one with this question.

While your post contributed nothing.

 

I think the search button has been mentioned umpteen times more than this topic, and there’s no camaraderie in discussing a topic when reading old posts. Also, there may have been a mod or TSB issued since then that fixes the light so you are truly out of gas when it comes on

 

Best part of this site is the plethora of knowledge and information. Its practically a compendium of all things Tacos

 

I appreciate all of the comments and feedback to search. I did a quick search, but in this age of instant gratification, I posted when my question wasn't the first result.

Thanks again

 

No worries homie, tons of info here with cool peeps to help out. Glad you got what you were looking for.

 

Correct. What's with these people anyway? You go to lunch with them at work and they are always less than 1/8 of a tank. Keep the damn thing full in case something happens and you need to escape.

Empty means the tank is down to whatever reserve the manufacturer built in. 1 gallons sounds about right for these trucks.