Hey guys, I was wondering how much fuel you have left after your display unit tells you that you have "Lo Fuel"

It says it has about 32 miles left, then it suddenly drops to lo fuel where I'm not sure.

I know it varies from driver to driver but does anyone have a general idea of how many gallons are in the tank when that happens?

 

My light comes on at like 23miles to empty normally. Don't have no fancy screen like you guys lol

 

Yeah, at about 20ish miles left I get a low fuel light and a ding

 

I've got the 26gal tank, and when my needle hits "E" I still have 4.5-5 gallons of fuel left in the tank.

 

hmm thats good to know

 

Do we have any reserve is our tanks? I know my wifes Mini is a 12gal + 2 res

 

Most vehicles have approximately 2 gals left when it chimes low fuel, some will have more (like pyro). The sensor in the tank probably isn't held to too close of a tolerance because if you are under 0.25 of a tank you should get fuel anyway, it is not supposed to be a measuring device like the gauge, it is supposed to tell you that if you weren't watching you are gonna run out sometime. Think about the whole cross section of the tank, if the sensor is set by a tolerance of 0.1 inch in a roughly, lets say... 18 inch by 48 inch tank, that is plus or minus 86 cubic inches of fuel or plus or minus .37 gallons. Not exactly super accurate.

 

I think that 2 gallons, perhaps in my case a little more, is a close guess. After my light comes on, I have driven a little over 30 miles a couple of times. My truck usually gets right at 15 Mpg on the highway, so that figures out pretty close, although I don't like to drive near that far if the light comes on. One of the times that I did drive a little over 30 miles after the light came on, I ended up putting 25. 5 gallons in it when I did reach a station. That's too close for comfort.

 

Yeah but see, I remember when I my DTE says I have like maybe 10mi to go and I would fill up and it would take all of 26 or 35 gals. Thats why I didnt think we had a reserve unless the gas stations pumps are off (which is possible)

 

Personally, I don't like to run any tank low if I can help it.
I know it can happen though.
A lot of crap can and does settle at the bottom of tanks and will get sucked up/block filters etc.
Al.