How many gallons in a reserve tank when the last pip start blinking?

Is this any different than your previous cars?

All but one of my previous cars had similar gauge inaccuracy. This is caused by a mixture of low-cost sensing elements, and a desire to be conservative so that drivers won't get caught by surprise unless they are completely unobservant of the fuel gauge.

My only car with a smaller fuel gauge error, unfortunately had its small error in the other direction. On the very first tank, on this very first car I actually owned, it ran out of gas with the needle slightly above E.

Those other 3 gallons are still down there, and you can still use most of that supply if you are careful about keeping track of how much is being used. But if you mess up because of the uncertainties and run out of fuel, don't blame the car maker.

 

I've run far 3 times after the last pip starts blinking and have gone 70,77 and 110 miles on the 110mi I put back in 10.8 gallons I avg low 50's below 50F and high 50's above 75F

 

The cooler the outside temps are, the less I'd trust to any sort of "reserve"...

In fact, during winter, I hate to get below a quarter tank - ever.

 

oh ya... Rene; face it... that "out of nowhere midwestern blizzard prepared for anything" mindset is hard to shake!!

 

True dat!!

 

Filling up at three bars? That's crazy. I try to make it to one if I can. I assumed one bar meant one gallon since there's about ten bars and my tank holds just a little more than that.

 

Actually that is the safest method. Most of us refill at 2 bars, some do it at one bar and the extremely foolhardy go till the light blinks.

Because you do not know exactly how much fuel you have left once the light starts to blink, most people just call it good at 2 bars. At that point you may be able to fit 7-9 gallons in the tank. My average fill is 7-8ga after reaching 2 pips (bars). I've ran it to the blinking light a few times and never put more than 9ga in.

 

my general driving is less than 30 miles a day so i always wait until the blinking bar. on my last tank, i think i went a "few days on the blink" before it was convenient to get gas. that is how i have always done it and i have never run out of gas.

i think its a question of just knowing your car, knowing how you drive and knowing where you need to go and what to do....

or

i lead a boring and predictable life!!

 

I normally fill up any time my gas gauge reads less than half full. We don't have year 'round gas stations where I live, and in the summer the local station charges tourist prices for gas. As a result, I always need to plan on a pretty good drive to get gas, and I don't want to make a special trip for it, so I fill up when I am in the city.

On the highway where gas stations are plentiful, I will refill when I get down to one pip.

Tom

 

This is my experience as well.

I drive all the way to the blinking pip most of the time, summer and winter (I live in MA and is around 20 now), and have not yet run out in the 42k I've driven so far.

Maybe there is significant car-to-car variation?

 

^ Agreed. May not work for everyone, but I routinely drive 30-50 miles past when the last pip starts blinking. I generally add about 9 gallons which means approximately 2.5 gallons were left in the tank.

I can understand Toyota wanting to error on the side of safety, but it's so far over that one is left to guessing (or hoping to calculate) how much fuel is left. Why? Why not make it accurate. Then I would know that when the last pip flashes, it's time for fuel. As it stands, I figure I can go about 100 miles further. Seems silly and frustrating to me.

 

How would you make a flexible bladder tank "be accurate"? If the amount of fuel added per fillup is variable I don't see how you could ever know how many miles you have left on the tank. You could try to use a distance till empty program likes some cars have but those never seem to be very accurate.

 

The bladder would need to be flexible enough to reliably conform to the shape of the tank. It would be possible to do, but I would much rather not have a bladder (in my gas tank ), just like 99% of the cars in the world don't.

A distance to empty program wouldn't work with a Gen II bladder equipped car because you never know where empty really is until you are there.

 

Your results are more accurate than my last non-hybrid, and as accurate as the two before that. None were Toyotas.

Only my very first car (not the earlier parent's cars) had a more accurate gauge. Unfortunately, its smaller error was in the other direction, which was discovered the hard way on the very first tank.

This 'error' seems to be a widespread industry practice.

 

well you cant make the bladder work any better. i have over 100,000 miles on Gen 2s average fill amount; 8.9 gallons with only 33 of 228 fillups over 10 gals none at 11 gallons. and then my "bladderless" Gen 3, average fillup is 9.4 gallons but that includes 18 of 33 over 10 gallons and 5 over 11 gallons.

AND

i do not top off AT ANY TIME! and that is a habit i got into about 1985 or so.

keep in mind that if not for planned trips, getting gas only at Costco, etc, i would most likely have all but a few fillups on my 2010 at more than 10 gallons. (my first tank from dealer i refilled at 3.2 gallons which really killed my average)

 

just reminded of this!! have to tell you. last summer we decided to take trip to beach so off to Ocean Shores we went which about 75 miles or so. well we get there and for the first time ever, its so fricking hot we cant handle too much of it.

the whole time, my SO is whining that we should have stopped for gas which would be out of the question since Costco was not conveniently located in the area.

so then we leave and just as we are passing Hoquiam a witch (Rae Vynn) is upset that we did not visit so just as we were passing her house, the blinking bar comes on, but that was no the way TO THE BEACH 20 miles away. so we go to the beach with blinking bar. hang out then return passing SEVERAL gas stations on the way back...

now knowing Rene's rath, i was unwilling to get gas in her town afraid of what she may have done with it. so we headed to our nearest Costco which was in Tumwater a mere 55 miles away.

i actually wanted to go to the Costco in Lacey which was just another 12 miles down the road, but my SO was within punching distance of me so i thought better of it!!

 

So, what you are saying, Dave, is that I caused your blinking pip, and I may have hexed the gas stations in Hoquiam (and Aberdeen too?), so you were forced to drive to Tumwater's Costco to avoid me? :huh:

Hmm.

I'll be getting back to you on this. Oh, btw, which do you prefer - gardens, trees, or swamps?

 

Dang. Last month I bought my 2008 in Aberdeen and drove it home to Seatac. I wish I had known everything down there was messed up

 

well uhh, coincidences do happen i guess...

 

Excuse me. What consequences seem not worth to wait till tank is empty? And who had them? All I read is only rumours and I never had any problems with it. People start to enjoy your car and stop worrying about everything ENJOY your car, measure what you want to measure, play with what you want but smartly.