So I ran out of gas today!....

[jeeper1]

Good thing I decided to bring my jerry can just incase I stopped in the middle of the road.

I just got the truck on Monday and PO had it at half a tank. I had to run to LA and decided to fill up before the trip just incase. I filled 11.5 gallons and didnt top off. I ran it this week and today, I ran out at 251 miles. It shuddered on me at the stop light. Good thing it was sort of a grade going down which allowed me to roll to the side. Best thing was the gas station was across the street. So I ran over filled the can and put about a half gallon into the tank just to start her up and drive up to the gas station to fill. Filled 15.5 gallons. Pulling 15.6 mpg does any one get that much to a full tank? (251 miles)

Question would be does a 99 have a gas light that turns on? I was not notified that I was running on reserve. Also, what do you guys get on a full tank driving city and hwy. I'm gonna be honest and say that I didnt drive it like a granny on this tank. I opened her up most of the time, its hard getting used to it coming from a V8 which is still parked in the driveway. All my specs
are on my sig. Just thought I would share.

Thanks, and what do you guys get?

 

[the great him]

thats really good milage if as you say you have been liking the skinny pedal. i think you only "ran out" or had the sputter cause you were on a down hill, the pick up and sending unit for the gauge are twards the back of the tank just over half way back so it will stop picking up fuel going down hill before it will going up. yes you should have a fuel light that comes on warning you you are low

 

[MAD 69]

There are several/many threads on this topic.
You got 251 miles out of a tank but you don't know exactly how many gallons you put in it correct? That has to be it because I can't see you running bone dry at only 251, many of us can go 300 before the light goes on. You also said you did a lot of HWY miles....?

We have 18.5 gallon tanks in our Runners.

 

[GottaBeTRD]

250 is good? i know this has been discussed before but i usually get 250 on crappy winter gas (majority of city driving some HWY) Ill hit 300 no prob now that the good stuff is back before i get the light.

Im doing a lot of HWY driving now and I-15 blows its not a lot of goin fast or anyhitng i did the math last time and (divide miles by gallons) it it said i averaged 22 mpg's.

 

[Clemsonfan15]

I never come close to 300 and honestly don't see how anybody does. I don't drive aggressively at all. I thought I was doing good when I got over 260 yesterday.

I was close to running out yesterday, but luckily had a few miles left I think. Ended up putting about 15.7 gallons in.

You should have had a light come on though.

 

[JLRSR5]

I"m with Clemsonfan^^^ I hardly ever get over 265 on a tank,i fill up to around 14.5-15.5 gallons and I drive pretty conservative, but i do have a yakima cargo basket i hardly ever take off don't know how much that affects me tho.

 

[Blanche_Carolyn]

I regularly get 20 mpg, never less, with mixed driving. I'm pretty surprised to hear that y'all aren't getting better mileage! Sounds like you really lucked out being so close to the gas station though.

 

[the great him]

i have hit 280+ before, and thats if i push it after the light comes on... i do have a rack and over sized tires, but no armor... and every time i do the calculations im only getting like 17mpg and its a mix, but for the last 4 or so months ive also been trying to be very careful about how i drive and being easy on the throttle. ive done a full tune up, plugs, wires, fuel filter, o2 sensor, cleaned my K&N ect. i do have an auto so i know i wont get as good as you guys with the 5spd but still anything over 20mpg is killer and amazing. also when i have got the 280+ i have put in like 16-18 gallons of fuel when filling up the time before, i have over topped it off just to see how far i could go on one tank...

 

[jeeper1]

Yeah! Good thing the gas station was right next to us but on the other side of the island. The light never came on for me. It started to sputter and then it shut off. i didnt try to restart when it died it just rolled and I pulled her over. I just walked over to the station and filled up the can. So if we are at 18.5 gallon tanks, I should still be good another 50 or so miles. HUH, funny that the light didnt turn on and it died at 251. Maybe it was the hill but it was a slight grade nothing crazy. I will try again and see if I can get 300 to a tank.

 

[C C]

I never come close to 300 and honestly don't see how anybody does. I don't drive aggressively at all. I thought I was doing good when I got over 260 yesterday.

I was close to running out yesterday, but luckily had a few miles left I think. Ended up putting about 15.7 gallons in.

You should have had a light come on though.

this x2

 

[schoeney]

I just returned on a cross country trip of 2700 miles in my 2000 3.4. In the midwest I was averaging about 16. I ran a can of seafoam through the tank and then got 20-22.

I am not suggesting the Seafoam did the trick but it probably helped. I think the grade of gas was better as I made my way west. I stayed away from Ethanol and only used 87 or 88 octane.

I pretty much drove the speed limit (65-75) and I was really loaded down with a cargo pak on top, a cargo shelf in the hitch and the back of the interior loaded down (I was moving my college graduate back home). 3 adults on board. I was real happy with the MPG and the rig ran like a top (w/170,000 miles on it).

All interstate driving took the northern route through Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho.

Completely stock.

 

[Clemsonfan15]

Yeah! Good thing the gas station was right next to us but on the other side of the island. The light never came on for me. It started to sputter and then it shut off. i didnt try to restart when it died it just rolled and I pulled her over. I just walked over to the station and filled up the can. So if we are at 18.5 gallon tanks, I should still be good another 50 or so miles. HUH, funny that the light didnt turn on and it died at 251. Maybe it was the hill but it was a slight grade nothing crazy. I will try again and see if I can get 300 to a tank.

Just remember that there is roughly a gallon or more at the bottom of the tank that is unusable.

If I were you I would check to see if the bulb burned out. You could get into some bad situations if you don't know when you're getting low on gas.

Good luck figuring out what that problem is.

 

[jeeper1]

Definately will check to see if the bulb has checked out on me. I will try again and keep you posted to see what happened. Thanks for sharing guys!

 

[jeeper1]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that when I ran out of fuel, the gas gauge was between the last quarter tank. Didnt even touch the E or the last line. Where does it usually stand when you guys fill at 15 gallons or when the light turns on?

 

[Brett M]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that when I ran out of fuel, the gas gauge was between the last quarter tank. Didnt even touch the E or the last line. Where does it usually stand when you guys fill at 15 gallons or when the light turns on?

Mine has come on at about midway through the last quarter tank.

Oh and I'm at 250 miles so far, with a quarter tank left running Costco gas.

 

[MAD 69]

For you guys getting bad mileage, have you had your injectors serviced/cleaned? Maybe change the fuel filter, a guy posted last week and he changed his and mud came out of the old one. New fuel filter and a pro injector service might do the trick.

 

[the great him]

For you guys getting bad mileage, have you had your injectors serviced/cleaned? Maybe change the fuel filter, a guy posted last week and he changed his and mud came out of the old one. New fuel filter and a pro injector service might do the trick.

yeah ive done a full and complete tune up... still only gained 1-2 mpg

 

[jrm]

The most miles ive racked up

on a single tank was 287, which was mostly hwy. I went as far as i thought safe b/c i didnt to damage my truck as a result of some "experiment"

What id like to ask though is would it be safe to literally let the truck run out of gas? id like to get some kind of idea of how much longer i can go when the fuel light goes on. Thanks.

 

[MAD 69]

Instead of letting your truck run out of gas, why not just buy a gauge - I bought the Ultra Gauge for $68 and once calibrated it gives me a dead on balls accurate reading of distance til empty. I can go nearly 400 miles before I'm bone dry - about 390 actually.

 

[hogester]

Well im interested in getting a new gauge now...when I fill up with my light on, Im only getting about 13-14 gallons in the tank....sounds like my gauge or float is off?