I had two gallons of gas in a container in my car (from the lawnmower) on my way out today. I was just about on "E" so I decided to see if I could make it to the station near my office. I went 25 miles with the low fuel light on, and still had 1.5 gallons left in the tank. That 's about 60 miles once the light pops on. I might start ignoring it a little more.
My wife's GS300 has 2-3 gallons left when the low fuel lights comes on. That's a similar range - around 50 - 70 miles.
My car doesn't have a low fuel light.
I have driven my Dakota almost an additional 70 miles with the gas pump illuminated. I have a 15 gal tank on that truck and when it comes on, it seems to be about 2+ gallons left in the tank, as it takes 11-13 gal to fill.
The wife's Avalanche seems to get about 30-65 miles with the low fuel light on. Takes about 24 gallons to fill just as the light comes on.
I so wish the Miata had a low fuel light. And a siren. Only vehicle I have a problem with not noticing how low it is on gas.
My T100 has a 4 gallon reserve when the low fuel light comes on.
The XC90 I'm driving right now runs out the second the needle hits E...I don't know how long the light was on, though.
foxtrapper wrote: I so wish the Miata had a low fuel light. And a siren. Only vehicle I have a problem with not noticing how low it is on gas.
My Miata is like I once heard a guy describe owning a vintage demilitarized jet: "As soon as you're off the ground, you're out of gas." It's almost always driven in anger and gets low-mid-teens for fuel economy.
Both the main DDs have warning lights that come on at 1/8 of a tank, which is around 2-2.5 gallons.
Once heard someone comment - gas gauges are at their least reliable/accurate points at the exact time you need the highest level of accuracy. Floats on senders don't float when the tank is almost empty...
oldtin wrote: Once heard someone comment - gas gauges are at their least reliable/accurate points at the exact time you need the highest level of accuracy. Floats on senders don't float when the tank is almost empty...
Is there a chart that grades them on accuracy? Light turns on, I put in gas. I think its pretty accurate. As the tank gets lower, I'd say the light gets more accurate.
oldtin wrote: Once heard someone comment - gas gauges are at their least reliable/accurate points at the exact time you need the highest level of accuracy. Floats on senders don't float when the tank is almost empty...
My wife has a coworker who always puts gas in her car when it gets to half a tank because she firmly believes she gets better fuel economy on the first half of the tank. She absolutely will not be convinced that it's just a non-linear gas gauge.
oldtin wrote: Once heard someone comment - gas gauges are at their least reliable/accurate points at the exact time you need the highest level of accuracy. Floats on senders don't float when the tank is almost empty...
I've noticed that the gauges on all three of my VWs have kind of a logarithmic motion. Very slow from full to 1/2, a little faster to 1/4, and below that, I swear I think I see it move.
EDIT: Aside to Duke: Yep, that's what I'm talkin' bout. 
N Sperlo wrote:oldtin wrote: Once heard someone comment - gas gauges are at their least reliable/accurate points at the exact time you need the highest level of accuracy. Floats on senders don't float when the tank is almost empty...Is there a chart that grades them on accuracy? Light turns on, I put in gas. I think its pretty accurate. As the tank gets lower, I'd say the light gets *more* accurate.
No chart I know of - just when the tank is full or above, the float is pinned so the needle stays on F until you use enough for the float to move. At the bottom of travel, you still have gas, but not enough to keep the float up. So the gauge is accurate in the middle, but at the very end you get a light, and an empty gauge, but it isn't really empty if you still have a couple gallons left.
My cars are fairly non-linear as well. My MINI's gas gauge is electronic, it has 10 markings. I'll literally go 150+ miles before it drops the first mark. Then I'll go another 200 miles and use up 6 more.
I do my best never to let any of my cars get below 1/4 tank.
My van doesn't have have a gas light, but does have a check gauges light after it has stalled from fuel starvation.
Every car I've ever owned has a non-linear gas gauge, except one: my current Mustang. I can usually guess to within the gallon how much fuel I will be putting in when I fill up.
Since I have a gas guzzling SUV, my low fuel light comes on at an 1/8 of a tank. When I hit E, I'm pretty sure it only has a couple gallons left, I don't want to find out though.
Fuel gauges suck. But I don't want to try it without them.
The gauge in my 4runner drops to 3/4 tank within 25 miles of topping off. When the low fuel light comes on, I still drive a while and fill up. I can only ~13 gallons into a 17 gallon tank (I think). Also the guage is wildly inaccurate at times. Its a well documeted defect.
The low fuel light on my Nissan quit working years ago, but I had three gallons left when it came on. I could go 75 miles. Suddenly, the gauge jumped calibration and I am now empty when I hit 1/4 tank. Guess how I know that tidbit. Several times I have filled up with 15.3 to 15.5 gallons in a 15.7 gallon tank. It seems to be continuing to change its calibration.
But, God bless my little 56 VW 'vert that had the reserve hickie on the floor and no gauge.
No gas light in the Bonneville, it just says "Check Gages". My 79 Dually has no light, just when the gauge stops moving, you are about to run out.
The mercedes has a 24gallon tank with the low fuel light comes on with 6 gallons left, woe is me with the price of gas! I wonder why no one wants to buy these old mercedes.
EvanB wrote: My car doesn't have a low fuel light.
My van doesn't have a low fuel light either. Even worse, I've discovered by accident that when I'm running the fan, all the gauges read a little high. I've run empty when the dash said I had almost a quarter tank left.
Lucky for me, the 2 gas tank thing has saved me so far. It's disturbing to see such high engine temps and oil pressure too, until I realize the heat is on. Then I turn it off, and hold my breath while I suddenly lose 4 gallons of gas!
My B-van has a 35 gallon tank. Low fuel light came on yesterday at 1/8 tank mark. Took a little over 27 gallons to fill it. Nice to know in a worst case I'd still have close to a 90 mile range. Just hurts the wallet real bad when it gets that thirsty.
Back when I was a young fella driving back and forth to college, I would play what I called "gas gauge roulette." My car at the time (a '73 Mazda RX-2) had no warning light, but I remember the needle would routinely get somewhat below the "E" before I would take an exit and fuel up. It wasn't until just after graduation that I actually ran the car out of gas, and that was the first, last and only time that I will ever do so.
I've seen the low fuel light on my MPV a time or two, but mostly the vehicle stays above 1/4 tank.
My Samurai's is very non-linear, I think the 3/4 to full marks on the gauge correspond to the upper half of the tank being full. The 'rollas is pretty linear although I think it only has about 1gal of reserve once the light comes on solid.
Sky_Render wrote: Every car I've ever owned has a non-linear gas gauge, except one: my current Mustang. I can usually guess to within the gallon how much fuel I will be putting in when I fill up.
My '96 Volvo 850 is about the most linear one I have. The gauge doesn't have "F, 1/2, E". It has numbers on it, representing the number of gallons left. 18 is full, and so on. I usually wait until I get to 6 before I fill up, and sure 'nuff it takes about 12 gallons to fill. Don't know it's linear the whole way down, but it's accurate when it gets to 6.
EvanB wrote: My car doesn't have a low fuel light.
My car has one........but it normally only comes on to inform you that your fuel pump is currently consuming itself, even though there is still 4 gallons of fuel in the tank.......
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