Mileage after fuel light

My fuel light came on steady yesterday, and I was able to make it an additional 25 miles to the next station. Just wondering how far some of the rest of you 3.4 V6 guys have driven with a steady fuel light...and didn't sputter to a stop.

 

Running that low is hard on your fuel pump. It uses flowing fuel as coolant.

 

I don't recall what my 2001 had left in it when the light came on but probably the same as my next two Tacomas? My 2010 has 4 gallons in the tank when the light comes on (60-80 miles depending if you get 15 mpg or 20 mpg).

 

each time my light has come on and i filled up it took 15.5-16 gallons out of the 18.5 tank I have..if I had to drive to a station so 3 gallons or around 45 miles should be your limit before you sputter to a stop once the light comes on the first time.

 

yep roughly with 2 gallons left at best IF its working correctly, a few have said the light comes on so late they run out of gas before they reach the next gas station so it should go another 50-60 miles but don't count on it

 

Wouldn't the pump still be being cooled as long as the vehicle is running?

 

I've got about 3 gallons left.

 

I have gone 50 miles after the light first came one. Was a nail biter but no choice. I was able to put in 17.5 gallons on that fill up. The most ever for me.

 

I can go 60 kms when the light comes on. About half that when I have my eaveatrough trailer on

 

Not all the fuel in your tank is "useable", meaning that if you fill up with 17 gallons, you still had 1.5 gallons left, so at 20 mpg you could have gone 1.5 * 20 = 30 more miles right? Probably not. Your fuel pump needs probably at least a half gallon to keep its prime, and the intake of the pump is not sitting right on the bottom of the tank, so I would think you'd need at least 3/4 of a gallon of fuel left or you're going to start overheating the pump, and risk losing prime. So in reality you could actually go another 0.75 * 20mpg = 15 more miles.

 

Understand that the light comes on BEFORE the gauge needle is on E (Empty, which is still not yet empty) and long before the needle is bottomed out, below the E. It is just an alert light to remind you to look for gas stations soon.

 

I've never had my light come on and I've run the pretty pretty dang low before. I'm starting to wonder if I have one or it quit working (I've only had the truck since November, if you're wondering).

 

well think about it, im guessing our tank is like 24"-30" long and 14"-16" wide so 2-3 gallons of gas in that would be like 1/4" -3/8" deep.

so essentially it comes on when you are running on fumes because anything that makes the gas slosh around (turns, braking, accelerating, bumps) is close to making the pump suck air.

and that said your light bulb might just be burnt out but to test you must run out of gas lol, or open the gage cluster and test it or swap it with one you know works and that just tells you the bulb works, who knows if the pump is telling it to come on but no one is going to be pulling a tank just to check that.