Trust low fuel light or miles to empty?

20 TRD OR LB low fuel light came on today. I read here 3 gallons should be left in the tank. I drove 18 miles to get gas and the miles to empty went to zero. When I filled it clicked off at 19.33 gallons.

 

Old school gauge
Or roll the dice and run it out and call for a tow. You guys do have some type of gauge on the gen 3s correct?

 

Not trying to be a dick here, but why would you wait untill you have almost no gas? I fill up when it gets below the quarter. That way you never have to worry about it.

 

Gauge? Our advanced 3rd gens are all digital sir.

 

Several times I’ve gone 50 miles after the the gauge said 0 miles and pulling a jet boat.

 

When you only have a little bit of fuel left in the tank it gets harder and harder for the system to calculate the exact amount of miles remaining. Its not an exact science.

There's a reason every single owner's manual recommends refilling at (least) a 1/4 tank

 

Well excuse me
I’m out of the loop. Too old

 

I have never seen the low fuel warning ever and I’ve driven until I had 13 miles left once.

 

Second tankful and I spend many weeks in Baja each year. Trying to learn my limits for when it counts out there! The gauge never even got down to E before it said zero miles to empty. My 03 Tundra had 4+ gallons when the light came on. Maybe the truck needs to learn its limits as well?
Love this truck BTW!

 

Because in Baja fuel can be >50 miles away. Sometimes from barrels. Trying to learn in SoCal before I have to walk on a long dusty road south of the border with very little beer!

 

They even go into space...

 

I understand now. Long dusty road with very little beer sounds horrible. Haha!

 

It is not recommended to use the remaining 3 gallons in the fuel tank because those 3 gallons are what keep the fuel pump submerged, cool, and happy. If you run the tank dry too many times, you’ll damage the fuel pump

 

I would fill it asap when the light comes on and note the gallons. Let the pump do the stopping.

Avg 3-4 of those. Subtract from tank capacity for approx remaining fuel.

Depending on you current driving conditions mpg, that's close to how many miles you have left.

That will also indicate if you are smarter than the 'miles to empty' computer or not.

 

The light means STOP and get gas.

 

I did a Cosmo Kramer in my old 2014 F150 with the 5.0. I rolled into a gas station in extreme rural South Dakota with 14 miles to empty left only to find the pumps were down. I had to gently drive another 64 miles to find gas. I was lucky I had a tailwind and when I filled it up, the tank had just under a half a gallon left.

 

Don't mess with the Immaculate Gallon! Just refill.

 

There's an algorithm that bases the MTE on your average fuel economy.
Like most algorithms, it cannot 100% predict the future. It can make an 'educated' guess on previous data. If the previous data was travelling 85mph up steep grades hauling a load of gravel, it's not going to have the same MTE calculation when doing 55 on a flat highway a full tank later.