New Avensis faulty fuel gauge?

[kenjosh]

Hi. I am hoping someone can help. I have had an Avensis Business class 2.0D estate for almost a year now. It was first registered by Toyota themselves in March 2016. I had the 2008 model prior to this one. When the fuel light came on in my previous 2.2 diesel, I had something like 60 miles left or under 8 litres left in the tank. With this one when the fuel light comes on permanently I have over 18 litres left. The run down from full to empty happens quickly. If I look at what range I have left on the digital readout at this point, it is about 40 miles. If I do the 40 miles  then the readout goes blank, yet I still have about 14 litres in the tank.

When I had my first service in March, my Toyota dealer said they had checked and there was nothing amiss. I have spoken again today to Mr T and they are saying that they have not had any problems reported about this. I can remember the days when something like this required the sender unit in the tank to be replaced.

Anyone any ideas if this is an issue? Do all you diesel Avensis owners have the same thing as I have?

Suggestions gratefully received

[FROSTYBALLS]

The low fuel light comes on when there are approx 9 litres remaining, excluding the reserve. The reserve is approx 5 litres or so.

[HartmannX]

It is a normal thing for the new model whit BMW powertrain. It is a part of the fuel system, cooling the returnet fuel to the tank.

 

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[Heidfirst]

1 hour ago, kenjosh said:

Hi. I am hoping someone can help. I have had an Avensis Business class 2.0D estate for almost a year now. It was first registered by Toyota themselves in March 2016. I had the 2008 model prior to this one. When the fuel light came on in my previous 2.2 diesel, I had something like 60 miles left or under 8 litres left in the tank. With this one when the fuel light comes on permanently I have over 18 litres left. The run down from full to empty happens quickly. If I look at what range I have left on the digital readout at this point, it is about 40 miles. If I do the 40 miles  then the readout goes blank, yet I still have about 14 litres in the tank

Sounds like your 2008 did it a bit low - normally it was ~9 litres reserve on that. My 2007 did it then as does my 2012.

There's a whole long thread (or threads) on here where it appears that this behaviour re. Avensis changed with the 2015 facelift/change to the BMW diesels (there are also threads on Toyota forums worldwide moaning about low fuel lights coming on way too early on other models too incl. in the US where they don't get diesels so it may have been a global change in policy by Toyota).

[kenjosh]

Thanks for all the advice and info. I had a long conversation with the Service Manager of the local Mr T about this and he was willing to drain the tank to show that it did contain 60 litres. Needless to say that I had no gripe with the fuel tank volume, only what the gauge was reading. He did say that there was no method of adjusting the meter reading. On that basis it was not worth pursuing it furthe, so I will just have to live with it. So if the gauge reads half full it really means that it is about 2/3rds full and when the light comes on fully, there are about 18 litres left to totally empty.

I would have thought that instead of having a gauge that read full/ 1/2 etc it would be better to have a wedge shape, where the fuel indicator just moved down the scale. Don't have to worry about 3/4, 1/2 or 1/4 full then.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Fuel gauges fitted to a number of Toyota models (IQ, Aygo, Auris, etc) operate in a nonlinear way. The following provides a example of a typical fitment - 

I've had two Auris from new (2009 and 2012), and once one gets used to how they operate, there is no real issue.

[HartmannX]

And mention before, dont go below the 18liters when the light comes on. You are loosing efficient cooling capacity for the returnet fuel. And running a higher risk for getting contaminated fuel in to the engines fuel system.

 

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[bigpace]

I had long conversations with Toyota Customer Service about this but It was my local Service Manager that gave me the reason -  the latest Avensis has a saddle fuel tank so when the fuel warning light comes on there will be about 16-18 litres still left in the tank.

Toyota should have made this known to their customers but didn't.    It is a bit of a pain but you get use to it and fuel consumption is better than previous model

 

 

 

[Heidfirst]

On 22/09/2017 at 9:17 PM, bigpace said:

I had long conversations with Toyota Customer Service about this but It was my local Service Manager that gave me the reason -  the latest Avensis has a saddle fuel tank so when the fuel warning light comes on there will be about 16-18 litres still left in the tank.

It appears that this behaviour since 2015 facelift may only apply to diesels.

Warning light came on solid on my "new to me" 2017 1.8 petrol today at 25 miles range indicated on the display. At 15 miles range  indicated I pulled into a filling station & put 48.5 litres of fuel in (& I probably could have squeezed some more in if I had tried). That 15 miles indicated range probably accounts for in excess of 1.5l so given the 60l tank I would have ~10l petrol left when the indicated range hit 0.