Gas Gauge Deception.

jdmidwest

jdmidwest

New member
My 99 Yota boned me for the first time since I have owned it. Driving down the road heading to work at the gunshow today and I lost power. I picked out a place to land and checked gauges before engine died. No check engine, gas gauge read a little more than 1/4 tank. I was stumped and feared the worst. Fuel pump, fuel filter, timing belt that is original at 209k best that I can tell. It would not start, turned over fine. Made a few calls and waited for a buddy to come to the rescue.

While I waited and watched flocks of geese heading back north, I got to thinking. Filled up on a trip last Sunday over 3 hours away. Drove to work all week and made a few extra trips to the gunshow 20 miles one way. Checked the trip odometer and it read 352, divided by average mpg of 20, should have used 17.6 gallons, I have a 17 gal tank. Called buddy and told him to bring a gas can.

Put gas in, fired up and went down the road. Low gas light came on and gauge was reading barely above empty. I added 15.6 gallons at the station and everything was fine.

Is this a common problem with this model?
 
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Unfortunately, for quite a few '99 and '00 model 4Runners this is a common problem. I actually just had this problem fixed at my local dealership.
Below is the actual TSB from Toyota addressing the issue and how to fix it:

Toyota Service Bulletin (TSB) EL010-00 Title: Fuel Gauge Inaccuracy

FYI, for a '99 SR5 your fuel tank should hold 18.5 gallons. Having this problem fixed allows you to reach that full capacity.
It's not cheap to get this fixed since you need to replace a electronic plate in your dash and get a new fuel sensor, plus a few odds and ends. Many guys that expereince this issue exclusively use the trip odometer and keep track of how many miles they can go.

Hope that clarifies the issue for you.
 
jdmidwest said:
My 99 Yota boned me for the first time since I have owned it. Driving down the road heading to work at the gunshow today and I lost power. I picked out a place to land and checked gauges before engine died. No check engine, gas gauge read a little more than 1/4 tank. I was stumped and feared the worst. Fuel pump, fuel filter, timing belt that is original at 209k best that I can tell. It would not start, turned over fine. Made a few calls and waited for a buddy to come to the rescue.

While I waited and watched flocks of geese heading back north, I got to thinking. Filled up on a trip last Sunday over 3 hours away. Drove to work all week and made a few extra trips to the gunshow 20 miles one way. Checked the trip odometer and it read 352, divided by average mpg of 20, should have used 17.6 gallons, I have a 17 gal tank. Called buddy and told him to bring a gas can.

Put gas in, fired up and went down the road. Low gas light came on and gauge was reading barely above empty. I added 15.6 gallons at the station and everything was fine.

Is this a common problem with this model?
Click to expand...

Gas gauge problems are extremely common. Mine is just the opposite: It will show me as empty and the low fuel light on at ~250 miles when there is still about 3 gallons in the tank.

Unless you want to spend ~$500 on getting the fuel gauge replaced, best thing to do is just use the trip meter as the gas gauge. I typically go about 250 in city driving and up to 300 on the highway.
 
It sounds like the floater inside your tank might have gotten stuck in a higher position than what it should have read. If it happens again, I'd pull the fuel pump and replace the entire assembly.

Martinjmpr said:
It will show me as empty and the low fuel light on at ~250 miles when there is still about 3 gallons in the tank.
Click to expand...
Most vehicles are setup like this....so people wont run out of gas.
 
How long have you owned it? Once you own it long enough you learn the fuel guage. I get roughly 15-17mpg in the city and I alway get 230-250 a tank and when I fill up my guage is just below E and when i fill up it's usually about a 15-16 gallon fillup which really is the norm.
 
You have an 18.5 gallon tank. Check you tank is it damaged? because if it is then where the fuel is sucked out may be higher than the gas level in the tank, and also you could put some dry-gas in the tank, you could have some water in there and that could be what made it shut off.
 
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RonMAIDEN said:
How long have you owned it? Once you own it long enough you learn the fuel guage. I get roughly 15-17mpg in the city and I alway get 230-250 a tank and when I fill up my guage is just below E and when i fill up it's usually about a 15-16 gallon fillup which really is the norm.
Click to expand...

I have owned it for a year now, had not had any problems. Low fuel light has functioned as designed and not had any problems. I have a friend that tends to abuse the light and drive on it for a longer time than I ever would. Gas mileage is consistant 20-21 mpg avg, less when I pull boats or have yaks on top. This time, it was showing 1/4 tank and I was not even worried. After the fact, the low fuel came on and glared at me till I made it to the station.

I think the Canadian version is 17 gallons if I read it right. Mine was born and bred in Canada and brought across the border for someone outside of ST Louis.
 
The gf's 2002 4Runner's gas gauge is far from reliable. Many times she'll start off in the morning with 3/4 of a tank. After driving into town, about 8 miles, it'll read 1/4 of a tank. When she parks it at work and goes to leave, it'll show empty with no gas light. For such a simple problem, too much work and money is involved in fixing it. We simply use the trip meter and once the trip shows between 250 and 300, it gets filled up.
 
Well, it got me again the other day, run out of gas with the gauge reading between 1/2 and 1/4. Started up a hill and it sputtered and died, it restarted and I made it into a driveway. Had to have some gas delivered.

I tried the reset with no improvements. The second tone on the test is the higher pitched tone that states to restart the test. Where are the sensors for the gauge, esp the Inclinometer?
 
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