I'm Not Sure How This Fuel Remaining vs Filling Up Works

6165 Views 13 Replies 10 Participants Last post by kalo925, Sep 13, 2012

bondguy

Discussion Starter · Jun 13, 2011

Ok...so, it's been a day or two over a week. My car had a full tank of gas from the Lexus dealer when delivered. My car showed it had approximately 420 miles on it with about 35 showing left for cruising range on the display of the car. So, I go to fill up figuring I'd be putting in at least 10 gallons of gas. I went to the gas station (regular was $3.77/gallon) and put in approximately 8.7 gallons for a price of $32 and change (think it was about $32.60). Love the dollar amount for over a week of driving...but, how come only 8.7 gallons...should I have waited until the cruising range said 00 miles? Should I have waited until some low fuel light came on instead (and if so, how much gas would I have once this light comes on)? And, when I filled up the car, the new cruising range indicated 528 miles

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SteveRD66

· #2 · Jun 13, 2011

Well I have not used a full tank of of fuel yet ! But

I guess the dealers don't fill them up quite as much as we would at the pump just enough to get the needle to read full.

Also my last car the Civic Hybrid had a 50L tank but the most I ever got in it even with the fuel light on was 41.5L

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Matt_RN

· #3 · Jun 13, 2011

There is always a reserve left when the fuel light comes on. This has always been the case for toyotas. I usually fill mine when the gauge is at the halfway point. I don't like running to empty because you can suck particulates that settle in the bottom of your gas tank when u run it dry. Also, the fuel cools down the fuel pump as it is getting fed to the engine. If you run it empty, you could overheat the fuel pump and cause more wear and tear.

German cars that I've worked on always had fuel pump issues. It could be a factor of German reliability, but I've noticed that when the fuel light comes on and your German car is not equipped with a reserve tank, your tank is empty. Light on = get to a gas station within 5 miles, whereas on our CT, gas light comes on, you can still drive at least 50 miles, depending on driving technique + terrain.

It's hard to gauge how much range u have left when the light comes on. That's because u have to factor in the fact our CTs are hybrids, so the gasoline engine isnt necessarily always on.

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Matt_RN

· #4 · Jun 13, 2011

The 50 miles is what I tested, driving back from Las Vegas to Sherman Oaks, moderate traffic, high winds, light came on when I was on freeway 50 miles from my house.

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bondguy

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jun 13, 2011

Matt_RN said:
The 50 miles is what I tested, driving back from Las Vegas to Sherman Oaks, moderate traffic, high winds, light came on when I was on freeway 50 miles from my house.

Cool...thanks...either way, if I do it like I did, nothing wrong with $32 to fill up the tank...someone at work pointed out that the week I got my CT, gas started going down..so..either way, if it continues to drop, it will only cost me about $22 to fill my tank....driving in to work today, the instant MPG read 53.8 MPG and the continuous average MPG was at 47.9...I really am loving this car. Also, I seem to get good mileage this way...when cruising at highway speed in normal mode, I will switch it over to ECO when I don't need to pickup but just to keep it constant speed...seems to drag on the engine a little bit more (seems to maybe charge more than in normal mode).

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audi4t

· #6 · Jun 13, 2011

All I can say is with BMW's when you have the display set to "miles remaining" and it gets down to 0 miles you better be sitting at the pump in the gas station.

The fuel gauge and digital read out of fuel (miles) remaining are very accurate.

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canvecchio

· #7 · Jun 13, 2011

I just completed a 2300+ mile trip from Savannah to Detroit, Grand Rapids and back to Savannah. At one point I forgot to fill up and triggered the low fuel light. It was already on when I noticed it, but I'm pretty sure it hadn't been on long.

This happened on a particularly underinhabited stretch of I 79, and it was almost 30 sweaty-palmed minutes before I found a gas station. I didn't check the cruising range until a short time after I saw the low fuel light, and it read zero.

When I filled the tank it took only 8.7 gallons. I was sure it was an error and tried to force in more gas, but it just spurted out of the filler opening.

As I recal,l the CT has a tank of approximately 12 gallons, which means I had about 3 gallons of fuel left when I was sure I was running on fumes.

Prime suspect is a faulty fuel gauge, but why would the ctuising range read zero with 3 gallons left? I'll ask the dealer when I take it in for my 5000 mile "service."

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johnleigh

· #8 · Jun 13, 2011

More info in this thread:

http://www.ct200hforum.com/forum/le...25-tank-capacity-cruising-range-question.html

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Matt_RN

· #9 · Jun 13, 2011

canvecchio said:
I just completed a 2300+ mile trip from Savannah to Detroit, Grand Rapids and back to Savannah. At one point I forgot to fill up and triggered the low fuel light. It was already on when I noticed it, but I'm pretty sure it hadn't been on long.

This happened on a particularly underinhabited stretch of I 79, and it was almost 30 sweaty-palmed minutes before I found a gas station. I didn't check the cruising range until a short time after I saw the low fuel light, and it read zero.

When I filled the tank it took only 8.7 gallons. I was sure it was an error and tried to force in more gas, but it just spurted out of the filler opening.

As I recal,l the CT has a tank of approximately 12 gallons, which means I had about 3 gallons of fuel left when I was sure I was running on fumes.

Prime suspect is a faulty fuel gauge, but why would the ctuising range read zero with 3 gallons left? I'll ask the dealer when I take it in for my 5000 mile "service."

Same issue here. It's just how Toyota is, from what I've heard. They always leave a 3 gallon reserve. I haven't been able to fill up to 12 gallon capacity since I bought the car.

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Luv902

· #10 · Sep 11, 2012 (Edited)

Your response has been really helpful however...>>i recently pumped gas after cruising range had 6miles left (i live dangerous -i kno) did 2 gallons just to get me to work before being too late. Gas light -gone, gauge climbed up a few but cruising range DIDNT change as a matter of fact it continued to to deduct miles....?? (at that point of the gauge it should read 90miles) Thoughts?

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kalo925

· #11 · Sep 11, 2012 (Edited)

Luv902 said:
Your response has been really helpful however...>>i recently pumped gas after cruising range had 6miles left (i live dangerous -i kno) did 2 gallons just to get me to work before being too late. Gas light -gone, gauge climbed up a few but cruising range DIDNT change as a matter of fact it continued to to deduct miles....?? (at that point of the gauge it should read 90miles) Thoughts?

Don't worry about what the cruising range says.. The light comes on at about 8.5 gallons used. You have about 3.5 gallons left. You can drive about 100 miles after the light comes on with no worry, but you better have a gas station in mind at that point.

I have a video on youtube about how far you can go on a tank. Click the link below if you want to check it out.

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prosperity

· #12 · Sep 12, 2012

You have to remember that when a Lexus runs out of petrol, it will run on its reputation to the next gas station.

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Loki

· #13 · Sep 13, 2012

prosperity said:
You have to remember that when a Lexus runs out of petrol, it will run on its reputation to the next gas station.

That was a great comment. LOL

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kalo925

· #14 · Sep 13, 2012

prosperity said:
You have to remember that when a Lexus runs out of petrol, it will run on its reputation to the next gas station.

Almost, as it takes about 30 min for the Roadside Assistance to arrive. For the first 4 years anyway.

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