Once the fuel gauge bar thing is on E, the tank still has 2 gallons of gas left?

It is important to know your fuel range. I drive 126 miles round trip to/from work. Gas is cheaper in my home town than anywhere else on my route. So if the fuel gauge reads at least 2 bars then I know there is enough in the tank to make the round trip. From my experience, filling up shortly after the last bar starts to flash, the pump clicks around 9 gallons which means there was about 2.9 gallons of gas still in the tank (11.9 tank capacity for a G3) when the last bar started to flash. That's about 120-130 miles of driving.

 

FWIW, I once ran my 2005 Prius out of gas. I had gone approximately 60 miles between flashing pip and empty. I didn't do this specifically to test this feature - more it was just that filling had been inconvenient given a tight schedule. Unfortunately, I paid the price on the schedule part - thankfully, I was close to a gas station when that happened.

I never ran my 2007 out, but given that over the last couple of years it would typically start flashing at me at around 375 miles, and I could only fill about 8 gallons on average, I suspected that either the tank had "shrunk" (bladder wasn't flexing as effectively) or the gauge was going out of calibration and there was really more gas in there than it let on.

 

[Except for that one incident on the very first tank of the very first car I personally owned, with the needle still above 'E', ...]

I have made sure that the initial forays into the lower reaches of the fuel gauge, on every car new to me, are performed at times when schedules are a non-issue. And weather is good. And locations where traffic is light or nearly absent.

Unfortunately, the spouse is not so good at remembering the multiple indicators and warnings and rules for particular cars. In my absence, she tried to apply a single Prius rule to the Subaru, dismissing all the other Subaru indicators. Her passenger was getting increasingly nervous about how far they had gone beyond all those other warnings, and finally nagged her into stopping for a couple gallons (priced higher than near home). Based on the subsequent numbers, I later thanked that passenger for being a thorn in her side, because by my earlier tests, not only would the Subaru not have got home, I'm not sure why it hadn't already run dry.

 

I normally get gas in my G3 when it gets down to two bars and it normally takes 8.4 to 8.7 gallons to fill. I don't pay much attention to the mileage because that all depends on how manny MPG your averaging for that tank of gas and that depends on weather, driving style, hilly or level terrain, winter blend or summer blend gas. If you have to stop and get 5 gallons of gas that cost .50 more per gallon before you get home thats $2.50. It will cost a lot more if you run out.

 

Agreed. There are multiple factors that affect your fuel range. I generally don't go too long without a fill up when the last bar starts to flash. The problem is noticing it in the G3. Very non-descripted.

 

When I first started my 2003 Prius fuel studies, I had seen the occasional 'short tank.' But after running out of gas about three dozen times, I noticed the tank was more consistent. My speculation is a completely empty tank allows the bladder to fully-seat in the tank but this is just my musings.

Bob Wilson

 

I wasn't aware that the gen1 had a bladder.

 

Don't drive too long when the gauge is at E. It's not fun to run out of fuel. Also, the engine may not start if you have less than half a gallon or so left.

 

This was pretty annoying on my 1,138-mile one-day trip. I expected to be filling up 10 gallons at a time, but the gauge kept tell me to stop and only put in 8.X gallons, which meant I had to stop more often during the trip.

I'll run it to blinking the next time I do a trip like that. Wouldn't do that regularly, but big highway trips are a different entity.

 

I have found that my Gen4 (2016) and my Gen4 AWDe (2020) there is about 1 gallon above the full mark (if given a good fill) and 1 gallon below the empty mark. Fair warning:

1. Don't rely on travelling on battery if you run out of gas. You won't get far and risk needing to have your HV battery recharged $$$$$
2. My AWDe only has a 10 gallon (vs 12 gallons in my 2016 Prius) tank to make room for the rear axle motor.

JeffD

 

I've never run out but I've consistently driven 80-90 miles after fuel light or pip blinking on my 2013 and 2016 priuses. Usually I put it 9-10 gallons telling me there was still a gallon or 2 left.

I speculate Toyota aims for a ~100 mile reserve when the gas light comes on. My 2017 tundra with a 38 gallon tank has the light turn on with about 9 or 10 gallons left in the tank. And had a similar range after gas light on the 2006 Camry hybrid

 

Thank you @jdenenberg and @MalachyNG .

That's disheartening. I would much rather have accurate gauges than to be treated like an idiot.

And that's an incredible amount of fuel still in the tank on the Tundra to put the light on. Granted, Tundras don't get as far with mileage, but that's just a given understanding for owners.

And with the AWD, I would have never thought to look up on Toyota's website to see that the fuel capacity changed between FWD and AWD.

 

I think it's cool they could add a whole rear drive motor and gearing and axles and only have to give up 2 gallons worth of volume for it!

 

Yeah it's only conditioning me to be risky with my fuel and I'm certain it will come back to haunt me again. I've run out of fuel a few times with my first motorcycle but it didn't have a gas gauge and I was bad about resetting the trip meter after filling up.

The Tundra gets 14-17 MPG so 10 gallons doesn't get you that far before you even consider towing

 

You also lose the spare tire well under the foam in the cargo area. My 2016 Four just needed to remove some foam and the donut from my 2013 fit right in. I think the two had a spare? I really don't get why they only had the goop for the higher trims. Two Eco I guess I can understand removing as much weight as possible (and losing the rear wiper) but not the rest, especially if you're going to fill that space with a thicker foam board. At least give us some extra storage space if you're going to take out the spare.

 

Yes, the power electronics that control the rear axle motor is where the spare tire would be under the hatch deck in the AWDe.

JeffD

 

I made a study of it in daylight on nice weather days in town. Later for gasoline testing, running the tank dry accelerated the results. But then I’m a curious engineer.

Bob Wilson

 

I know on the Tundra you really do need some gas left in the tank for the fuel pump and it cools something else too that if you do go completely dry you may end up needing a tow and some expensive repairs. Did you have any consequences from running your car dry like that?

 

I had no problems other than Toyota likes to set a software switch to stop attempts to start car. But I found disconnecting and reconnecting the 12 V ground would do a power-on reset and clear the expensive ‘must tow’ flag.

Bob Wilson