Dont trust MTE on the UG.

Ok so i have an ultragauge and it told me that i had like 30 miles to empty, and it said i had 1.5 gallons of gas in my tank, and I ran out of gas, lucky it was right before i was going to turn into my neighborhood so i walked and got a gas can, but still dont trust that shit, it really kinda pisses me off.

 

im pretty sure on the instructions it even tells you not to trust it, at least my scangauge says to only use it as a reference

 

Yea it probably does, but i didnt read the whole thing. its 44 pages. But i learned my lesson about it, and im glad i was close to home.

 

lmao i thought you were talking about something totally different when i read your title...but yea, sucks. id always go by what my avg miles on a tank is from me watching it. plus once the low fuel light comes on i find the next station asap

 

me too actually

 

my light comes on, i get gas. normally it only it takes 17 gallons. so i assume i have about 3.5 gallons before i run out. but i stilll don't trust that.

 

Hahahaha

 

least i aint the only one with the mind in da gutter

 

As you know 1st gens don't have a fuel level sender so you have to enter in the fuel tank size as well as tell the UG when you fill up.

What did you enter for fuel tank size, did you enter in what Toyota says it is? If yes, that's one of your issues right there.

Did you reset the the average MPG trip when you filled up after you tiggered the full tank fill up?

Best thing to do is run your tank as dry as possible. I'm pretty familiar with my fuel gauge so when I got to the point where I'm familiar with absolutely the lowest, I filled up. However much went into the tank on fill up is what I used to enter in the UG as my tank size. Toyota says my tank is 18.5, I normally average 17.5 on fill up & is what I entered in. Even if you run your tank bone dry to the point where you can't start the truck anymoe at any angle, it will still have fuel in it. So the tank size entered in the UG should be how much that's usable.

At this point reset your trips & full tank fill up. For me, on weekdays when I drive fwy only, avg MPG will get in the 16, 17 range. Then the days where I know I will be driving street only I reset my average MPG. If I don't, even though the UG is supposed to recalculate it takes a while, I notice my average MPG will stay in the 16, 17 range. Upon reset it will go down to the 14 range for street driving.

Using this practice, the DTE on the UG reads pretty close to what I get on a full tank & where I'm at half tank. Still don't rely on the UG for this but this way it's pretty close to what I average.

Before doing this when I had 18.5 entered in it says I was expected to get 330 on a full tank. Yeah right, I can't even get 250 on a full tank.

I got my buddy one & it was hooked up to a Ford (detected 57 gauges on CAN, I only get 33 on 9141) that did have a fuel sending sensor. The UG reads pretty close to what he normally gets on a full tank.

It's not the UGs fault. I'm pissed that we don't have a fuel sending sensor.

 

Thats crazy because I have drove mine probably 30 or so miles with the gas light on and with around 300 miles on a tank and my truck only holds 15.5 gallons.

Haha I guess I have alot more gas left then I thought I did!

 

x3

 

yeah mine has been giving me some outrageous numbers too but i know better than trust it lol im count myself pretty lucky to hit 300 with a full tank. now im definitely going to lower the tank level on there! great idea

btw what manual or instructions are yall talkin about? cuz i didnt get anything like that in my little box

 

Why don't you just fuel up again when you have 1/2 tank or 1/4 tank left on the fuel gauge? That's just a habit I've had since I started driving. I've never been stranded anywhere because I ran out of fuel.

 

didnt your low fuel light come on?

 

Myth. I have run all my vehicles down to fumes since I've been driving and never had a fuel pump fail on me.

This was true in some 90's model chevys. But those are chevys so what do you expect.

I usually drive about 20-30 miles when the light comes on and then fill up.

 

I also wouldn't trust it, and most certainly not before you calibrate the fuel levels. After you fill up, you can put in actual amount of fuel used (based off of the pump and how much was filled) in the fuel calibration. Doing this several times would make it more accurate. Still wouldn't trust it though.

 

I am with you on this one, I think if the manufacture was worried about having enough fuel to cool the pump, they would have the light come on to encourage refueling early. Don't most of the tanks have containment (for lack of a better word) around the pump/pickup, to help pick up as much fuel as possible?

 

happened to me once in my buick regal

i dont think you can make just a broad statement saying its true or its not true since its happened to people before

good way to find out is to keep doing it

its your shit so you can do whatever you want with it