Correct summary of the gazillion fuel left when "Distance to Empty = 0" & "Fuel PIP flash" threads?

I've never been able to understand why any of this matters, maybe due to my spock-wired brain?

 

Spock, if forced to estimate, would say something like, "There are approximately 2.09999335892129876 gallons left ... approximately."

 

Puts me in mind, a very dedicated senior draftsman had just got himself a serious calculator, and was very impressed with accuracy, was not about to start rounding. There was a small plate needing to be welded in an inside corner of a wide flange beam, acting as a stop for a swinging arm. He worked out the angle of impact to the nth degree, and the checker kinda cracked up, it looked something like this:

 

While the full total capacity may be variable depending on how one tops off up that filler pipe, that variability should be relevant only to what is above the flashing pip and DTE=0.

Bob's Gen3 out-of-fuel tests and fuel-remaining guidelines were strictly for what is below the flashing pip and DTE=0.

Maybe also due to shorter trips, and your region's pattern of nearly flat fuel prices. No tourist trap, captive audience, or even 'convenience' price gouging where I've traveled. When I've been in Canada, there has been essentially no price incentive to wait until reaching cheaper gas ahead, except for when I'm headed back across the U.S. border*.

(*) An exception was the east side of Glacier National Park**. Those northern Montana tourist zone prices were actually higher than in neighboring Alberta.

(**) The U.S.'s Glacier N.P., contiguous with Canada's Waterton Lakes N.P.
Canada has its own Glacier N.P. elsewhere.

 

Yeah, I guess I treat the monetary side of it like buying mutual funds: just buy 'em on the 28th of each month, regardless of price, you win some, lose some, but in the long run it averages out.

 

i stop pumping at the first click (rounding of to nickel) and fill up when the pip starts flashing. it is always very close to 8 gallons (pip tank is smaller) and the difference makes the o/m spec for emergency fuel correct.

 

The manual says 1.6 gallons left when the last segment starts blinking, so probably at least that much. Bob was probably right---for his sample.
I quit paying any attention to the distance to empty gimmick when it showed zero before the blinking.
Absolute capacity might be about 11.9+2+0.5, I'll estimate, but will not attempt to use it all.

 

14.4 gallons to the filler neck? That would be the highest claim I've seen yet. And not usable for those of us who don't want to mess with the vapor control system, or deal with warming fuel expansion overflows. Too much of that was involuntarily imposed on me on the farm.

For those of us who stop at the first or second natural click of the gas station pumps, 11.9 gallons seems to be very close to the tank capacity to engine starvation.

 

Yes, I meant from very full to very empty. Absolute, not practical usable capacity. You don't need to worry about thermal expansion if you're about to burn off the potential excess before it warms.

Our 1966 F100 was very bad about spurting gasoline out the filler cap on warm days even when well below full if it was leaning toward that side a little.

 

THIS is the only "summary" that matters.

The last word in OCD is "disorder".

 

My aged Gen2 is now getting only 6.5 gal fill-up from flashing. Sounds like from the noise in the pipe it is actually filling up. So the question would be if the flexible bladder has shrunk or maybe the flashing light is coming on earlier.