When does the Gas mile counter goes to Zero?

M

MiguelCiarreta

New member
Hi Guys
I have been driving for the last 6 miles and it says that it has one mile left since.
Does it ever go to zero or zero just means you are out of gas?
How much does it have after the light comes on?
Thanks
 
Register to hide this ad
You're worse than my neightbor! He likes to see how low he can get it before filling up. Yeah, he's run it empty a time or two!

I have no idea the answer to your question. Although I'm sure the manufacturers fudge on the side of having more gas than they show to avoid angry customers running out with miles left on the meter. But I don't know how much of a cushion they have designed in.

I guess you could run it out and see if it goes to 0 when it quits running.
 
My range-to-zero hits zero when I have ~3 gallons of fuel left. I find it obnoxious, but it's life. Driving cross-country this summer, I occasionally pushed 40-50 miles past zero-miles-until-empty, without issue. Do some math yourself, though: Fill up the tank a couple times when your range-to-zero hits zero, and see how many gallons you put in, without topping off. Our 4Runners have a 23 gallon tank. If the pump stops at 20 gallons, you have 3 gallons left, like me. At 20mpg, that's ~60 miles.
 
MiguelCiarreta said:
Hi Guys
I have been driving for the last 6 miles and it says that it has one mile left since.
Does it ever go to zero or zero just means you are out of gas?
How much does it have after the light comes on?
Thanks
Click to expand...

When I filled up yesterday, my light was on and it took less than 20 gallons. Meaning I had 50-60 miles left and I had already driven quite a bit with thefuel light on.

That being said, I don't know why you would try and push it.
 
Bourbonator said:
My range-to-zero hits zero when I have ~3 gallons of fuel left. I find it obnoxious, but it's life. Driving cross-country this summer, I occasionally pushed 40-50 miles past zero-miles-until-empty, without issue. Do some math yourself, though: Fill up the tank a couple times when your range-to-zero hits zero, and see how many gallons you put in, without topping off. Our 4Runners have a 23 gallon tank. If the pump stops at 20 gallons, you have 3 gallons left, like me. At 20mpg, that's ~60 miles.
Click to expand...

All good, but . . . . this assumes that some other person reading this in the future is not an off roader or mall curb jumper that's dented their tank and reduced their capacity to less than 23 gallons max.
 
I find the range to zero left feature to be useless. If I fill up when it approaches zero there is about 4 gallons of fuel left. And it seems to vary as well. If I have been on the highway a lot it will think it has a lot more range left or if I have been off road or around town it thinks it has very little. Sometimes the range will be down to almost zero and the low fuel light hasn't even come on!
It's almost as worthless as the MPG gauge which has nothing to do with anything real.
Granted I'm on a 3" lift and 33's
 
ToyotaDoodz said:
All good, but . . . . this assumes that some other person reading this in the future is not an off roader or mall curb jumper that's dented their tank and reduced their capacity to less than 23 gallons max.
Click to expand...

Why don't you start a poll to see how many of the serious offroaders and mall curb-jumpers have dented their gas tanks. Better yet, find a serious offroader who hasn't upgraded the flimsy tank skid with something beefier. Even then, the stock skid can take some abuse without affecting the gas tank. Furthermore, if I was filling up and I was only able to fill 16 gallons instead of 20, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would investigate further.

Of course, your average soccer mom playing bumper cars in the mall parking lot probably isn't the type to check under the truck when she hears a large "clunk," but she's also not likely the type to be browsing these forums.
 
sooperedd said:
Bad idea letting it run that low.
Click to expand...
Yeah, if the zombie apocalypse hits with you on 1/16 tank of gas you won't get very far.

I always thought the low-fuel light came on at about 1/8 tank, which would be about 3 gallons left. I've had to put over 20 gallons multiple times with more than zero miles left on the counter. I know this for a fact because a local fuel perks program gives a discount in 20-gallon increments, but you have to use the full 20 gallons to get the full discount. I hate to leave a few pennies sitting on the table (or in the pump), so I wait to fill up until I know I can use it all.

To be sure, though, just put a 5-gal Jerry can in the back and drive on a level road until you run out. Then you'll know.
 
jwkilgore said:
Yeah, if the zombie apocalypse hits with you on 1/16 tank of gas you won't get very far.

I always thought the low-fuel light came on at about 1/8 tank, which would be about 3 gallons left. I've had to put over 20 gallons multiple times with more than zero miles left on the counter. I know this for a fact because a local fuel perks program gives a discount in 20-gallon increments, but you have to use the full 20 gallons to get the full discount. I hate to leave a few pennies sitting on the table (or in the pump), so I wait to fill up until I know I can use it all.

To be sure, though, just put a 5-gal Jerry can in the back and drive on a level road until you run out. Then you'll know.
Click to expand...

The reason it's bad is not because of you running out, but because of heat on the pump. The fuel is the cooling liquid for these pumps and the lower the fuel level the more likely you are to expose the pump to the heat that wears them out. Most manufacturers only have a 1 gallon buffer but Toyota has been famous for years for having anywhere between 3 to 5 gallon buffer, depending on model. The 3rd gens had a 5 gallon fuel light to empty buffer.
Chevrolet has a less than 1 gallon buffer.When was the last time you changed a fuel pump on a Toyota vs a Chevrolet?
 
Large Saints Fan said:
The reason it's bad is not because of you running out, but because of heat on the pump. The fuel is the cooling liquid for these pumps and the lower the fuel level the more likely you are to expose the pump to the heat that wears them out.
Click to expand...

This is not quite as true on newer returnless systems, which I why I asked what is in these 4Runners. In most returnless systems, the ECU runs the fuel pump at a duty cycle needed to keep fuel pressure at the set point. So, while idling or driving around town, the duty cycle is well under 10% of max flow, unlike older return systems, that run 100% all the time. Thus, your returnless pump doesn't need to dissipate nearly as much heat as return systems.
 
I see one comment that it is bad and last reply says it'll suck debris up.

Forgive my ignorance, but to my knowledge the only moving part in the tank (not internal to the pump itself) is the flotter; the fuel intake is fixed. If there were debris in the tank, the pump can suck it up at any time, not when the tank runs dry.

The only way that could cause an issue if you would have something floating on the top of the fuel, but, firstly what could float on fuel and be so dangerous, plus, wouldn't as soon as the level dropped to the point where you could suck something from the surface the pump stop working as it takes in air? Hmm...

I understand the issue with running a diesel dry. This 4R is my first non-diesel engine in ages, so... is my reasoning wrong?
 
hqdefault.jpg
 
I always keep mine topped - I'll typically fill up at 1/2 a tank if I'm just buzzing around, or 1/4 if I'm on a long trip. 3 reasons:

1) my truck sits for long periods of time without moving much. An empty tank increases the likelihood of condensation forming in the tank.
2) running it low increases the likelihood of sucking up debris from the tank. Yes, the fuel pickup is in a fixed position, as someone stated. But at lower fuel levels, sediment increases in concentration and has a higher chance of settling out near the fuel pickup.
3) you never know when you will need a full tank. Occasionally in my area there has been diesel shortages in the past couple years; there has been more than one instance where people I know can't go to work because there's no fuel for their work truck in town. Or, maybe there's a large disaster of some type - a fire, earthquake, etc - and your well-being is determined by how fast you can get out of Dodge.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 1,028 (members: 5, guests: 1,023)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,312
Messages
3,554,089
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top