Gas from light to E

I'm sure this has been discussed before...probably several times, but the other night I ended up going about 35-40 miles after the gas light came on. When I did get to the next station, I didn't really pay attention to how much I put in..........and even if I had, I don't know the capacity of our tanks (I know I could look in the manual), and even if I did I prepaid for $60, so it wasn't full to the kick off.

I made it, and it didn't hurt anything so I guess there's really no question here, necessarily...except maybe a general "what's the farthest you've gone" type of discussion.

For me, that's my farthest to date....and hopefully my farthest ever.

So.....what's your record?

 

I've never seen my light... 2014
Always fill up between 1/2 and 1/4

 

Normally, I don't see it either...it just kind of happened. It looked like more gas when I passed the last station before the light.........then the light came on lol.

And I had my one year old grandson with me, and getting him out in the cold was, obviously an option....but if I can avoid it, I will.

At any rate, I never felt in any danger of having to walk...if I did, I wouldn't have pushed it, especially with him along for the ride.

 

A very vague/general rule of thumb is 20-40 miles max on most vehicles

I'm terrible about it, but outdoor is correct, it says right in the manual to fill up at 1/4 tank

 

With the history of these trucks running out of gas at 1/8 tank (before the light comes on). I don’t press my luck.

I can tell you with out a doubt. The furthest you can go is, up until the point you have to start walking. Been there done that. ONCE.

 

I generally fill up before I hit 1/4 tank. My brother would always run his cars on fumes, but he's replaced more fuel pumps than most people I know too!
When my light does come on, it takes about 18 gallons to fill, 21 gallon tank.
Not sure how much is actually left in the tank when she finally runs dry.

 

I have yet to get the gas light as I usually try to fill up near the quarter mark. I have gone 344.9 miles on 15.5 gallons. It appears to me that the last part of the tank holds more than what appears on the dash gauge. It's not evenly divided according to the dash gauge which is not surprising.
On the other side, I've gone 241.9 miles on 16.4 gallons.

 

Yea it's not a perfect system of measurement. The float arm in the tank is on a curve, the rheostat that it uses to vary the signal is hardly precise.. I've noticed the top half of the tank seems to get better "mileage" than the bottom half

Funny story, years ago I had a customer tow in a 98 Volvo, he said "it died going up a hill". We checked it out and found the fuel tank was basically empty, put a few gallons in and it fired right up.

We call him to explain what we found - "sir the fuel tank was empty, you ran it out of gas".
He says "that's impossible, the little display that shows "miles to empty" said I had 2 miles left"



Dude, do the math.. if you're getting around 20 mpgs, with 2 miles "until empty" there's literally a half cup of fuel sloshing around in your tank. You try to drive up a hill and it stalls.. and you're surprised?

Common sense isn't very common

 

Yea it sure seems that way, no one uses their brain anymore.

 

It's like the old question of flying?

How far can this plane go after it runs out of fuel?



Answer: All the way to the scene of the crash.

 

I never stop, I just call in air support.

 

Toyota is very conservative with the warning light. 50 km is no problem, so I agree with the 20-40 miles estimate.

I never go below quarter normally but if it’s cold out and it’s nicer the next day I’ll drive with the light on, not worried.

 

I uh, find myself with the light on regularly. I can bet on at least 30 more miles when the light comes on and even when I top the tank off after that it's usually only 18-19 gallons so there is at least 2-3 gallons left in the tank. With roughly a 12 mpg average, probably could push 50 miles at least from when the light comes on.

 

I've decided that 'common sense' is just a collection of experiences (good and bad) and that people these days are just NOT getting the experience...

 

Last trip I did. I ran on 0 miles for about 5 miles. When I filled up it was a little under 19 gallons. So there was 2 to 2.5 gallons left.

 

.

 

Why folks go below a quarter I’ll never understand, like what is the point.

 

definitely 2-3 gallons left after light comes on (in my experience)

 

Back when I had my 5th generation 4Runner, I was driving through the middle of nowhere Wyoming and the fuel range was at 0, but the fuel light hadn’t come on yet, I probably went for like 10 miles before the light came on and another 8 before I managed to get to Lander.

I put like 21.2 gallons in the tank if I recall.

 

This thread has some useful info:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/gallons-in-the-tank-when-needle-at-1-4-line.123883/

"Since we have found that the gauge is fairly constant with our trucks...

Full tank =21 gal
3/4 line = 16 gal (down 5)
1/2 line = 12 gal (down 9)
1/4 line = 8 gal (down 13)
Light On = 4 gal (down 17)
E line = 3 gal (down 18)

If you zero the trip odometer when you FILL the tank, you can see your mileage as you drive...

FULL = 0 mile on odometer
3/4 line @ 80 miles (on odo.)= 16 mpg, @ 85 = 17 mpg, @ 90 = 18 mpg
1/2 line @ 144 miles = 16 mpg, @ 153 = 17 mpg, @ 162 = 18 mpg
1/4 line @ 208 miles = 16 mpg, @ 221 = 17 mpg, @ 234 = 18 mpg
Light On@ 272 miles = 16 mpg, @ 289 = 17 mpg, @ 306 = 18 mpg
E line @ 288 miles = 16 mpg, @ 306 = 17 mpg, @ 324 = 18 mpg"