21 gallon gas tanks in 2nd gen 4 cylinder Tacomas?

18.897... that's close enough to 19 to call it 2 gallons left and I wouldn't try to run it deeper, but if shit hits the fan it's nice to know that once you hit "E" you do have a good 30-40 miles left.

 

wasn't planning on running it dry but that's why I had the has can in the bed, just in case. I'm one of those "have to see it to believe it" guys.

 

Now I know when the gas light comes on, I have about 100 miles left to go if I push it to completely empty.

Thanks nj, for taking all those pictures! Now I have some piece of mind for taking my truck on our road trip vacation.

 

100 miles is pushing it for a 4x4.

Are you consistently getting 25mpg or better?
Light comes on, that's 4 gallons left (with some variations truck to truck).

 

Hell no, I'm not getting 25mpg. Not even close.

I was just adding the mileage on nj's odometer (roughly 60) from when the light came on to when he filled up and then added an extra 40 miles (20mpg) for the two gallons he had left in the tank. That's where I got 100 miles.

 

"Roughly 60" is very rough.

Most trucks turn on at around 17 gallons.
Apparently, nj's turns on a bit sooner, because he took 19 gallons and he's certainly not getting 30mpg to carry him 60 miles from 17 to 19 gallons.
More likely his light is coming on somewhere closer to 16 gallons, or his odometer is optimistic, or a combination (and he's already said that his odometer reads 105 miles at 100 miles, which is a HUGE error).

Even though I routinely pull 24.5 to 26mpg with my 5-lug, I would not chance going more than 40-50 miles after the light.

But honestly, in the 7 months I've had my Taco, I've only seen the light once. I just don't make it a habit of running below 1/4 except on that 4th trip home from work when I'll be gassing up after I get off the freeway at about 360 miles... usually 14-15 gallons, occasionally a touch more.


For an idea of fuel used vs distance at various MPG, take a look at my Fuelly.
My worst (recent) tank was 22.9mpg... took 16 gallons to go 365 miles.
The tank before that was 14.5 gallons for 350 miles, and the tank after was 14 gallons for 350 miles.

It doesn't take much in the way of heavy traffic or stop-and-go trips to knock the tank average MPG noticeably.
That 22.9mpg tank was one day of shopping with the wife.

 

How are you getting that mileage? I need to change my driving habits or something. So far, although I haven't really been keeping track, I think I'm getting about 20mpg. But most of my driving is in town and back roads, not highway, so I do a lot of sitting at red lights, slowing down through town, following traffic. I rarely make it into 5th gear unless I take the highway. Our posted speed limits are 30mph and they radar it, so we all slow down and behave ourselves and I trundle through town in 3rd gear.

I was just trying to get an idea of how much gas I have when the gas light comes on for piece of mind.

 

Your driving conditions are a big part of it.
Also with your 4x4 (or a Prerunner) vs my 5-lug, my tires are 215/70-15, so there's a lot less weight to get rolling, and less rolling resistance from the street tread once I am moving.

I'm not going to say that a 4x4 or Prerunner can't pull 25mpg or better, because it can, but it takes a very narrow range of driving conditions and a careful driver.

For me, heavy traffic is the killer. My morning commute is 45 miles. It's 95% freeway, and at 5am, traffic is light so I'm rolling a pretty consistent 65-70 with the cruise set.
I'll get to work and my Ultragauge will show average MPG for the tank at 26 (with 200 miles on the tank).
On the way home, sometimes traffic sucks, sometimes it doesn't.
If it's heavy, but consistent, I can use the buffer space behind the car in front of me to work gentle braking and acceleration as traffic fluctuates and maintain a fairly consistent MPG (not 26, but decent).
If there's a lane blocked, or it's a "holiday Friday"... forget it.
ONE 45 mile trip home can be enough to pull the tank average down from 26 to 24.5.

You're getting zero MPG when sitting still, but at the other end of the spectrum, from watching my Ultragauge, it seems that every 5mph above 65 costs me between 1 and 2mpg.
I averaged 22mpg on a trip to Texas. It was all highway, should have done well, but the limit in Texas and New Mexico is 80.
Arizona (75) and California (70) were noticeably better.

Roughly 4 gallons (and about 1/2 gallon is not usable), meaning at 20mpg you could safely pull another 50-60 miles.
But seriously... don't make it a habit of running that low. I've only seen the light once.

 

no prob, I'll see if it's consistent again this week. I'll see where the light comes on and I'll compare my odometer to my gps.

I've got the speedo healer maybe I'll play with that eventually to try and correct my speedometer

 

Keep in mind that the speedo healer will adjust the speedo and the odo by the same amount.
If the stock error is not the same, then you'll have to adjust to correct one or the other... or aim for a compromise.

Example, my Taco, the Odo is within a couple of 10ths over 300 miles. Close enough to call it "dead on". The speedo is 3 or 4 mph fast when indicating 70.
On my Kawasaki, the speedo was about 12% fast, but the odo was only about half that. In correcting the speedo to "dead on" my odo ended up about 6% low, which in turn gave me an "overnight" drop in calculated MPG of 12%, but an actual MPG error of about 6%... so when I calculate that the bike is getting 34mpg, it's actually running about 36mpg, and that's what I get if I calculate by the GPS.


Also, when comparing to the GPS, you need a run of a couple of hundred miles. A 1% error is only going to show as 1 mile over 100 miles driven.
Over 10 miles driven, the difference is only 1/10th... and you can get as much as a 3% error on the GPS over short distances. Over long distances, there's enough data samples that the GPS error is going to even out.

 

I'll be going more than a couple hundred, more like 400. 95% of the time at the same consistent speed.

I'm convinced my odometer is off the same as my speedometer since they get signal from the same reference point .02

 

They use the same signal, same as any other vehicle, but as with my motorcycle, they do not always run the same error.
The signal goes into the cluster and at that point it goes to two completely different systems. It drives the speedo needle through a stepper motor or digital display, and it is directed to the ECU where it clocks the odometer.

Like I said... my 2006 Vulcan is 12% high on speed but only 6% high on odometer.
Corrected with the Speedo Healer, I'm now dead on with speed and 6% slow on the odometer.

 

jap's can't get shit right

 

Every auto maker does this. The error in the speedometer is derived from the digital signal being displayed through an analog gauge. Due to this fact, automakers ensure that everyone abides by the law (and doesn't start suing them), by causing that signal "error" to fall on the high side. That way if someone thinks they are going 60 MPH, in actuality they are probably going closer to 57 MPH. No traffic tickets for speeding, and a decrease in true speed should an accident occur. The odometer is simply a digital to digital signal, therefore, no error.

 

And while the Fed allows for up to a 15% error on the speedometer on the high side and a 5% on the low side, European CE standards are very strict and do not allow for ANY tolerance on the low side.
If the speedo reads 1mph slower than the actual speed, the manufacturer is liable for fines.

 

+2 on this. my 08 odometer/trip is right on with hwy markers & gps but speedo says 70 and gps says 67 with 265/70/16s. on my 05 with 33's the speedo was correct but the trip/odometer was off.

 

Have measured 100 miles on the interstate many times,and each time my odometer reads 101.5 miles.

 

If you're tank was completely empty when the light came on, then how did you drive it to the gas station?












You have 3 gallons in reserve.

 

read my post ^^^^^^^

ran it way past E and came up with 18.9, call it 19 gallons. that's 2 in the reserve another 40 to go .. good to know

 

I rarely peak over 360 miles on a tank, but I live in high elevation and drive it like a white man most the time so can't expect good mpg's when driven like that!