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

I have a 2021 TRD OR with approx 52k miles. Over the past few months I have had a couple of occasions where it appears that I am running out of gas, even though the gauge indicates that I have approx 1/8 or 1/10 of a tank left. The "fuel" light doesn't even come on. The car feels exactly like it would if I were out of gas and just picking up whats left at the bottom of the tank. The first time it happened, I just figured that it was kind of a fluke. The second time, I paid more attention to the symptoms and then tis AM the same thing happened. Immediately got off freeway (mostly coasting) and went straight to gas station. Fill up and the symptoms all go away. I am now planning to have a small 2 gallon tank in my bed, just in case.

This sounds like a more common issue on the 2nd gen tacoma, but did a search here for the 3rd and not seeing anything.

 

Simple fix is to fill at 1/4 tank.

 

Hmm have you done the fuel pump recall?

and yeah get a 5 gal jerry can ASAP

 

Not sure of the fix here - but you are best to fill up at 1/4 tank to keep the electric fuel pump cool. They like to be immersed in fuel.

 

I ran out of gas on my 2006 at supposedly 1/4 of a tank. I now fill up at 3/4 if that reading is even accurate.

 

Running out of gas while I did it once is a very bad for the truck. I refill at 1/4 summer, 1/2 winter. Why would you wait to refill? Playing the price at different gas stations? Think about it $3.50 per gallon when you refill at 1/4. $3.50 per gallon when you run out plus, lost time. Inconvenience for others and bad for the truck. What did it really cost to run out of gas.

 

The fact that filling the tank at the gas station relieved the symptoms does suggest that you were running out of gas, but the fact that you made it to the gas station does not. Typically I’ve made it a few 10’s of feet when I’ve run out of gas. I suspect there is something else going on.

 

You may have a fuel level sensor that is slightly off.

My suggestion, like others, would be to quit running your tank so low and refuel earlier. The pump needs to be submerged in fuel for cooling and suction.

 

Does that apply to the 2021 model year>

 

when you filled up and the symptoms went away how many gallons did it take? isnt that the easy way to tell how empty it was?

 

I'd never run my tank that low. I think I've hit the 1/4 mark twice now, if I don't have 3/4-Full I start sweating...
When the SHitsTheFan I don't wanna be dickin around looking for gas.... I wanna lock-n-load and hit the road... off-road away from the crazies.

 

How many gallons to full did it take to refill when this has happened?
I think that’ll answer your question as to weather it was empty or you have another problem.

GL

 

When you get close to empty and drive up, or down steep inclines the remaining fuel all goes to one end of the tank and the fuel pump may not be able to pick it up even though your fuel gauge shows you have gas. Another reason not to make a habit of letting the tank get too low on fuel.

During WW-2 when gas was rationed a lot of people drove around with very little in their tanks. The fuel pumps were external, but the fuel lines were usually near the front of the tanks. I have relatives who told me that they often had to back up steep hills in order to keep the engine running.

 

I doubt he was actually running out of gas.

 

Why would you want to run the tank down to 1/10th?
Probably damaging the fuel pump.

 

My brother had a plastic end cap like what they put on hydraulic hose ends to keep dirt out get in his fuel tank on a tractor. Once he got down to about 1/4 tank of fuel it would idle good but pulling, he’d lose power and sometimes stalled the engine.

Shut it off for a bit and would run fine for a while. Fill up with fuel and was good to go until he got low on fuel again.

The plastic cap would get sucked down and clog the fuel output line.

Took him a long time to figure that one out.

I don’t know how big of an opening is on the fuel pump inlet but, could this be a possibility?

 

He says the light didn't come on. Not that I do it, but I suspect pump ok with 1 gallon of fuel, it's recessed in a small cavity to avoid issues.

Easiest way to know if the gauge is off is to fill up. Look up gas tank size, you should know your mpg. Do some math, figure out driving distance. If yoi calculate 2 gallons in the tank and it's not throwing the light, you know to get gas and your gauge not accurate.

 

As far as I'm concerned - 1/4 tank is when i'm on empty. That is where the "E" should be in a world of submerged fuel pumps. Pull over and put gas in your truck. It's not that difficult. We all might have the same issue you are experiencing, but the thing is - we would never know !!

 

Indeed.

When one runs out of gas, one does not cruise to the next freeway offramp, brake to a stop at the 4 way, and then ... after the light turns green... proceed another 1/16th of a mile to the actual gas station.

 

Actually, I didn’t think about that until later, I was stressed to get to work on time and probably wasn’t reasoning clearly. But this would have answered some good questions had I thought of it at the time. Now I’ve got some gas cans in the bed