Running of out gas test

Please enlighten us as to why it is bad.

 

Its best to NOT let your vehicle run out of fuel on purpose for "testing". The zero fuel remaining indicator is there to protect the fuel pump (with the gallon or two remaining) and the owner from making the assumption that completely emptying the tank is fine. The fuel actually cools and keeps the pump "lubed" as the petroleum circulates through it. Doing this for prolonged periods will unnecessarily heat up the pump. Doing this regularly or frequently is not advised.

 

Take heed:

Tacoma Died Randomly While Driving!

 

Do some research on it and see if it is something that you want to risk doing. IDGAF.

 

The manual states that there are 3.2G in the tank when the light comes on. I use a scangauge, and have the XGAUGE code for fuel level. It averages 3.1G when the light comes on for me ... so it's pretty close to the manual.

21.4G in the truck at first click (this figure assumes truck FLV sensor and gas station fuel pump gauge are accurate). I'm assuming the filler neck is holding a bit of that.

Fuel level averages:

18.4G at F line (86%)
14.7G at 3/4 line (68.7%)
10.8G at 1/2 line (50.5%)
6.7G at 1/4 line (31.3%)
3.1G at the light (14.5%)
X.XG at E line (X.X%) no reliable data for this yet

I recently filled up again, and got 21.6 gallons in the tank on a different pump. Gallons used on my trip gauges have confirmed this, as I already passed my F line checkpoint. I pay very close attention to this stuff, because long commutes are boring I've turned this into a bit of a game to keep my sanity.

 

I picked up the scangauge for mostly the same reason. LOL.

 

It has been REALLY accurate for me so far. I'm calibrated, and the last fill was only off by .04 gallons. I sure hope this level of accuracy repeats.

 

I don't see it doing any harm, but I don't see the upside either. Not my monkeys, not my circus. There are plenty of things in vehicles that are there for convenience (ie not running out of gas) and most take them at face value.
For example, generally airbags won't go off in a frontal impact under a certain speed (10-20 km/h) ... If someone wants to test that out, I'd definitely be in to see the results! Strictly for statistical purposes of course

 

Yeah, it took me 4 fillups to adjust speedo difference, GPS, and the truck's gauge after the hypertech recalibration. I'm off by the same. Did you leave the "fuel cutoff" value at the default 24 in the adv. settings?

 

Personally, I do not see the point of running completely out of fuel ... there is always going to be something in there sloshing around. You will stall before completely running dry in most cases.

Say you run out of fuel on a flat road, and then expect those results to repeat in a moment of desperation while climbing a 12% grade to the next gas station. Oops!

 

I read in the manual that 4 above TPS (no throttle) is the ideal setting, so I have it at 21. It's actually 15 when I'm in neutral, but 17 while coasting in any gear. 17 is the common situation, so I went with 4 above that.

 

I changed a fuel pump on a 11 yr old chevy. Not a spec of sediment in the tank

 

My 23-24 year old Toyota pickup, had the fuel tank changed in that last summer. The only thing that was in there was the little bit of metal that fell in from the rusted out hole in the top of it. The rest of it looked immaculate. I actually could not believe it.

 

Another pump swap story...

I swapped my fuel pump in my previous 2000 S-10 at ~145k. The in-tank filter sock was clear and barely tan colored when it was changed out. Put another Delphi pump in it. Just fill up at reputable stations and make sure the pump nozzles don't have visible grit on it.

 

The problem with this is you don't know how close you are to the listed capacity when the pump shuts off.

 

It seemed to bottom at E.

Sounds about like what I get, depending on whether or not my drive cycle is around town / mixed / or pure highway I actually can get a pretty reasonable idea of my MPG by looking at total miles at the 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 hashes.

Fuel light usually comes on at about 375 mixed / 400 pure highway, lower if I've just been driving around town or wheeling.

 

This is absolutely true, however there is a generous protection on a lot of fuel pumps (I think most all of them now probably) in the form of a little "jug" around the fuel pump that is the absolute last thing to empty.

Here's an example from a GM because it was the best picture I could find:



See, I was totally bugging out when I ran my tank down to ~.1 gallon left and I frantically googled up everything I could possibly find about fuel pumps, thinking I had just totally boned mine. Turns out that's not the case, as engineers are smarter than they seem. That cup is your last line of defense for the pump's cooling- as long as you have fuel in it, the pump is going to be cooled.

So yes, to run completely out of gas and have the pump sucking air is no good. However, the old "driving at under 1/4 tank is going to kill the pump" thing is a myth, at least on cars that have their fuel pump in this sort of assembly... I think maybe it applied to earlier model cars that didn't incorporate this design.

 

I ran mine down to when it said 1mile left. That was when I first got it. Dont recall how much I put back in it.

 

Found a pic that pertains to your model. This is the pump for your 4 banger... Similar design with the casing. Can see the cup or "jug" as you mentioned, the float on the sending unit, in-tank wire harness, motor/ pump unit, and the rest of the main cap/ feed assembly.

 

Can you share or link to that code? Don't recall seeing that on the SC list of options........... Or is it a 3rd gen output only (there to support the display)