Fuel Left

[Howie411]

Is there there actually more fuel then listed? Just about ready to get my first fill up ever and I'm down to 45 miles. The car temperature gauge has now changed into a gas pump and says low fuel. In the manual it says, When fuel level becomes low (50 miles) the indicator will change to bright yellow. When fuel level comes critically low (0 miles) to empty) the level will change to red. I'm pretty sure my gauge has been the same color at least since 100 miles left to empty. And what good does it turning red when I can't go anymore do me? :)

 

 

By the way its cool how all the gas stations pop up on the NAV system when your fuel is low.

[junehhan]

Maybe it is just me, but I think it is a good thing to fill up way before the low fuel light ever comes on. Running your vehicle often with very little fuel could decrease the life of your fuel pump. This is because fuel pumps these days are submerged in fuel in the fuel tank and rely on this to help keep it cool. I have only filled up my new Hybrid once, but I think I will maintain the practice of filling up when the guage shows 75-100 miles left in the tank.

 

My understanding is that this is one of the reasons why fuel guages tend to be calibrated to give you a heart attack when even at E, it might still have a gallon or two left.

[WAFFH]

My understanding is that this is one of the reasons why fuel guages tend to be calibrated to give you a heart attack when even at E, it might still have a gallon or two left.

 

Finally bought my first tank of gas a few days ago. The "miles til empty" showed 11 miles and I put in 15.655 gallons, so I must have had a little less than 2 gallons left.

 

Most of my trips had been short ones so I was never driving very long at any one time. I normally fill up before the car gets that low on fuel, but wanted to see how the FFH gas guage compared to my previous car.

[VonoreTn]

Right on. Plus at low fuel levels you may have fuel or not have fuel depending on the slant of the vehicle. My 2000 Explorer that I used to have would run out of gas on the 50 mile warning if I turned it off after backing out of the garage and onto my very steep up hill sloped driveway.

 

I was grateful that I had the option to roll back into the garage, where it was flat, and start over.

 

Maybe it is just me, but I think it is a good thing to fill up way before the low fuel light ever comes on. Running your vehicle often with very little fuel could decrease the life of your fuel pump. This is because fuel pumps these days are submerged in fuel in the fuel tank and rely on this to help keep it cool. I have only filled up my new Hybrid once, but I think I will maintain the practice of filling up when the guage shows 75-100 miles left in the tank.

 

My understanding is that this is one of the reasons why fuel guages tend to be calibrated to give you a heart attack when even at E, it might still have a gallon or two left.

[callawassie]

Howie,

the direct answer to your question is Yes, there is more fuel left than you think.

My son borrowed the car for a weekend trip. He came home with it showing 0 miles to empty.

The next morning it took 16.155 gallons, so almost a full gallon of gas remaining.

 

I agree with other posts that this is NOT something you need to practice....just fill up when low.

[Howie411]

Howie,

the direct answer to your question is Yes, there is more fuel left than you think.

My son borrowed the car for a weekend trip. He came home with it showing 0 miles to empty.

The next morning it took 16.155 gallons, so almost a full gallon of gas remaining.

 

I agree with other posts that this is NOT something you need to practice....just fill up when low.

 

 

Was nice of him to leave you an empty tank. :) I just filled my car up today for the first time, went 532 miles. The car said I had 22 miles left until E, and I put in 14.948 gallons, so that means there was almost 2.5 gallons left, I wish they would update the software to be a bit more accurate.

[akirby]

It keeps a reserve for safety even when it reads E and 0 miles to empty. It's done on purpose. You also can't use every last drop of fuel in the fuel tank capacity.

[Howie411]

Well it doesn't need to say 0 miles to empty. It could say like now running on reserve, 5 miles to empty or whatever. If it has 2 gallons of reserve, that's almost 80 miles, which with any car, thats a lot.

[junehhan]

Well it doesn't need to say 0 miles to empty. It could say like now running on reserve, 5 miles to empty or whatever. If it has 2 gallons of reserve, that's almost 80 miles, which with any car, thats a lot.

 

 

In a society where "maybe" means yes and "no" means maybe, that probably wouldn't be a wise move. I bet it would probably result in even more people running out of fuel while driving which is something that manufacturers do not want to happen.

[jberger03]

I not only drive until it says "0" until empty, I drive another 40-60 miles. when it says 0, I usually have almost 2 gallons left, which really makes me good for almost 70-80 mores miles that could be driven on that tank. I don't know, I guess it feels better to fill up at 650 miles driven than in the 500 mile range.

[DaveM]

I not only drive until it says "0" until empty, I drive another 40-60 miles. when it says 0, I usually have almost 2 gallons left, which really makes me good for almost 70-80 mores miles that could be driven on that tank. I don't know, I guess it feels better to fill up at 650 miles driven than in the 500 mile range.

and you could be running on borrowed time. Not only could it run out of gas one of these times due to pressure in the tank giving the gauge a false reading but there are two other important reasons for not running the tank dry. 1. The fuel pump is located in the tank and uses the fuel in the tank to keep it cool. Continuously getting the pump hot due to lack of fuel will shorten the life of the pump and it will cost you big bucks to have the tank dropped and a new pump installed. 2. No matter how careful you are you can always get junk in the bottom of the tank do to filling tank just after fuel truck makes delivery and stirs up the junk in the gas station tank and this junk normally settles to the bottom of your tank and causes no problems but running it dry could pump the junk into your engine. Do what you want but don't say you haven't been warned.

[junehhan]

and you could be running on borrowed time. Not only could it run out of gas one of these times due to pressure in the tank giving the gauge a false reading but there are two other important reasons for not running the tank dry. 1. The fuel pump is located in the tank and uses the fuel in the tank to keep it cool. Continuously getting the pump hot due to lack of fuel will shorten the life of the pump and it will cost you big bucks to have the tank dropped and a new pump installed. 2. No matter how careful you are you can always get junk in the bottom of the tank do to filling tank just after fuel truck makes delivery and stirs up the junk in the gas station tank and this junk normally settles to the bottom of your tank and causes no problems but running it dry could pump the junk into your engine. Do what you want but don't say you haven't been warned.

 

 

Yup, and not to mention that the fuel filter is no longer serviceable on our vehicles(as well as most modern cars these days). It is integrated with the fuel pump, which means that clogging it up will also cost you HUGE dollars as you may need to replace the fuel pump. I am sure it isn't much of a problem now, but eventually fuel tanks do build up stuff that settles at the bottom as you make more and more trips to the fueling station.

[lrymal]

...I am sure it isn't much of a problem now, but eventually fuel tanks do build up stuff that settles at the bottom as you make more and more trips to the fueling station...

On GM trucks, all the filter system (inside the tank) does is keep the particles from going into the fuel lines like any other filter, but doesn't trap them. Rather they wash away and exit to the bottom of the tank. The inlet system is not at the bottom but hovers above the bottom. Not sure what it is like with the Ford setup.

[aceinc]

I have always run my tanks as close to empty as possible before filling them. I have never had any problems with fuel pumps, My last bunch of cars have been new Honda's, a Volvo, a Lexus, Chrysler, Chevy, and Pontiacs.

 

I run them low on fuel in order to reduce my time and frequency in gas stations.

 

Regarding sucking up sludge from the bottom of the fuel tank, that doesn't make sense to me. The reason it doesn't make sense is that I would expect that the fuel inlet would be pretty darn close to the bottom of the fuel tank in order to be able to get the very last drop. If that is the case anything that settles there gets sucked up right away.

 

Paul

[rfruth]

This how much fuel should be in the tank debate cracks me up, I had a Nissan p/u that went more than 230,000 miles with less than a quarter of a tank most of its life, never once had a fuel system problem (I'm cheap, what can I say ?) - YMMV

[FtLewis2002]

On GM trucks, all the filter system (inside the tank) does is keep the particles from going into the fuel lines like any other filter, but doesn't trap them. Rather they wash away and exit to the bottom of the tank. The inlet system is not at the bottom but hovers above the bottom. Not sure what it is like with the Ford setup.

 

Ford is the same way. They have been for quite a few years.

[Howie411]

So I just had my 2nd tank fill up ever, this time I took my tank down to 41 miles to empty. I never saw the color of the fuel left on the indicator change to bright yellow, its the same color (a light yellow) from full to when I made my fill-up. Has anyone seen this ever change color?

[SRACP]

I've run mine to 0 several times. When I fill it up it only had .6 left. The question I have is when it runs out of gas will it run just on the HV battery?

[lolder]

Don't try to find out, it's bad for the battery. It probably won't let it run any lower than it usually does when you coax it in EV mode. The 2010 generation 3 Prius has reduced the EV mode distance after fuel exhaustion for this reason.

[Spiffster]

The manual states that the car will run in EV mode, as long as the battery supplies power, if you run out of fuel. This feature is most likely meant for emergencies only and I would question the intelligence of those who would put it to the test.