Fuel Gauge inaccurate? showing approx 1/8th tank, but running out of gas?

Thx for keeping it civil. lol. I really should have taken a close look at the amount of fuel I put in it. I guess I could prob look at the cc gas station bill and assume the cost of gas hasn’t gone up in a couple of days and calculate it.

 

Ya, it’s kinda interesting. I’m a regular on Rennlist forum (own a 911), used to be a regular on M3forum and prior to that 350zforum and when I was much younger, ClubSi. For some reason, I expected a slightly different response here, as I normally associate Tacoma owners, at least better than a Honda civic forum. lol

anyway, it appears that gas price hasn’t changed since yesterday which calculates out to 18.32 gallons that I put in.

 

Based on the pic you showed and your gallons used I would say your gas gauge is ok. I still suspect possible water in your tank. water is heavier than gas and will accumulate near the bottom of the tank and your symptoms appear to match this. Water can get into gas numerous ways including at the gas station if poor practices of filling during rain, or into the engine itself driving heavy rains/condensation etc. You might try an additive that removes water and see if that helps.
https://www.pfleet.com/blog/water-in-gas-tank-what-you-should-do
Another possibility is some foreign material in the tank at the bottom.

 

dang. That would be crazy. No idea how that would happen. If water is heavier wouldnt that cause the car to try and burn the water first? I’m assuming that the gas line out of the tank is at the bottom, like on my dirt bikes, but I might be completely wrong on that. I guess this could have caused it to run like it did (didn’t totally stall, but lost significant power, it was fine idling at a stop light, but if I tried to accel even half throttle it bogs down significantly

 

I’m assuming that this doesn’t mean that there is potentially 2+ gallons of pure water in the tank, but just high enough ratio of water to gasoline that it causes issues?

 

So right there I see that something isn't reading right . Hi I'm the OG owner of my 2017 I'm over 236k miles. Ive filled up my taco plenty of times and I've ran mine down to the E and closest I've gotten to almost empty empty run out of gas, I pumped in 20.5 gallons . Our trucks have a 21.5 gallon tank . Luckily I was close to home and wife was home with gas can ready.I was curious that one time . No I dont typically run my tank low . 1/4 tank is my que to go to gas station . I about average 300 mi on 3/4 tank of fuel on a non windy week. Today was windy and I got 272.4 miles with 3/4 of a tank . I pumped about 15.6 gallons .

So yeah I definitely would look towards a new fuel pump . Yours isn't reading correctly.

 

Hmmm if that's the case a bottle of the heet water remover I think it's called, correct me if I'm wrong should help remove water from your tank . Lol I don't know about 2 gallons though lol.

 

I'll say this at the risk of people getting butthurt, but out of all of the car groups I've been part of over the years the Tacoma crowd has been the worst, especially on facebook pages. I unfollowed a lot of tacoma pages because it's nothing but trolls or immature over-opinionated asshats. BUT, theres also some pretty awesome folks on tacomaworld and a lot of good knowledge, you just need to know how to filter it all out.

Do you always use the same gas station? If so, start filling up at other stations, and try to keep switching it up. If its been the same place they could have bad fuel or water in their tank.

 

good points all around. And yes, I often use the same station. Thats going to stop.

 

I'm not current on my recalls. Was the 21MY ever subject to the fuel pump recall, and if so, has it been replaced?

 

Good point. Years ago I got water in my tank from a gas station that likely had a leaking tank and it’ll the engine sputtered
until I ran most of that gas out of it and added fresh gas. I was going off memory and now think it may have shown up right away. It may also depend on the gas tank design at bottom and sloshing around as you start and stop so who knows. If it just bogs down and doesn’t spit and sputter it may not be the gas.

 

If you look at the pic OP posted on #21 he wasn’t on E, a good gallon or more I’ve run mine down to E and fill was around close to 20 gallons.
So I don’t rule in or out the fuel pump just based on that. May be the fuel pump but I’m not a replace parts until something works guy.

 

would this cause it to run 100% normal if I have plenty of fuel, until I am 1/8 tank or less?

 

Thinking back as in my recent post I don’t think so. I think my problem was earlier. This was 20 years ago lol.

 

Where that needle is that would be closer to 5 gallons left in the tank. DTE light comes on at like 3 gallons. I suspect water but how would you get that much in there idk.

 

I always try to fill up at Costco, which at times is 40 cents a gallon cheaper and always at least 10 cents a gallon cheaper. Consequently, I try to plan my trips, but many times I have run it to E and the computer says 0 miles to empty. One time I put in 20.5 gallons, a few times a little over 20. I use the Fuelly app, which is a direct calculation and so I have a high level of confidence, that based on historical mileage I simply will not run out. I have done this for decades and never had a fuel pump problem. I was only fooled once, when, unbeknownst to me, the O2 sensor in my ‘91 4Runner went bad, causing me to run rich and dropped my mileage by 5mpg. I ran out that time, but otherwise, relative to this group, I guess I live on the edge.

 

just by way of update, I was recently driving and the truck started to have the same symptoms again and I kept kept driving and I heard a sudden "thump" and then never had the full symptoms and havent had symptoms since then in several tanks of gas. I kind of think that I may have had some vapor lock for some reason. Ive had this on a dirt bike a few years ago, as my gas tank blow valve was not working properly. Very similar symptoms. Im not sure if the truck vents thru the gas cap or what, but it appears to be a non-issue now.

 

I have a 2005 Tacoma V6. In the last month and a half I have had exact issue of running out of gas at 1/8 tank. 1st time the truck stopped on me at 1/8 tank in residential area. I called AAA and a tow came out. Driver agreed not a gas issue. (NEVER HAD THIS ISSUE BEFORE in my 19 years owning it. Have had it down to warning light w/o issue.) Towed to repair shop. After an hour trouble shooting, they replaced the fuel pump. They said the tank was dry when pump was removed. Installed new pump and was told old pump was worn out. Drove the truck for a few weeks (even down to 1/8 again w/o issue.) I was confident problem resolved.

TONIGHT I had same 1/8 tank and engine quit. NO warning low fuel light again. After getting gas from a station, truck started right up like nothing ever happened.

19 years and never had this problem. New pump installed and tank was cleaned at the time.

Could there be another problem causing this (other than getting gas sooner)? 19 years and only now a problem.

 

Sounds like the fuel gauge is not working properly.

 

The shop had said it was fine, but I think you may be correct. The needle does move properly when started and turned off. But something is wrong.