A Bit Pessimistic?

[Daveyonthemove]

I filled my car up a couple of days ago, and the range was only 280 miles (normally its at least 390) and although i tend to ignore it anyway, i thought i'd see if it would settle after some steady miles.

The last tank full averaged 47mpg, so i expected it to work out the range from that driving style, but it's not really recovered.

Here is what it was reading this morning:

And after a 100 mile journey tonight, it now looks like this:

I've had no 'LOW FUEL' warning, so i'm confused why it would give me a range of only 4 miles from 2 bars of fuel, and going from my last tank, i'd be happy to drive another 60 miles before filling up again.

[Jan&tone]

Davey, i think the 'remaining miles' is very inaccurate. I believe it is worked out on how many average MPG's you got since the last fill up and how much petrol you put in... Ie I get 65-70mpg from my Prius, if I fill up by putting in 5 gallons my range says I have around 300-340 miles left, which on a full tank is ridiculous, I KNOW the remaining miles is going to be in the region of 6-700 miles!

Just ignore the remaining bit, on all the Toyotas I've has over the last 20 years that have had that particular feature they have nwver been accurate.

As an example, on an Avensis once, I had half a tank, I was getting around 40 mpg, ie full tank range of around 500 miles. I filled up, the same thing happened, remaining miles about 350. Home to Portsmouth, A13/m25/a3, arrived in Portsmouth with remaining miles of 480 !

See, miracles do happen

[Daveyonthemove]

I agree, it has always been bad, but i've never seen a range of 56 miles from half a tank, it usually reads 200+ miles.

As it happens, my current tank is averaging 45 mpg, so its not as if this tank full is lower than the norm.

It just goes to prove what i have said to others on here about ignoring the range and watching the fuel gauge instead.

[davethefish]

ignoring the range and watching the fuel gauge instead.

I completely agree, however I tend to watch the constant MPG reading rather than the road! :D

[Daveyonthemove]

I've been guilty of that myself, and recently i have decided to have the clock readout on display, and only check the MPG when i see the fuel gauge go down. I'm still getting reasonable MPG so i don't really need to monitor it so closely.

[Daveyonthemove]

I ran the fuel down as low as i dared to today.

I got to the point where it said '0 miles' on the range, and the 'Low fuel' warnings (do we really need 3 warnings??) were flashing away, and i decided to ignore them and drove a further 40 miles.

I must admit, by the time i'd got home and stopped at my local Shell garage, i was worrying about how much fuel was left and if i would make it, but i brimmed the tank and squeezed in 51.41 litres, so i had 3.5 litres left, which could have got me another 20 miles easily.

I really wish the fuel gauge on Toyota's were a little more optimistic :censor:

[Cookie-monster]

I agree on the toyota fuel gauges - in my Yaris, it has a similar type fuel gauge with 8 bars on it, and the tank holds 45 litres. When the gauge gets down to the last bar it starts flashing to indicate low fuel - get to the garage quickly! However, when I fill it up I can only get 36 litres in, that means that the gauge starts flashing low fuel when theres 9 litres or 2 gallons left in - enough for 80 - 100 miles as my car will get 40-50mpg. It comes on far too soon so you end up tending to ignore the flashing light in the end!

[acetip]

I agree on the toyota fuel gauges - in my Yaris, it has a similar type fuel gauge with 8 bars on it, and the tank holds 45 litres. When the gauge gets down to the last bar it starts flashing to indicate low fuel - get to the garage quickly! However, when I fill it up I can only get 36 litres in, that means that the gauge starts flashing low fuel when theres 9 litres or 2 gallons left in - enough for 80 - 100 miles as my car will get 40-50mpg. It comes on far too soon so you end up tending to ignore the flashing light in the end!

Remember the story of the boy who cried wolf.

[Daveyonthemove]

In other cars i have owned, the light didn't come on until you had 50 miles range left, and i felt that was more than enough to get to a petrol station no matter where you are.

The Toyota warning system is way to sensitive, and its annoying that it blocks out your chosen display and reads 'LOW FUEL' instead, despite the flashing fuel bar and warning triangle. It really needs looking at IMO.

[Krait]

I had a Mazda6 and the low fuel warning light used to come on when there was 9 litres remaining. that's 2 gallons.

Maybe the Japanese cars like to have a reserve of two gallons.

I'm not complaining about that. However, i do agree that it is a damn nuisance when the llight starts flashing and the display changes to Low Fuel.

And personally, I find the bar type of gauge most disconcerting and inaccurate. One of these days I will measure the miles between each bar.

Cheers,

Krait

[Lorcan]

My Auris was flashing low fuel at me for a while, but when the readout said 30kms left it conked out. It was nearly dry. Lucky I was at my front door. Haven't let it down that far since

[acetip]

My Auris was flashing low fuel at me for a while, but when the readout said 30kms left it conked out. It was nearly dry. Lucky I was at my front door. Haven't let it down that far since

i beleave the ecu is set up to shut the engine down before the tanks right out of fuel to protect things like fuel pumps, injection system etc.

[Rumbly]

I've had the miles remaining go a bit weird when I put fuel in with the ignition in the accessories position so someone in the car could listen to the radio. Sorted itself out the next time I filled up.

[R1star]

Hello Dave.In your top photo is that correct you did 331 miles on half a tank.I can only get around that for a full tank.I've only had the car for a month and so far seems to be avereging 30-32 mpg going by litres bought and used and to br fair the gauge is reading around that as well.This is mainly driving back and forwards from Glos to Chelt.I've already cleaned the egr reset ecu and ran some BG244 through the tank.From what I can tell from this forum it seems to make a big difference on how you drive.This is my first turbo diesel so I no I've got some learning to do.What kind of driving do you do and do you have yours chipped.In the middle of a house move at the moment but soon as that gets out the way perhaps we can meet up and have a chat as I live only down the road from Chelt.

Cheers Steve.

[Daveyonthemove]

Hello Dave.In your top photo is that correct you did 331 miles on half a tank.I can only get around that for a full tank.I've only had the car for a month and so far seems to be avereging 30-32 mpg going by litres bought and used and to br fair the gauge is reading around that as well.This is mainly driving back and forwards from Glos to Chelt.I've already cleaned the egr reset ecu and ran some BG244 through the tank.From what I can tell from this forum it seems to make a big difference on how you drive.This is my first turbo diesel so I no I've got some learning to do.What kind of driving do you do and do you have yours chipped.In the middle of a house move at the moment but soon as that gets out the way perhaps we can meet up and have a chat as I live only down the road from Chelt.

Cheers Steve.

Hi Steve,

yes you are reading correctly, I often get 300+ miles from the first half of a tank, and usually fill up around the 500 mark if i let it run empty, but i find i still have enough fuel to get another 50+ miles if i needed to.

I do have a tuning box fitted to mine, and although it gives improved power, i use it most for torque and ease of overtaking, not getting away from the lights quickly. I think the box has probably helped with the economy, but i can't prove this as it was fitted to my car the day i collected it.

My driving style is different to most people, because i don't use it on a daily basis, i only use it at weekends, and that usually involves a drive of 100 miles or more, and shorter journeys of no less than 20 miles each way. So the car is getting a good stretch.

I'd be happy to meet up and have a chat if you wanted to, i'm around all next week from Tuesday.