2016 fuel light

Today my fuel light came on when it looked like I had at least two or three gallons left on the gage. It said 22 miles left till empty. This means with the 2016 fuel indicator gage that empty is EMPTY. A very different thing than any other truck or car I have driven where the fuel gage needle goes way past empty. My other Toy trucks had around 50 miles left when the light came on and the needle had lots of range past empty. I am not one to run the tank empty but sometimes I do end up letting it get lower than I like. In this case if I wait till the light comes on I could be screwed sometimes in the mountains where a gas station is easilly 50 miles out.
I wonder if there is a way to change the warning to 50 miles or two gallons.

anyone else run into this difference?

 

Mine comes on and I can drive another 30+ miles even after the needle shows empty. When it says 0 miles left, there are still 2 or 3 gallons reserve in the tank. It's like all other vehicles I have owned including my 2003 Ford Ranger.

 

I've driven a long time in empty with 0 miles showing on the range truck still had 2+ gallons left

 

Now when we will hear from the "you'll burn out the fuel pump" crowd?

 

I ran into the same thing. Mine started flashing at 50 miles to go. By the time I found a gas station, it said I had two miles to go ... and the tank held more than it is supposed to hold, so I think I was on fumes. When the light comes on now, I find a station ASAP. Its been a big change from what I am used to. When the light came on on my old truck, I still had 60 miles to E, a another 30 or so past that.

 

Yalls account is completely different than mine. Maybe my computer over estimates my fuel usage due to being a stick shift

 

Mine is an automatic. When the light comes on I have at least 3 gallons left in the tank.

 

From your owner's manual:
Low fuel level warning light
Indicates remaining fuel is approximately 3.2 gal.

Last time I filled up when mine was down to less than 10 miles of range left and it only took 18.5 gallons. The tank is listed as 21.1 gallons, so I think the warning is plenty sufficient.

 

I have not ran mine below 1/4 tank therefore I have not noticed this if it is the case.

But I do have more gas in the tank than what the truck is telling me that I have before empty, roughly 2 gals more .

 

I tried this once just to see how it differed from my Tundra. I let it actually get to 0 miles to empty (I work across the street from a gas station anyway) and it only took something like 17.5/18 gallons of gas. The tank is bigger than 18 gallons, therefore it does have a reserve. This has been observed in various other threads.

I know my Tundra had quite the reserve because I could hit empty and go across town and back and still be fine and put in 20-ish gallons in a 26 gallon tank.

So yes, it's about 3.2 gallons from the light to empty.

 

Not sure what the difference is, then, because I rolled into the station with 2 to go on the range, and I put 21.3 gallons in ... although I will also say that the gas pump originally clicked off at about 18.5 gallons, but I kept squeezing to see how much extra it would hold, and it kept going for almost two more gallons. Which tells me these tanks are no where near full if you don't keep going after the initial shutoff.

 

Lets please not start down that road. WE all know the fuel pump is cooled by the fuel, etc, etc. Dont want the thread hijacked by that lot.

 

all great posts from everyone. thanks for all that guys! will do some experimenting myself. I love this forum.

 

Not sure... I did actually let it settle for a few seconds after the initial shut off and then slowly opened the nozzle again and that's when it stopped at 18.5 after just a couple more seconds, if that. I didn't want to push it any further and potentially create a spill.

 

Problem solved !

 

I think the more worrisome problem is, at least in my truck, sand intrusion that incapacitated the entire vehicle, and it's still in a coma...

 

+1

 

Holy crap! Please tell me the service rep didn't say "couldn't replicate" or "that's normal". That seems to be their excuse for everything. In all seriousness, please post what they say about it, because I was planning on playing on the beach this summer, and this is indeed quite worrisome!

 

Why are you putting sand in your gas tank?

 

Sometimes the pump will click early due to the pressure build up. If your filling up from a near empty tank there is a great chance it's going to false. The tank can hold more than it's designed operating capicity. Plus you can account for the filler neck. However you really don't want to keep filling up past when the pump senses the tank is full.