2014 low fuel light questions

[Ezlife45]

Hello everyone, I was hoping you may be able to help me with my situation.

I have a 2WD 2014 Limited that currently is only getting very low usage. Mainly because my job has a cooling tower that rains crap all over the parking lot and I don't want my brand new vehicle getting a messed up paint job.

My problem is, my low fuel light does not come on when I feel it should. It doesn't come on until I have about 20 miles left (per the computer). By this time the needle is just about touching the E on my fuel gauge. Every other car I've had with a light came on at about 1/8 of a tank where I had easily 50+ miles before I ran out of gas.

1. Where do some of you others with 5th gens have your low fuel light come on?

2. Does anyone know if this can be better adjusted?

Thanks,

 

[medelstein169]

Work in nuclear? Never dip below 1/2

 

[1engineer]

I do not depend on my low fuel light so if and where it comes on is unimportant. Between 1/2 and 1/4 of a tank is low enough. Gives me plenty of time to find and get gas.

 

[Ezlife45]

Work in nuclear? Never dip below 1/2

I work in a refinery and the cooling tower residue etches glass and paint jobs so my new toy is not going there anytime soon.

I also drive about 600 miles a week, fortunately I can afford the gas but I try to maximize seat time over stopping at gas stations so I tend to use the most I can out of each tank.

For my other vehicles, I have a "safe" limit that brings me down to about 50-60 miles to empty. My low fuel light on everything else still leaves me with enough gas to get home.

 

[desertred]

I rarely see my low level warning light, opting to use my range of travel as a better estimate as to the amount of gas remaining. I pretty much know how far I can travel (on average) with a tank of gas and use the distance traveled as a better indicator. When I get down to around 40-60 miles remaining, I fill up. Shoot, one of my vehicles doesn't even have a low level indicator light.

 

[mace.]

I don't pay attention as to what point the low fuel light comes on but I do know there is still a fair amount of fuel when it does. I recently had to drive about 25 miles after my distance to empty hit 0. When I filled up the pump shut off at 21.4 gallons. This is with running 285s and a lift so your mileage may vary.

 

[badhabits]

What you should do is run a test. Fill up the tank and run it down until the light comes on then fill up again. This will give you how much fuel you have used. The tank capacity is 24 gallons, this will give you a better idea of how much fuel is left than the on board computer. Mine comes on with 4 gallons left.
Edit: [MENTION=101428]Bilbo[/MENTION] is right the tank capacity is 23 gallons. Change to 3 gallons left when light comes on. MY BAD

:yo:

 

[narow37]

^^^ I agree, I have a 2014 LE 4X4 and my light comes on with about 25 miles left on the computer. When I fill up, I put about 18.5 to 19 gallons in.

 

[Biggcrisp]

My light comes on at “E” with a range of almost zero miles left and a fuel fill-up, under this condition, only uses 19.5 gallons. I use the extra 4 gallon "cushion" as a reserve for peace of mind even though I usually fill-up somewhere below the ¼ tank mark.

 

[Bilbo]

The fuel tank capacity is 23.0 gallons (87.0 liters), according to the Owners Manual and the 4Runner Brochure.

My cruising range display ("estimated maximum distance that can be driven with the quantity of fuel remaining") seems to be calculated on a twenty gallon capacity, so at zero cruising range I would have three gallons left. Not that I often run it down to that extent.

I have to say that a cruising range of 400+ miles with my '14 seems like a feast after years with my 3rd generation range of 300 miles.

 

[1000MPH]

Okay, I'm a nerd...
I've recorded almost every time I've filled up with the gas light on...

Miles	Gasoline
451	19.795
438	19.582
449	19.488
407	19.183
405	20.168
348	19.055
396	20.105
356	19.289
435	19.617
390	19.670
396	20.620
412	18.180
437	20.080

 

[Magnetic4R]

^ oh wow, wish I could get that much range each time I fill up. The most and last time I got 396 miles was my first gas tank leaving the dealer. After that it drop down to 360

I avg about 20gal of use every time the lights goes on. Averaging about 350 miles every fill up.

 

[Mooney]

Okay, I'm a nerd...
I've recorded almost every time I've filled up with the gas light on...

Miles	Gasoline
451	19.795
438	19.582
449	19.488
407	19.183
405	20.168
348	19.055
396	20.105
356	19.289
435	19.617
390	19.670
396	20.620
412	18.180
437	20.080

23 mpg!!!!!! arty:

 

[Ezlife45]

Thanks everyone for the responses, It seems that my vehicle is behaving like several others. If I remember correctly the last time I filled up at close to 0 miles left I only pumped 21-22 gallons which lines up with other responses.

 

[JayceeP]

DTE is going to vary based upon how the computer is calculating your fuel consumption. I also don't think it is recommended you regularly let your tank to that low either.

Having said that, let it to to the E light a couple of times and fill up. Subtract from the tank's capacity, and voila!

I reset my fuel economy every tank so I have come to realize it is reasonably accurate. I am usually pretty accurate in guesstimating how much fuel I have burned based upon my distance driven and my computer's consumption figure for that tank.

Using all three of these methods should give you reasonable accuracy in calculating your range left.

 

[NoDak]

ha, good thing he doesn't live up north. your nuts if you let it get below 1/4 during the winter months.

the warden is worse, she starts freaking out at 1/2 tank during the winter months and bugs the crap out of me to fill her Tacoma.

 

[enkrypt3d]

Time to get an XPEL Ultimate clear bra! I'm sure I'll be getting one if I ever park it outside... Dont want bird droppings or the palm tree sap / seeds to eat away at the paint!

 

[JayceeP]

As long as you clean the bird crap off within a day, you'll be fine.... provided you actually do wax your vehicle from time to time and wash the vehicle regularly (I ONR every couple of weeks at a minimum). I always have a bottle of Optimum No Rinse mixed to quick detailer strength for these sort of applications. I usually just use one of my more worn out microfibres, and just toss it out after cleaning the crap off. I have never had an issue with etching from bugs/bird crap/road grime etc on the 4Runner so far. However, I wouldn't want to have to clean bird crap off my paint everyday either.

 

[cbreze]

My lo fuel light comes on just above the "E". I've checked this to see what was left at that point and found it consistently left me with 3 gallons, so I had anywhere from 50 to 60 miles left to go find some gas. BTW, when the lo light comnes on my dash readout is usually zero or very close to zero.
I never let it go below 1/4 tank as a rule but needed to know this info in case of an emergency. My Tacoma was set the exact same at 3 gallons left , light comes on. I DID have a situation once in the Tacoma where this info came in very handy and I was able to get gas before a complete runout. I notice with the 4 runner that whenever I do a longer road trip the dash readout computer resets itself then eventually resets again as I take shorter trips. I don't worry much about it one way or the other. The fuel light is my go to final word on get gas NOW! That is if the low gauge hasn't gotten my attention for some reason:doh:

 

[JayceeP]

So I let my tank run until the E light came on after 530km (330mi) of city/suburban driving. I got 13.8L/100km (17mpg) and my low fuel light came on with about 45km (28mi) to empty on the computer display.

When I filled up, it took 73L (19.3 gal) so it appears I had 14L (3.7 gal) of fuel left based upon an 87L tank. Based on my consumption I could have driven another 100km/60mi assuming the engine would run until the last few drops.