Quote:
Originally Posted by Full_Throttle
can the scangauge really give fuel level? COOL! I will have to go check it out. is it a built in code or do you have to add it in?
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It doesn't give you the fuel level but it can estimate the amount of fuel remaining and calculate a Distance-to-Empty (DTE.) I run an ultra-gauge for now (Scangague will be here this week) and it does the same thing.
The way it works is like this: Your OBD computer can monitor fuel flow. Once you input a bunch of data into your Scangauge (calibrate distance using a GPS, calibrate fuel consumption based on a couple of tanks, input tank size) the gauge can then give you an estimate of how much fuel remains given your current MPG and thus your approximate DTE.
You can re-calibrate at every fill up but I have found that mine is pretty accurate. For example, yesterday after a weekend trip pulling the teardrop trailer in heavy winds, my average MPG calculated at 15.1. The DTE showed 78 miles to empty. Doing basic math would mean that at that point I had almost exactly 5 gallons left in the tank (78 miles / 15.1 MPG = 5.16 gallons left in the tank) which would mean that I should fill up with right at 13.5 gallons.
Filled up the tank and it took 13.56 gallons. So pretty darn accurate, I'd say. I normally never let it get below 30 miles DTE and really I like to fill up when it's around 50 miles DTE. At 17.5 mpg average that means I'm filling up with roughly 2.5 gallons in the tank, putting in about 15.8 to 16.1.