Fuel Gauge Issues...

And ignored.....

 

Fuel tank shape has a lot to do with it. If you can figure out a way to accurately measure the fuel from the filler neck to the bottom and compensate for the irregular shape of the tank, I'm sure you could make a lot of money. Even the "miles till empty" type of gauges are inaccurate. You can usually go way past zero.

 

Yet another similarity the 2016 Tacoma has with my 2000 civic DX. Rear drums, no power seats, shitty auto trans, and shitty fuel gauge operation.

 

Whew, the suspense is finally over

OP, it does it on my 2002 too so there must be no desire to fix it. What bugs me is mine isnt just rotated off, the last 1/4 tank on the guage is worthless. I go around 240 miles on the first 3/4 and about 25 miles on the last 1/4. And to the person that said look at the shape of the tank, well thats why they are supposed to calibrate it lol. I agree its annoying so I just go by total miles and ignore the guage for the most part

 

Ultragage FTW!

 

Its actually really easy, you take the total amount the tank holds, tell the gauge that is full. Then put in exactly half of what the tank holds and tell the gauage that is half, etc, etc

Edit: should be really easy lol, apparently its not

 

Shoot, I still drive a 99. At this point, I'm just glad my gauge still works.

 

I agree OP, it's dumb but here's my theory... someone was tasked with creating the optimal fuel gauge reduction rates psychologically speaking and this is what they came up with.

Clearly the first 68 miles over full is there to make you feel like those first miles were free. Then they let it slide a little faster once you get past the Full hurdle because 3/4+ is almost same as Full right, lol, but once you get to 3/4 they slow its roll a bit to keep things on the high side of half a tank for a decent amount of time. Then once you get to half a tank they really slow it down to keep you away from that 1/4 tank mark as long as possible but once you hit 1/4 tank its time to get gas regardless so just let drop. All of this psychologically speaking.

 

Yep, it's all designed to make you think that you're getting better milage.

 

I noticed it too but I didn't let it bother me. If you have gas, then just drive it

 

Yeah, engineers should be able to figure it out. there should be a digital rendering of everything these days.

 

The reason the miles to empty isn't 100% accurate is because there are people out there who drive based off of it and don't go to fill up until it reads 0.

The only vehicle the miles to empty has been accurate for me in was a Mini Cooper S, dash said miles to empty - 0 and I coasted into a gas station as it died.

 

If the tank was dead rectangular no high or low spots if the gas station parking lot was dead flat if you filled it to exactly the same level every time then it may be a little more accurate. When the pump clicks off I can put as much as 2 more gallons in my tank what does that tell you? I pretty much go the same miles every time I fill up 350 in the winter 400 in the summer never more than 10-20 miles high or low.

 

I did absolutely notice this same issue and it's annoying. The part that really pisses me off is when the yellow empty indicator comes on and says I only have 20 miles to go.. the needle is not quite on E and when I reset the warning light the fuel gauge then goes to below E. WTF is that? There's still 3 gallons of gas left in the tank when the empty light comes on. So about 50 miles - I'd rather have the warming light say 50 miles to go to empty not 20 when its clearly not even close to 20. Besides 20 miles to go message is redundant - What if I'm on a long stretch of road where the next gas station is say 30 miles away and that light comes on.... basically pointless and/or stressful instead of helpful. /rant

 

Sounds like you are CDO. It is a lot like OCD, except all the letters are in alphabetical order...

 

Like "STOP" signs in NY the fuel gauge is just a suggestion.

 

Ahh I see we have a VW owner...

And at least we have a method for checking the fuel level, unlike our transmissions...

 

Fuel tanks aren't perfectly square...therefore, the rate of change of the liquid height in it isn't linear.. Like trying to fill up a wine bottle or jug versus a bucket. The height moves faster as to get to the top...same with a gauge reading...it's a linear gauge. It's too much work to try and match a nonlinear mathematical model for each variation of tank shape..

I'm just glad it works, my cavalier left me stranded at 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 of a tank of gas!