Gas light - how many miles...

[Silvergrowler]

When the gas light comes on in my 06 v6 the computer says I have 30 miles left. Is this accurate? I like to know for my own reference.

 

[Buckles]

When the gas light comes on in my 06 v6 the computer says I have 30 miles left. Is this accurate? I like to know for my own reference.

Mine comes on as soon as I hit 25 miles left. I have let it get down to about 16 miles before filling up. Even at 16 miles left, I was able to put 20.4 gallons in it. So there was still about 2.5 left in the tank which would have gotten me more than 16 miles.

Honestly I dont like to chance it. I usually fill up when I hit 50 to empty.

 

[Jeff S.]

The longest I went was 30 (or maybe 40, it was awhile ago) PAST 0, and even then I was only able to fill-up 21.5 gallons, and that was squeezing after the fill-stop.

The low-gas light is extremely conservative, at least in my 4Runner.

However, 99% of my driving is highway.

 

[Code2]

same as jeff above I have pushed it past 0 for 45 miles then i said it was time to get gas

 

[Ask10]

My V8 took 20.3 gallons when the indicator said 0 miles left, so I reckon I had 50 miles to go on the freeway.

 

[MikeInNH]

When the gas light comes on in my 06 v6 the computer says I have 30 miles left. Is this accurate?

The computers are NOT accurate. You can NOT go by it.

Last time this happened to me....The computer said I had 40 miles left when the gas light came on. I drove 60. Those systems are so inaccurate. I really don't know why they even have them in cars.

 

[88mustanggt]

they are not very accurate but they are consistent. last night on the way home i hit 0 miles to go about 3 or 4 miles before i got to my gas station. it took 21.8 gallons. i feel they are a good tool and are there for a reason. do you want it to be so perfect that when it says 0 miles left the car dies right then and there. i sure dont, but it tells you not to push it much further. plus at that point you are sucking up all the nasty shlt in the bottom of your tank.

 

[Bossman]

Why did I think of this Seinfeld episode when I read this question

Kramer and the car salesman driving on "E"

Kramer test drives car on Seinfeld - YouTube

 

[RunnerAK]

Definitely not accurate at all. When my onboard display says I have 0 miles left, my Ultragauge (which is pretty much spot on) shows that I still have about 3 gallons in the tank, or 40-60 miles left.

 

[Gatafly]

They are meant to not be accurate and be conservative so people actually fill up before running out and damaging a fuel pump.

 

[Sporin]

My on-board says 25-30 when the light comes on. Those things are notoriously unreliable though, so inaccurate that I wonder why manufacturers insist on using them (my Prius has it as well).

 

[Mytoy4]

Good to know. I always hit 0 and panic trying to find the nearest station.

 

[MikeInNH]

they are not very accurate but they are consistent.

Actually they aren't consistent. If you drive the same route every day in the same weather conditions...then yes they can be consistent.

When I got my 4runner in 05...the computer gas mileage readings was off by about 10%. Then I took a long trip...and it was off by 5%. Then came back from that long trip and it was off by almost 20%. I gave up using it after that.

 

[JB.]

When the gas light comes on in my 06 v6 the computer says I have 30 miles left. Is this accurate? I like to know for my own reference.

Better to think gallons as the miles to go is based on recent mpg.

The light comes on at about 19.5 gallons used, so about 3.5 gallons left.

More

 

[JB.]

Actually they aren't consistent.

When I got my 4runner in 05...the computer gas mileage readings was off by about 10%. Then I took a long trip...and it was off by 5%. Then came back from that long trip and it was off by almost 20%. I gave up using it after that.

Guess you got a bad unit, although I don't know why you would draw that conclusion with a sample of 3 and then extrapolate to all other 4runners.

Mine is within 2% of the adjusted mpg at least two thirds of the time and within 3% about 85-90% of the time.

Gas pump shut-off valves probably create at least as much volatility in the numbers as the mpg display does.

 

[Martinjmpr]

19.5 sounds about right. I had mine come on last weekend when we were camping at a lake that was 20 miles from the nearest gas station. Fortunately I also have a Scangauge II that I keep calibrated and it indicated a DTE (Distance to Empty) of 39 miles when the dashboard computer said 20.

Drove into town, 21 or so miles, and filled up with 20.2 gallons, so I had more than 2.5 gallons left even 20 miles after the low fuel light went on.

I think the longest I've gone with the low fuel light is 30 miles. Even then I start to get nervous.

The "range" distance is not a measure of how far you can go, but it's probably a good reference to how far you SHOULD go. IOW, when you're getting down to where it shows 10 miles or less left, it's probably time to gas up.

 

[88mustanggt]

Guess you got a bad unit, although I don't know why you would draw that conclusion with a sample of 3 and then extrapolate to all other 4runners.

Mine is within 2% of the adjusted mpg at least two thirds of the time and within 3% about 85-90% of the time.

Gas pump shut-off valves probably create at least as much volatility in the numbers as the mpg display does.

EXACTLY, i use fulley and it is consistently off about the same amount every time. when the truck is loaded down to go camping long hill climbs and highway driving it is even closer