Gas tank completely empty when at the E line?

I have ran mine 45 miles with the "dummy light" on, and made it to a gas station!

 

No,each quarter of a tank may not be the same... but with a quarter tank left (the most important quarter)... You still have 5.25 gallons (let's just say 5). If the worst mileage you get is 16, that is 80 miles. Now, that assumes your tank only has 5.25 gallons when the gauge shows 1/4 tank. WE know, that Toyota has 2-3 gallons in 'reserve' when the needle is on empty (~4 gallons when the light comes on).

So, when the light comes on, you can still go 64 miles (at 16 mpg)... OR, when the needle touches the E line, you can still go 40 miles... My needle was below the E line and it still had 2.5 gallons in the tank.

However, not all Toyotas are the same... the above figures are purely for entertainment only, and do not constitute an official guarantee of the mileage you will get (my attorney made me say that)!

 

I was with friend when he ran out of gas in an S10. This was about 15 years ago. The truck was new, and he had it only about a month/6 weeks when this happened. We called someone to bring a couple gallon of gas, but the truck would not start. He called the dealership/road help (what ever it was) and the walked him threw some wierd "inserting the key in and turning it on and off" thing, to reset the computer. But the truck still did not start. He had it towed and the pump was blown. My buddy lied and said it just died, and never said he ran out of gas because of the "rummor" that you could cause damage to the pump. The dealership said never run it dry, keep at least a gallon or so in the tank...the pump need the fuel for cooling. Don't know if that is for "all" pumps or just chevys, or just sellect chevy years.

 

OK, this may sound crasy, but has anyone one else had this happen to them...getting better gas milage if you fill the tank when it's about 1/2 to 3/4 FULL.

I am pretty good at watching my driving habbits, and am pretty consistant, so that is a small factor.

but I have noticed my MPG is higher if I fill her up when the tank is at 1/2 full or better. If I wait to fill her up when she is below 1/2 my milage is lower.

The only thing I can think of is since there is more air in the tank there is more evaporation. But that just sorta sounds silly too.

And yes, I am calculating the milage on how many miles I drove divided by how many gallons I put in, and not off the gas guage. I just know some dingleling will question that! LOL Also, I fill it up!!! I mean right to the top!!!
This way there is no margin for error on how much gas was actually used. And depenting on the station, I can get between 2 and 2.5 gallons in there extra after the pump auto stops filling.

 

hahaha it took me forever to get the pic on there. my stats look a lot better and are easier to read now guys.

Edit: good call on teh 2.5 gals...thats what i usually can get past the click.

 

I typically don't let my tank get below half. Seriously.

 

man you are way off...you will not have 5.25 gals left at 1/4 youll have 7. there is 3 or so gals from the 1/4 to the e-light and then 4 after the light. If you use my avg mpg and divide my 1/4 tank miles it comes out to around 3 gals. its pretty consistent. my average 1/4 tank numbers are in the mid5 0s and my avg gal intake is around 17 which tells me there is about 3 gals in there + teh 4 after the light.

 

@ Blackwidow and gjbonner;
I also "top it off" and have been able to get roughly 3 more gallons after the auto shut off. I hit 120 miles before it drops below the "full" mark!

 

when i first bought my truck i could get 130 or so but not with the tires now yeah i used to "top it off" but for my little experiment it just made it easier to go to the click and then one more. i used to fill it till you could see the gas at the brim and another drop would make it spill

When i feel like i have enough data i will go to the first click and then start collecting data on how many gallons go in afterward. should be interesting.

 

you guys realize when you let the auto shutoff determine when your tank is full, its likely to be different every time. Depending on the station, the amount of gas the station has in their tanks, and they actual speed at which pumps will pump gas, faster pumps create more turbulence in the gas tank and will trip the auto off earlier. i found this out one day filling up my civic, it was pumping so slow it ended up putting about 12.5 gallons in an 11 gallon tank

 

I like your chart and research amigo... But, you did misundersatnd my post. When I said 1/4 tank has 5.25 gallons, that IS what 1/4 tank of a 21 gallon tank is (21/4=5.25). You were thinking when the needle on the GAUGE shows you at 1/4 full...

Anyway, I like your chart... It shows how the first quarter tank is real slow to drop, and the last quarter holds the reserve so there is at least 3 gallons in there that don't show on the gauge.

Yesterday, when I filled up, my needle was just resting above the 1/4 line and I had almost 225 miles (224.3) on the trip odometer from the last fill up... Remember my safe rule: 300 per tank, 225 on 3/4 tank...
I topped off with 13.4 gallons (7.6 still in tank)... My mileage was 16.7 yesterday.

Thanks for the fun!

 

X2

 

question to those who don't let the tank go below the half mark: Do you just fill up every day? Because I thought that there is a 20 gallon (or 21) tank in the vehicle so that you have enough to last more than a day or two (depending on how much you drive per day).

 

i have ran mine pretty close to the E line but haven't gone past yet!!

 

So this graph proves what I always thought. The first half of the tank is bigger than the second half :-D

 

We sometimes argue about silly things don't we. lol.
I try and tank up when I notice I am at a 1/4 tank for the above stated reason. And during hurricane season I have been known to fill up while damn near while full.

 

This is why we "top it off" to the point we can see it!

 

most of the time I wait till the light is on before I even think of filling up, but when gas prices are an arm and a leg I'll fill up at half a tank so it doesn't hurt as bad, even though I have to fill up twice as often.

I've ran out of gas five times that I can think of in an old ford ranger I had 20 years ago with no troubles, because it didn't have a fuel gauge and I'd try to go by the odometer but sometimes I'd push it to far.

Twice I ran out right in front of the gas station and just coasted up to the pump (after some tire squealing turning action). once I was about half a mile away but it was all downhill, I just had to blow through a stop sign, once a kind man stopped and carried me to a gas station 20 miles away and back to my truck, and once an old farmer gave me a gallon of gas, I just had to help him find his lost piglets first.

 

So, some of you say you fill it completely up, has anyone ever had a problem with "saturating the charcoal canister"? I still don't know if that is something to be aware of (as far as topping off the tank), or if it is even a real problem. Supposedly, the charcoal canister is there to capture gas fumes rather than let them escape to the atmosphere, so I would think that even if it did "saturate" it would eventually un-saturate itself, because that's what it does to the fumes it captures, it just keeps them in the fuel system (either returning the fumes to the tank, or feeding them into the engine along with the regular fuel supply), so if it got saturated it would sooner or later take of itself after the fuel level went down some. So, I am wondering if this is a real, documented problem or not. Anyone have any insight?

 

to get my E-light and every 1/4 tank data I wait till the first click and then let it settle for about 10 seconds just for that reason. the only reason it click off is because it was at the top of the tank and the fuel starts to fill up the line to the tank faster than it can get rid of the air pockets at the top of the tank. if you let it settle and then give it one more go you'll be about the same every time. you're right though never go to the first click.

As you can see by my numbers it does pretty good for being exact. the 2 times that my light came on within a mile of the station it gave me the exact same amount (17 gals) the other times i was maybe 3-5 miles out at the most and they both came out to 17.2 so i think im doing pretty good with my technique.

soon i will go back to the Top Off method and document how much more gallons it takes compared to the method i am using currently. from the past when i used to do this it always seemed to be 2-3 gals but id like to get data for it. I wold like to go to the first click wait a few seconds and then do one more click and then document how much fuel i can add after that. 2-3 was based off of the first click so i think the numbers will be a little different but not much. we'll see.

and i fill up at the same gas station every time so i think i have pretty exact data to go off of when you're comparing flow.