Remaining Fuel when your vehicle shows “E”

[BobsArmory]

I never understood people who fill their tank before it's necessary.

A few of my reasons

1. Army beat it into me that all vehicles be topped off and ready to go.
2. If there is a big storm/natural/man made disaster and power goes out, most gas stations go dark. I still want to drive.
3. My truck goes thru the snow better with the weight of a full tank.
4. Makes my little brain feel better.

I'll give you an example how my brain works. If my wife and I take a 3 day vacation up to Traverse City, we will arrive with a little over 1/2 tank. As we pull into Traverse City I top off just so I know I can make it back home right now no matter what happens.

 

[OM617YOTA]

I never understood people who fill their tank before it's necessary.

I typically wait until the gauge is reading E. Tank is 12 gallons, and I can typically get 10.5 or maybe 11.0 when filling. I do this with every car I've ever owned, and I have never run out of gas yet. Regarding damaging the fuel pump, never happens. You would have to run the tank dry for that to happen.

1. I have health issues, sometimes I need to drop what I'm doing and head home instantly, and the sooner I'm home the better. Stopping for gas during these times would vary between agony and simply not possible. I would NEVER go to E on the tank, just because of this alone.
2. I'm in the PNW, we're overdue for a Cascadia Subduction Zone quake. 9.0+, easily a Katrina level event but with zero notice. If that happens during my lifetime, I'll be a lot happier with 1/2 tank + of fuel in the car when it does. This is why I refill at 1/2 tank instead of going lower but still enough to get home.
3. Warm fuzzies. I like my fridge full, my phone charged, my gun loaded, my fuel tanks full, 6 months savings in the bank, and enough TP in the bathroom that I don't have to check and restock before doing any big jobs. The idea of intentionally running low on any of these things is incredibly foreign to me.

 

[Paco Pena]

Running out of fuel can be an unhappy experience. Better to fill the tank during the day than be forced to fill up in a sketchy area at night or run out. Would you run your pistol down to one round and not reload when you could have a full magazine?

Paco

 

[Cujet]

2024 F150, 36 gal tank. When it shows 0 miles range remaining, I can pump in 33 gal fuel.

So it seems to have 3 gal remaining.

Jaguar F-Type is much more accurate. If I run it down to near 0, the fill up is near the tanks 18.5 gal rated capacity... yikes.

 

[Professor Gascan]

1.9 gallon reserve from a 14.8 gallon tank. The few times I've run the tank down far enough to see the low fuel light the indicated reserve is pretty accurate.

 

[Lyman]

My Escape I had down to 23 miles remaining. It took 14.5 gallons to fill. It has a 15.5 gallon capacity. My Jeep I have never taken down below 1/4. I have no idea.

 

[cheech279]

It always grinds my wife's gears when I drive with the low fuel light on, but it doesn't bother me. The only time I ever ran out of gas was in my 1977 Scirocco, and I hand pushed it to a nearby gas station.

 

[CJE]

I have three GMC vans that get 12/13/17 mpg, a Corolla that gets 32, a 2.7 Tacoma that gets 18, and a 5.7 Sequoia that gets 16. When the low fuel light comes on in any of the gauges each vehicle has about 50 miles worth of fuel left. The exact amount of fuel varies - but the remaining range for all of them is about 50 miles. I just assumed it was design intentional.

 

[CJE]

I never understood the group of people who drive around on empty. They are a strange bunch of people that's for sure

Three women in the house - and all of them Know, to the mile, how long they can drive after the low fuel light comes on. Reason most often given: "Getting gas takes too much time!" And this is in NJ where an attendant fills your tank for you.

 

[repairman54]

E doesn't mean enough.
A friends wife lived by the low fuel light, her Rogue didn't make out of the warranty period when the fuel pump went belly up.
She was saving money by running it down even though the gas in the tank was already bought and paid for.

 

[Arc]

Three women in the house - and all of them Know, to the mile, how long they can drive after the low fuel light comes on. Reason most often given: "Getting gas takes too much time!" And this is in NJ where an attendant fills your tank for you.

I was thinking about the women in my house too. I just didn't want to say it.

 

[Arc]

I never understood people who fill their tank before it's necessary.

I typically wait until the gauge is reading E. Tank is 12 gallons, and I can typically get 10.5 or maybe 11.0 when filling. I do this with every car I've ever owned, and I have never run out of gas yet. Regarding damaging the fuel pump, never happens. You would have to run the tank dry for that to happen.

I was just thinking about the wife and daughters. They always bring it home on empty and have me drive back to get gas.

 

[CBR.worm]

I drive nearly every tank to E on the gauge unless I don't know the area and/or where the next fuel is. I spend a lot of time in the car, so the fewer fill ups, the better.

In the G35, E is ~30 miles after the fuel light comes on, it holds 20 gallons, the most I have ever put in was 18. Usually ~17.x with the needle at the bottom

In my FX50S, I do the same thing - once the miles to empty display goes blank, I'll get gas. It holds just under 24 gallons, the most I've put in is 22, and that was after driving for a while with no miles to empty.

My takeaway is that 'upscale' Nissans have a 2 gallon reserve after the needle is on empty.

Between these two cars, I have ~450K miles so far.

 

[K2K2]

FJ fuel light comes on when there's between 4 and 4-1/2 gals remaining.

Jeep has at least 3 gals when the light comes on.

We haven't run either down to empty - living as far out as we do in the mountains of CO, running out of gas could be a death sentence.

 

[K2K2]

It seems to be a Toyota design philosophy in recent years to overestimate the amount of fuel remaining. The issue or complaint ends up being lower than expected driving range (Toyota even issued a TSB for Grand Highlanders and maybe other models). My wife's Toyota gets 25-26 MPG so when filled up, the range should be over 440 miles. We have never seen over 390 miles. More often, we see a range closer to 350 miles, which equates to closer to 13-14 gallon fuel capacity.

It's conservative because some can't or won't pay attention; maybe call it a safety feature?

I recall an episode of "The **** Van Dyke Show", he bought a Japanese car and when it got to "E", it really was empty and left him stranded ...he complained it wasn't like his American car that would get you a lottle further on "E".

 

[Snagglefoot]

Drovefor two hours from BC into Alberta and wanted wanted to maximize tank space. The low fuel light came on but there was “ 100 km to empty” on the display. Kept driving towards my favourite Shell station with the Timmies next door. At 80 km left, the display changed to “ Fuel Range Low”. I was just beside an Esso, so pulled in and gassed up. It took 133 liters in the Suburban’s tank. I swore this tank has a 160 liter tank meaning I have had 27 liters still, more than enough to have reached that Shell. Dang.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Here’s the display of the dash and the transaction. At these prices I set a new personal best of $226 CDN.

 

[Allaned]

When fuel light comes on in my VW GTI I know that I can put about 10.5 gallons into the 13 gallon tank. Very consistent. It's not down to "E".

When hurricane season comes around (greatest risk for us in SC is September/October) I keep the tanks full. Don’t plan to evacuate (have a natural gas fueled generator) but gas gets scarce.

 

[fdcg27]

With the Accord the low fuel warning comes on with around .7-.8 gallons remaining judging by range remaining at refill.
The lowest I've run it was to 34 miles remaining, and the 12.9 gallon stated capacity tank took 13.1 gallons.
The fuel capacity is there to use, so I use it.
Never a fuel pump failure. I also have always filled to the brim and have never had any evap system problems.

 

[Allaned]

1. I have health issues, sometimes I need to drop what I'm doing and head home instantly, and the sooner I'm home the better. Stopping for gas during these times would vary between agony and simply not possible. I would NEVER go to E on the tank, just because of this alone.
2. I'm in the PNW, we're overdue for a Cascadia Subduction Zone quake. 9.0+, easily a Katrina level event but with zero notice. If that happens during my lifetime, I'll be a lot happier with 1/2 tank + of fuel in the car when it does. This is why I refill at 1/2 tank instead of going lower but still enough to get home.
3. Warm fuzzies. I like my fridge full, my phone charged, my gun loaded, my fuel tanks full, 6 months savings in the bank, and enough TP in the bathroom that I don't have to check and restock before doing any big jobs. The idea of intentionally running low on any of these things is incredibly foreign to me.

I live in hurricane country and fill my cars for the same reason. (Unlike earthquakes we get weeks of warning)