Ran the truck out of gas coming home from work.

M

Magnum

New member
No not on purpose, for the most part my gas gauge can go on empty and still have a bunch of gas in it. Well not this time, it showed 1/4 tank of gas left. Cue the truck cutting out, i was like wth. Pull over check oil, make sure nothing is leaking, engine isn't over heating. Figured i would get home and figure it out there. Started going again and it completely cuts out, still shows 1/4 tank of gas this can't be. Finally determined it had to be out of gas even though it shows i had a 1/4 tank left.

Got someone to bring me half a tank of gas so i could get to gas station. Ended up putting in 16.5 gallons. So looks like my tank is 17 gallons max? Anyway since then it looks like the gas gauge is back to its wackyness again, shows empty, i go and fill up and i only put in 13 gallons. Damn thing is screwing with me!
 
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Most def should get that fixed. Or do like i do on my Harley and just go by miliage. when it hits a certian milage on the trip..go fill it up
 
echo4tango said:
Most def should get that fixed. Or do like i do on my Harley and just go by miliage. when it hits a certian milage on the trip..go fill it up
Click to expand...

my first car i had was mileage only, gas gauge worked for like a year out of the 6 years i had it. Going by mileage doesn't bother me much.
 
The filler tube is extends too far into the tank, causing back pressure which will shut off the pump before the tank is full. If you just keep filling little bit at a time, it will hold 18 gallons. This problem cannot be fixed without dropping the gas tank. The fuel pump and sending unit must be removed in order to gain access to the inside of the tank, where the filler tube extension is located. This was a common practice in Jeeps as well, and was done by companies to comply with smaller fuel capacity constraints while not having to duplicate parts. There are also well documented problems with the fuel sending units on 3rd gens. When you are in there fixing it... you can shorten the tube inside the tank.

Don't worry. These are perfectly normal PITA problems.
 
Even if the tank is "empty" you won't be able to fill it up with it's 18 gallon capacity since the fuel pump doesn't sit on the very bottom of the tank leaving a little unuseable fuel (at least a gallon) and most fillup with 16-17 at the most. Also don't fill up the filler neck and don't go past one or two clicks since you need room for air to expand in the tank in hot temps and not allowing for the air to expand causes fuel to be forced out the charcoal canister vapor collector and will ruin the canister and they aren't cheap to replace. Squeezing another gallon into the tank isn't going to help anything except get you another 15-20mpgs in that tank.

When my guage reads empty and the fuel light has been on for a while I fillup 15-16 gallons on average.
 
RonMAIDEN said:
Even if the tank is "empty" you won't be able to fill it up with it's 18 gallon capacity since the fuel pump doesn't sit on the very bottom of the tank leaving a little unuseable fuel (at least a gallon) and most fillup with 16-17 at the most. Also don't fill up the filler neck and don't go past one or two clicks since you need room for air to expand in the tank in hot temps and not allowing for the air to expand causes fuel to be forced out the charcoal canister vapor collector and will ruin the canister and they aren't cheap to replace. Squeezing another gallon into the tank isn't going to help anything except get you another 15-20mpgs in that tank.

When my guage reads empty and the fuel light has been on for a while I fillup 15-16 gallons on average.
Click to expand...

I put 17.6 in my truck once...:lol:
that was an interesting night...
 
"except get you another 15-20mpgs in that tank."

I'd love to get another 15-20 MPG's per tank!!!!!

However, I suspect you meant "miles per tank"!
 
honestly, I have never pumped more than 14 gallons in my tank. I just figured the fuel light must come on way early.

Before I got on T4R I figured it must be a 15-16 gallon tank. Now I know I can drive a little farther before I fill up
 
Fuel gauge is fishy.

I've driven it down past the E before, had an extra gallon with me cuz I was testing how far I could go. 18.2 gallons went in.

The gas gauge is annoying though, I pull into a parking spot quickly and shut the car off. Later when getting in, I all of a sudden have a full tank. Do the same in reverse, I've got no fuel at all.

That and when my light comes on, I have 4 gallons left!

I believe all 99-00 owners experience this and it's due to a faulty module or something, I forget. Whatever it is, it requires taking the gas tank out and it's just too much work.

You learn to get used to it. I bet the 1/4 of a tank was just the whole parking thing. (same with inclines, hills, driveways, etc. park on a steep enough hill, looks like you have a different level of gas)
 
I think we should turn this into a little game :)

0814092026.jpg~original
 
ChildrenOfBodom said:
Fuel gauge is fishy.

I've driven it down past the E before, had an extra gallon with me cuz I was testing how far I could go. 18.2 gallons went in.

The gas gauge is annoying though, I pull into a parking spot quickly and shut the car off. Later when getting in, I all of a sudden have a full tank. Do the same in reverse, I've got no fuel at all.

That and when my light comes on, I have 4 gallons left!

I believe all 99-00 owners experience this and it's due to a faulty module or something, I forget. Whatever it is, it requires taking the gas tank out and it's just too much work.

You learn to get used to it. I bet the 1/4 of a tank was just the whole parking thing. (same with inclines, hills, driveways, etc. park on a steep enough hill, looks like you have a different level of gas)
Click to expand...

I park in a level parking lot at work all day :shrug I also get the fuel gauge stays full for like 3 days then goes to what it actually is and all the other wackyness. But it always came on when it had like 3 gallons left and i knew i could drive for another 2 gallons worth. This was the first time it actually was way off showing i had gas and i really had none.

I saw the thread on fixing it and how much it costs and really have no desire to do that. As long as i watch the mileage i am ok.
 
Ya, it is very strange, it seems this problem comes up rather often... and for the record, I drove in under the vehicles own power when I filled up with that 17.7 gallons.

Elton, $50 is pretty good for me, last summer it was around $95 to fill up!
 
RonMAIDEN said:
Even if the tank is "empty" you won't be able to fill it up with it's 18 gallon capacity since the fuel pump doesn't sit on the very bottom of the tank leaving a little unuseable fuel (at least a gallon) and most fillup with 16-17 at the most. Also don't fill up the filler neck and don't go past one or two clicks since you need room for air to expand in the tank in hot temps and not allowing for the air to expand causes fuel to be forced out the charcoal canister vapor collector and will ruin the canister and they aren't cheap to replace. Squeezing another gallon into the tank isn't going to help anything except get you another 15-20mpgs in that tank.

When my guage reads empty and the fuel light has been on for a while I fillup 15-16 gallons on average.
Click to expand...

Not a problem unless you are planning on leaving it near the station. The only cases where this caused damage was where the tank was topped off then allowed to sit with a very full tank during widely varying temperature conditions.

BTW, a charcoal canister is relatively easy to replace and not very expensive if you work on your own junk.

Should not be an issue for most folks who have to drive some miles back home after fueling.

It is also true that a tank "holding" 18 gallons should not be confused with "you have 18 gallons before your truck shuts off" or "you can fill it with 18 gallons." The pickup unit dangles a short distance above the bottom of the tank... and there is some variation from vehicle to vehicle. Mine happens to sit high enough to where I run out of fuel after just over 17 gallons consumed.... which pisses me off every time my fuel light turns on.


I have "overfilled" more times than I can count for long trips out in the middle of nowhere. Rule of thumb, don't do it unless you are going somewhere following the fuel up. If you are just bumping around town, whats the point?
 
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RonMAIDEN said:
Even if the tank is "empty" you won't be able to fill it up with it's 18 gallon capacity since the fuel pump doesn't sit on the very bottom of the tank leaving a little unuseable fuel (at least a gallon) and most fillup with 16-17 at the most. Also don't fill up the filler neck and don't go past one or two clicks since you need room for air to expand in the tank in hot temps and not allowing for the air to expand causes fuel to be forced out the charcoal canister vapor collector and will ruin the canister and they aren't cheap to replace. Squeezing another gallon into the tank isn't going to help anything except get you another 15-20mpgs in that tank.

When my guage reads empty and the fuel light has been on for a while I fillup 15-16 gallons on average.
Click to expand...
Ive put 18.6 US gallons in mine once, it almost stalled a block away from the station. I always top it off as much as possible, never had any issues, never will. If you dont top it off to the brim then your mpg's wont ever be accurate.
 
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Martinjmpr said:
I'll have to check my log book when I get home but I'm pretty sure I put in 17.9 gallons (or maybe it was 17.8) coming back from Billings in January.
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UPDATE: Dangit, I checked my log book and it was only 17.75 that I put in!

However, today I put in 16.98 and the trip odo was at 305.0. The light came on around 393 or so which I found surprising - in the past it's come on much earlier. In fact, a couple of months ago my low fuel light came on around 220 miles and I drove for another 40 miles with the low fuel light on, and when I filled up I think I only put about 15.5 gallons in, meaning that the low fuel light came on when I still had roughly 4.5 gallons, or about a quarter of a tank!

Speaking of MPG, who else corrects their miles driven for bigger tires? I'm running 265/85/16s on my '99 SR5. I have a GPS so on my last long trip, I set both the trip odometer and the GPS trip odometer to zero at the same point and made sure the GPS was on the whole time. I calculated a 3.02% error in my trip odo due to the oversized tires (that is, because my tires were bigger than stock, it was under-reporting my miles by 3.02%.) I wrote that number down on my log book and now when I figure mileage, I take the odometer reading, multiply by 1.032, and then divide that by the number of gallons.

If you have larger than stock tires, you may be getting better MPG than you think. If I Had just divided 305 by 16.98, I would have gotten 17.96mpg. But my actual miles driven was not 305, it was 314.76 (305 x 1.032) so my actual MPG was 18.53 - very respectable, especially considering that this was mostly city/suburban driving with very little freeway driving.
 
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Mr. Leary said:
The filler tube is extends too far into the tank, causing back pressure which will shut off the pump before the tank is full. If you just keep filling little bit at a time, it will hold 18 gallons. This problem cannot be fixed without dropping the gas tank. The fuel pump and sending unit must be removed in order to gain access to the inside of the tank, where the filler tube extension is located. This was a common practice in Jeeps as well, and was done by companies to comply with smaller fuel capacity constraints while not having to duplicate parts. There are also well documented problems with the fuel sending units on 3rd gens. When you are in there fixing it... you can shorten the tube inside the tank.

Don't worry. These are perfectly normal PITA problems.
Click to expand...

If there is a problem with back pressure just use a vented gas cap. It will give you a check engine light, but just switch the caps and clear the code before you get it smogged.

I've had to mess with the fuel gauges on all my other cars. On my truck the metal float filled with gas and sank. On my Cad the float was made of cork and disentigrated and on my Buick the sender just wore out and I have dropped that thing more times than I care to count. Filled my 4runner to the brim recently getting the gas out of the buick.
 
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