Where on the gas gauge is truly empty?

I did that myself one time. I ended up passing out, waking up in a ditch, and the tank was full... I don't know who did it.

 

I've been very lucky my entire life apparently. I'm "that guy" that only fills up when it gets to the point of possibly running out. I've done it my entire life and have never blown a fuel pump or clogged a filter. ~263k on my last 4Runner.

If it was soooo harmful I'm sure we'd have at least a handful of guys on here with blown/clogged pumps from running the tank dry. If I ever experienced any issues I'd probably adjust my refueling habits, but since I haven't...

 

I had a Camry that the fuel pump went out on me and I would do the same run it to almost empty. I was told that it probably over heated and that the pump used the fuel to help keep the pump cold??? Beats me just what I was told

 

I always fill mine up and I get about 320 miles to a tank in my 07 TRD 4x4 quad cab. But this past week I went way below the last mark on the gauge and still made it. I put 18.3 gallons in it also lol

 

I've only got close once. The light went on in Colorado Springs and I made it to brighton. I can't remember exactly how much I had left, but it was somewhere around a gallon. I really hate putting ethanol gas in my truck, hense waiting until I made it home to fill up. I really babied it the whole way home, 55 mph and well below 2k rpms. I got over 500 miles on that tank.
Most of the rest of the time, I rarely let it get much below 3/4 to 5/8. Etoh free gas, under 60 mph and 2k rmps, you can easily get 21-23.

 

Lets say it costs 40 bucks to fill up your tank from "driving on fumes" to full. And you only fill it up half way each time. That means every other week you have a positive balance of $20. If you wanted to go through the effort of submitting it to a savings account that pulled, say 1.25% compounded daily. You'd earn about 12 cents of interest over the duration of the year.

Like I said, its not material. But it actually could earn you money.

 

You also have wasted mileage driving too and from gas stations unless it's 100% completely on your way to or from work and that gas station on your way is the cheapest gas. The cheapest gas for me is BJs and it's about five miles out of the way but saves me about twenty five cents a gallon. No way drive five miles over and over again and it adds up. Pennies but still money all the same.

 

I try not to let mine go below about 1/4, but mostly because I'm 25 miles from the nearest gas Station, and I REALLY don't want the truck coughing and quitting on the road into town a 3 A.M. some morning because I forgot to fill it!

 

wow

 

If I lived that far from gas, I'd have a 5gal can on hand with STA-BIL in it, just change it out every 6 months to keep it fresh.

 

When/if the low fuel light comes on, I have at least 50 miles left. I keep track of gas mileage, so I always know how much I need at any given time. I keep gas stored at home, or I use gps to find it closer if needed.

You should keep at least 1/4 tank, to keep the fuel pump cool.

 

Driving on North Carolina 64 on my way back home. As I pulled up to the Exxon station in tarboro, I was on dead e. My fill up was 19.003 gallons. And that was me trying to top it off a little bit as well. By my calculations, that gives me about a gallon once it hit dead. E. Which on the highway for me is about 20 mi per gallon. And, in this part of the state, you could be more than 20 miles away from a gas station. I was just happy there was one close by.

 

The tank is 21 gallons. Most I've ever pumped was a little over 20 gallons. The fuel light typically turns on when there's ~4 gallons left in the tank.

 

E is at 1/8 tank?
Why? Just ask the guys that ran out of gas with the gauge showing ABOVE E and no light on.

 

Sound strategy: At the height of the pandemic, given all the uncertainty: 1/2 tank was my drop-dead point. When gas started heading to the $5.00 mark, I changed my strategy to a fill-up at 3/4 tank. Two reasons: at 20 mpg that gave me at least 300 miles of range to get anywhere I needed to with a safety cushion. But more importantly: it meant no more $75 fill-ups for me: it happened to me once when I let it slide to 1/4 tank. I know the tank is 21 gals: I just call it 20 so it's 5 gals per quarter: $100 with a tank below 1/4 with a safety margin for a full tank fill up...easier to figure and do the math.

Now that we're back to around +- $3.00/gal around here, I have fallen back to the 1/2 tank threshold.

 

When Hondas come off the truck they have 3 gallons of gas..needle is at or slightly below empty

 

Once you understand that the sending unit is nothing more than a potentiometer, you’ll understand why you should probably fill up at or before 1/8 tank.

 

@ 1/2 a tank, I should probably fill up - rarely do I let it get below that mark
I don't like the way the truck feels with less than 1/2 a tank [weight on the rear] and by 1/4 of a tank, it will piss me off enough to fill up
+ it is 12 miles to the gas station from where I live and I ain't gonna mess around with that outta/gas/station is hella far

The Tacoma gas gauge is better than the one in my car - my 128I will act like all is well until 1/2 a tank and then drop like a rock.
In both, I reset the trip each time I get gas/calculate MPG so I know how far I can safely push it, if need be

 

Of course we all know the 2nd gen gas gauge is a nebulous meter...
There's no movement for the first ~80 miles
1/2 tank is 200 miles/
1/4 tank is 260 miles
Light comes on at 325 miles in winter 360 miles in summer
When the light comes on you have 3 to 4 gallons left. This is 60-80 miles in the summer and 45-60 miles in the winter.
How do I know all this? Because for the last 2 years I have set my cruise at exactly 70mph instead of 80mph and realized what a difference that makes for MPG.
2010 4 Cyl manual access cab.
I have the gas down to a science because my commute is 78 miles a day..and 78x5= 380 miles. In the summer I have zero issues getting a full weeks commute on a tank...in the winter it's a VERY dicey gamble to go for 380 when your light comes on at 325ish and you still have to drive 1/2 way to work AND home...so i'll throw the gas can with a gallon in it in the truck when I decide I'm going to push it and see...
The biggest impact on MPG is Temperature and winter gas...I DO NOT warm up the truck more than 90 seconds a day before driving...I don't use a/c much...it's all seasonal variations as my driving doesn't vary.
I literally have every fill up/mpg recorded for my life of ownership..and In Feb 2022 I replaced the spark plugs (for the first time) when I hit 16mpg on a fill up..
You can see in 2016 my commute went from 9 miles a day to almost 80 as my work got moved..and that really hurt my "I'll get a truck to replace my honda...I don't have a long commute" idea
Basically driving slower in the summer gives you EXCELLENT MPG...but slower in the winter just puts you at less than ideal MPG but doesn't give the same boost the summer gas does

 

I can't even