Thank you guys again for your input!
I never had the low fuel light come up on the dash so far. The lowest I went was 50 km left to go and the needle was above the "E". Now that you told me that the light comes on at 0 km / mi, it makes total sense to me now.
My other car would throw the low fuel light and the computer would still show 95 km to go. The needle would still be above the "E" mark.
So, to sum it up:
1) the low fuel will light up when the computer shows 0 km /mi
2) there is an avg. of 2 gallons left in the tank when the light comes up
Correct?
To answer your first question, its roughly 19~20-ish gallons when the "E" or "0 Miles" indicator comes on. I regularly drive about 20~40miles past "empty" and fill up around 21~22gallons, the fuel capacity is 23, this is probably because Toyota recommends you do not run your tank lower than about 1/4, so they built in at least a couple gallons at "Empty" to preserve the life of the in-tank fuel pump and filter and also prevent running the truck dry by accident.
The second question is a little easier. When you check the oil of a vehicle (this is general rule of thumb, some cars are in fact different) Run the vehicle for a couple seconds, turn it off. Pull the dipstick out, wipe it down, wait about 10~20seconds (to let oil splash settle a little,) then put the dipstick all the way in and pull it out. What you are looking for is the longest continious band of oil sheen on the dipstick. i.e. no spotty coverage, but completely covered. This will give you the general location of the oil level. You want it somewhere between middle and Max.
Thanks for the tip, I will try this method too. Looking at the pictures taken today (posted below), it looks like the rule works =) However, I remember that I had spotty areas even below the "max" mark. But I don't remember if the engine was warm.
Quick question - the way always I understood it, after running the engine, there is still some amount of oil left on different engine components and walls. I will refer to it as a "missing" amount. And therefore the amount of the oil in the pan is not "complete".
1) I was wondering how significant is that "missing" amount? Will it be noticeable on the dipstick scale?
2) Is the "missing" amount different when the engine is started for 10-30 seconds vs after a long drive?
3) How much time is required to get the oil drip into the pan?
I don't have an answer for Q2, just thought I'd let you know you're not the only one!... I did my first oil change a while back after buying my used 4Runner last October and I had the same issue trying to get an accurate reading. I'm from Edmonton, too, btw.
I am very glad to hear that! I mean that you're from Edmonton too! We'll need to keep in touch if we wanted to order parts online. We could save on shipping costs. =))
Regarding the oil reading - check my pictures below!
When you pull the dipstick out it's curved. On the convex side the oil is often smeared in a way that makes it look too full, but the concave side usually shows a good, clean mark. Are you trying to read only one side?
JB - thanks a lot for the tip! Here are some pictures of today's oil check!
Dipstick - side A:
Dipstick - side B:
Your tip worked like a charm!
Also, I can see what BlackWorksInc meant by "longest continuous oil band". In the first pic it stops right at max mark!
Thank you guys!
