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

this is where I was, so you mean to tell me you guys never go this low? I’ve been driving for over 35 years and never ever had a car act like it was out of gas when it got that low.

 

There’s no reason to run that low on a consistent basis. It’s just asking to be that jackass on the side of the road walking with a gas can. I don’t see the point in carrying a gas can for your daily commute when you have a built in 21 gallon gas can and readily available gas stations.

 

you mean 18 gallon built in gas can, if one can’t access 3 gallons, it isn’t 21, and if your saying to NEVER go that low, does this equate to 17, 16, or even 15 gallons?

there is a reason, it’s just that you assume there isn’t one. Where I live, gas is extremely expensive, where I work 2 days out of the week, it can be up to .75 to $1 less a gallon, so my usual route during the week normally goes from Thurs and I can normally make it to the next Tues at that office (I’m there T and Th). Like I’ve mentioned, I’ve been driving over 35 years, never had an issue, not sure how this thread became a debate on the logic of running a car to 1/8th of gallon, but I’ve owned over 20 cars in that time, and never once had an issue, in fact, there was never an issue with the Tacoma until recently.

as far as carrying a gas can, I do that just in case of an emergency a lot of times anyway. I’m also the jackass on the side of the road helping out a stranded bystander with a hydraulic jack, impact wrenches and sockets and a fairly well equipped tool kit.

started doing that about a 18 months ago when my daughter got a flat and I needed to help her out and AAA was going to take forever, then I hadn’t taken the stuff out of the truck yet and 3 days later, my wife got a flat, and I only happened to be 15 minutes behind her on the way home from
Work.

At that point I figured that there is a ton of wasted space in the bed of my truck that a could make good use of. Oh, I’m also the jackass that has a tire inflator and a battery jumper in there too, for obvious reasons

 

If it were my truck, I’d drop the tank and install a new sending unit.

I assume you’re out of your warranty period?

 

Good question. Is it somehow considered “powertrain” since fuel not getting to the engine properly?

it’s 30 months old and has 52k miles.

“The Basic Coverage Warranty lasts for 36 months or 36,000 miles. Additionally, the Powertrain Coverage Warranty lasts for 60 months or 60,000 miles, covering the engine, transmission/transaxle, front-wheel-drive system, rear-wheel drive, seatbelts, and airbags.”

 

Of those responding to this thread, which of you has ever had a gasoline engine run out of gas (car, motorcycle, boat, lawnmower, etc)? Of those that have, how long did the engine run after the symptoms started?

The times that this has happened to me that I remember, the engine only ran a few seconds after the symptoms started. Stop, start, stop, start, dead...

OP, can you describe the behavior in more detail? For example, did the engine run stop-and-go all the way to the gas station? Did it ever have to be restarted? How far was the gas station? Did inclines change the behavior?

 

All of this talk about submerged fuel pumps needing to stay 1/4 and above on E. I used to believe that as well, but these fuel pumps are brushless and do not care if they go without fuel nor will they "burn out because they are run low" as is being stated here. Should you keep your fuel at a level where it is not going to stress you that you are going to be stranded? Absolutely. Should you keep it a certain level to keep the pump from burning out? No, that's a myth.

As for your issue, you have a sticky fuel level sending unit. Mine did it back in 2015/2016 (I am a 2nd gen, but knowing Toyota, they like to recycle the same junk that they used in one generation to the next) and it has never done it again after that. Knowing what it is, however, if it ever starts happening again and is annoying me enough to the point to take care of it I will be replacing just that. My fuel pump has already been taken care of with an aftermarket unit and I don't think twice as to whether or not it is in good shape at this point.

 

I'm a "closet" prepper, so I never go below a half a tank. The way I see it, it costs the same amount of money to keep the top half of the tank full as it does the bottom half!

OP: Start filling up when you hit the half tank mark and you'll never have to worry about this again.

 

Not going to be covered under the powertrain warranty..

 

I don't think so.... I bought my 2020 in late (Sept) 2020. Then found out about the fuel pump recall. Called the dealer back with my VIN and they checked. Mine was not on the recall list. So you can call a Toyota dealer with your VIN and find out.

 

Not once. Ever.

 

Well, living in Florida and now the Midwest with thunderstorms tornadoes and what not I rarely let the truck or the FJ fall below half tank.

 

Not as a habit. Only in road-trip situations where my planned fuel stop was closed and it was 50 miles to the next town. As practice don't let it go below 1/4 when commuting around town.

I don't let it get below 1/2 if there is severe weather on the forecast. I've been caught in one too many city-wide outages. Let me tell you, having 1/2 tank when they suddenly say "hurricane evacuation is in effect" freaking sucks. Having under 1/4 tank during an emergency - I hope you have survival supplies at home, because you ain't goin nowhere for a while.


P.S. what was the number of gallons when you filled that up?

I've ran out twice. Once, it sputtered and died on a hill. Once I got the car level it ran for another ten miles, plenty to get to the station. The second time it sputtered out on a flat. It drove for 100 yards. And then I graduated college and never played those stupid games again.

 

All you people telling the OP to fill up sooner are crazy. If he runs out at 1/8 of a tank, and you insist on filling up at 1/4, then you are almost out too!

He has a problem, he needs to fix it, not to be told when to fill up

And anyone saying that it needs fuel to cool it has not looked at a modern pump assembly, the motor is in a sump covered with gas

 

Running the tank down to E should be within the design parameters. If it were an issue it would be stated in the manual and, to be frank, would be really piss poor engineering. I have yet to see a manual tell me otherwise. Yes, running it dry time and time again is bad, but running down to 1/4 or less every time is not going to cause failure from cooling issues.

With that said, my light sometimes comes on around 20 miles to E, yet I can only get about 17 gallons in. Truck has a 21.1 gal tank so... you do the math.

 

I'd get this fixed if I had warranty coverage, but I sure wouldn't go to the trouble and expense to drop the tank to repair if I was paying for it. Just fill up sooner. Improvise, overcome, adapt!

 

I usually fill up before then but have run mine down that low in my Tacoma a number of times as well as other vehicles. Have you checked to make sure how many gallons you add when you fill up from empty as others have suggested? Also is there a chance you have gotten bad gas with water in the tank?

The comments in the thread with guys shitzing their pants when they hit a quarter tank are amusing lol.

 

A) two different conversations. The bit about filling up sooner has nothing to do with the troubleshooting.

B) Us asking how many gallons did it take to fill from 1/8th tank is the next step in the troubleshooting conversation. If he filled 18-19 gallons, then we know that the sputtering isn't from an empty tank. If it's >20.5, then we know the needle is wrong.

 

THIS^ i cant believe this conversation is still going and people are still recommending silly things like changing parts and not going below 1/4 tank when the OP hasn't done even the most basic troubleshooting which is drive until the symptoms reappear and then check how many gallons it takes to fill from there.

OP please do this and get back to us.

 

X2

This place never ceases to out itself.
"Your truck is gonna break if you run your tank low" Just damn...

This thread is full of typical TW fail.