Is your "low gas" light turning on too soon?
#1
Pole Position
Thread Starter
Is your "low gas" light turning on too soon?
I drive a 2006 Lexus IS350. I always fill my car with a full tank of gas. I usually refill the tank when the indicator light come on, but when I refuel the car it only adds approximately 15 gallons of fuel when I know that the car has a gas tank of 17.1. This means that there was 2 gallons of gas that I didn't use. I know you shouldn't wait until you only have half a gallon to refuel, but I like it when my car tells me that its running low on fuel when IT ACTUALLY IS low on fuel. I usually get 360 miles with 15 gallon refuel intervals. How low on E do you guys wait to refuel? do you go by what the needle says or by what the display reads?
#2
Lexus Champion
iTrader: (6)
I drive a 2006 Lexus IS350. I always fill my car with a full tank of gas. I usually refill the tank when the indicator light come on, but when I refuel the car it only adds approximately 15 gallons of fuel when I know that the car has a gas tank of 17.1. This means that there was 2 gallons of gas that I didn't use. I know you shouldn't wait until you only have half a gallon to refuel, but I like it when my car tells me that its running low on fuel when IT ACTUALLY IS low on fuel. I usually get 360 miles with 15 gallon refuel intervals. How low on E do you guys wait to refuel? do you go by what the needle says or by what the display reads?
#3
Advanced
iTrader: (4)
i think every IS has the same thing. i usually end up filling not even 15 gallons b/c i fill up when the light comes on, unless i just feel lazy. how do you know when you really do need gas? just do some math i guess. if at the approx mile remaining says 0, that probably means you have 1.5 to 2 gallons remaining...1.5 to be safe. if you average about 20 mpg then you've got about 30 miles till close to empty.
#4
Pole Position
Thread Starter
I guess i just need to assume that theirs about 1.5 gallons left after the approximate miles says 0. This is good to know because sometimes when your running late to work you need to make a decisions whether you put gas before or after work.
#6
that about right. good job on knowing much about you car. the low gas light indicator is designed so you can get to a gas station in time. the low gas indicator comes on around 37 miles under the APPROX MILES. Many people have taken it down to 0 and past. my understanding is that under the APPROX MILES you can still travel another ~60 miles before you actually run out of gas.
#8
I've determined that the reserve capacity after you hit 0 miles is almost exactly 2.5 gallons.
If you want, it may not be unreasonable to drive another 10 miles after you hit "0." If nothing else, shedding all of that gasoline weight makes the IS350 noticeably lighter on its feet.
If you want, it may not be unreasonable to drive another 10 miles after you hit "0." If nothing else, shedding all of that gasoline weight makes the IS350 noticeably lighter on its feet.
#10
I took my car down to exactly 0 and when I filled up at the tank, I filled up exactly 14.699 gallons of gas.
Exactly (I did not pump in any extra to "overflow", it stopped naturally at 14.699). Well, that's awfully close to 14.7. I presume the car was designed to use 14.7 gallons of gas until the display hit 0.
What's the fuel tank full capacity? 17.2 gallons.
17.2 - 14.7 = 2.5
Very nice, round number.
Exactly (I did not pump in any extra to "overflow", it stopped naturally at 14.699). Well, that's awfully close to 14.7. I presume the car was designed to use 14.7 gallons of gas until the display hit 0.
What's the fuel tank full capacity? 17.2 gallons.
17.2 - 14.7 = 2.5
Very nice, round number.
#12
But, I've heard in passing that you can potentially damage your car by running on too low fuel (well below when the display hits 0 miles). I do not know the mechanics of this, though. If someone could clarify why (and if) this is the case, it would be interesting to hear.
That's why I said 10 miles. Regardless of whether these claims are true or not (that is, it's potentially harmful to run on literally, say, .2 or .3 gallons of fuel) going an extra 10 miles (half gallon) would still keep 2 gallons in the tank and hopefully avoid these potential problems.
But, once again, I can't even begin to tell you what the potential problems could be, I simply vaguely remember it being mentioned a while back. Hopefully lobuxracer or someone else can chime in.