I'm curious what the record for 'mileage remaining' is.

I.e. What's the most number of gallons you ever put in your tank at once during a fill up, and how many 'Miles remaining' on your tank was at the time.

Is zero actually empty? Or is there buffer room?
It seems like if I calculate MPG * gallons remaining, it seems like there is buffer room.

- Frank

 

the computer always gives you a conservative number. you will probably still have a gallon or 2 left once it displays 0.

 

I have driven on ***** many times

 

typically right after it gets to Zero and "---" miles left is when its going into your reserve which is like 2 gallons. The reserve should give you like approx 25 miles city and like 40ish highway. I wouldnt push it though.

 

once the light comes on, your pretty much at around ~4 gallons remaining. Thats like 30-35miles remaining on the dash. with that information, i assume that once you hit "---" it will be about 2 to 3 gallons remaining.. but i wouldn't take it so close to empty.

 

your car holds 20 gallons of gas, and should average approx. 20 mpg, reset your trip meter when you fill up, and see. Mine has been erratic as hell, and not at all reliable. My car is currently, and has been for the last 5 days, at the dealer for this very problem, along with the gas guage not working correctly. If they are able to fix it, I'll post up. This is my 4th trip for this problem.

 

when it starts blinking, i say about another 20 miles to go

 

whenever i fill up after the light comes on, i still usually have 3-4 gals of gas left. so id assume 1-2 gals once it hits ***.

 

We all do it and I would think each individual car is a little tiny bit different, but one thing is for sure, running on E all the time, your fuel filter will be full of all the rust and crap that lives at the bottom of your gas tank.

 

That is simply 100% false. It's not even close to being true on a modern automobile. Unless someone has intentionally introduced foreign objects, there is no rust and crap in the bottom of your tank. I have dropped lots of gas tanks from a number of cars and it's just not there.

For the OP, I have experimented and the reserve is approximately 3 to 3.75 gallons left in your tank after distance to empty is "------". How far you can go depends on your driving. The distance to empty isn't voodoo, it's a mathematical function of how much fuel the sensors read in your tank x the current MPG the computer has determined your car to be getting. To test it do this: drive aggressively on a city driving cycle so your MPG is 16 or so on a tank. Then fill the car up completely. Your DTE will be low - maybe 264 or so (16 MPG x 16.5 gallons). Fill up after driving all highway miles at a reasonable speed when your MPG is 25 or so. Your DTE may be over 400. Yes I have tried this.

I have driven over 57 highway miles after the DTE was "----" without running out of fuel though I believe I may have been seriously pushing my luck.

 

I drove 55+ miles (maybe 65) on "---" and still had .5 gallons left on the highway. I was actually testing the limit that day. I got a bit scared halfway because I didn't see any gas stations around!

 

Totally agree.

 

100% false? really? a whole one hundred!!!?? lol OK. Keep on doing it then. I guess "Modern Automobiles" have gas tanks made of completely different outer space material and the gas stations magically keep their gasoilne tanks free of rust, water and other crap via a mystical modern process.... OK

 

When i let it get down to **** i usually end up filling up roughly 18.5 gals. So when it first hits **** you should have about 2 gals left = ~30-40 miles

 

No, nothing space age. Many automobile fuel tanks however have a nonmetallic lining that's made of some sort of polymer or other material (don't know about the G because I haven't had any occasion to drop it). Some are made completely of nonmetallic materials. Public refueling stations are mandated by law to have fuel free of "rust, water and other crap". Fuel carriers who supply them take samples of the tanks contents before unloading fuel to ensure they are not contaminated before they discharge into them. Drivers are not to unload into contaminated tanks. This protects the fuel carrier from a charge of being the source of the contamination. Each state has an office (called different things in different states) to monitor the quality and cleanliness of consumer motor fuel that randomly does spot checks of fuel at various locations around the state and fine or close operators not in compliance. USTs (underground storage tanks) are required to have oil/water separation equipment that will remove any moisture from the fuel prior to its being able to be pumped out. They also are equipped with a minimum of 2 stages of water and particulate filtration between the tank and pump to filter out contamination. Pumps are required to have filters as well (you can see many of these mostly on older style pumps, some have it inside the panel). Most have an automatic shutoff system that will stop the pumps if contamination over a certain PPM is detected in order to keep contaminated fuel from being dispensed into consumers' cars because it would be really expensive to buy dozens or hundreds of new engines should they be found to be the cause of failures die to contamination.

Not space age or magical at all really.