casmith

I have a new to me 04 LS430. The low fuel light came on today and before I could get 5 miles the car was running out of gas. It would maintain about 30 MPH but if I tried to accelerate it would sputter. I managed to roll into a gas station. I was only able to put 19.5 gallons into the tank. If it was running out of gas I would expect it to hold 22 gallons. I tried several times. Pump would cut off. The guage needle is normal at slightly above full.

Any ideas what is going on?

jimbosr1

man,you like living on the edge.i fill mine at a quarter of a tank.the days of walking to the nearest gas station has long passed.

caddyowner

Welcome. Check the service history on lexus.com to see if the filler pipe TSB was performed. Some folks had problems with filling the tank at any rate above the lowest setting on the handle. The pump would also shut off prematurely.

I believe dealers can still do the TSB, but it won't be for free.

I fill up at 1/4 in the summer and 1/2 in the winter.

jayclapp

The manual specs show the gas tank capacity to be 22.2 gallons. You should have gotten far more than 5 miles after the low gas light came on. Sounds like you have some other problem than running out of gas.

casmith

jimbosr1, I usually don't notice the gas is low until the light comes on. A bad habit I know but just what happens with me. My other Lexus gives me enough warning to get gas.

caddyowner, I think you have something with the TSB. Today I had to hold the handle of the nozzle instead of clicking it in because it kept shutting off at even half speed. BUT, I have filled up several times and not had that problem. There is no consistency with this. I'll have to watch for this.

jayclapp, I have the car going in for the 60K service and will be asking about this.

Thanks everyone for the input.

CarGuy89

I have the same issue. I did not wish an otherwise perfectly good fuel system to be ripped out/reassembled so I have found a way around this. When you go to fill up, very gently ease the trigger on the gas nozzle in. Keep squeezing gently until you hit the first notch of the stand for the trigger and just leave it there. You will fill up a bit slower, but it's much better than having to hold it yourself the entire time. Try it, works for me.

jayclapp

I had this happen to me a relatively few times over the course of several months. My dealer performed the TSB under my extended warrantee. That completely fixed the problem. Highly recommend, especially if it is covered under the warrantee.

caddyowner

IIRC, someone once posted that paying for the filler hose TSB was about $300.