Low fuel light not coming on

[marlinleg]

hello to one and all and thank you for any replies. twice a year I fill up with Shell v-power I run my rav4 fuel to around 45 miles left in the fuel tank before adding Shell v-power yesterday there was 31 miles remaining in the fuel tank when I was at the Shell garage still no low fuel warning light on . I switch the ignition off and on still no low fuel warning light coming on ? Any Ideas . It not a big issue as I always top up at 100 remaking . But when I change to shell v-power I like to run tank low . Thanks again 

[RAV4-D4D]

Hi

I assume when you turn on your ignition the light illuminates as part of the pre-ignition check where everything on the dash lights up? On a 2019 car chances of a light/sensor issue are low.

That being the case the most likely reason I can think of is that the fuel light is set to come when there is a specific volume of fuel left in the tank whereas distance to empty is a calculation based upon volume of fuel remaining in the tank and 'recent' fuel consumption. If like a lot of people you are doing short journeys then your mpg will be low so it will anticipate a similar driving style and display fewer miles to empty.

When you filled it how much fuel did you put in and what is the tank size? Was it more or less than when the light has been on previously? If less the guess above may be right, if more then maybe you do have a fault.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Toyota is quite conservative re fuel reserves. Tank size is approx 55 litres. The reserve should be approximately 8.3 litres. Think the fuel gauge will show empty, the range show 0, and the low fuel light comes on when the reserve is reached, rather than when the tank is actually empty.

[Roy124]

Frosty, this bears out my experience but based  on what you said.  Before we bought the Corolla we did a test drive about 40 miles each way.  On the return to the dealer the gauge read zero, I cant remember the miles to go figure. We would have topped up but I could not open the filler cap.  The salesman said not to worry, plenty of range left.

Then with a full tank range of 600 miles the miles to go was well under 200 miles at the half tank point.  

My preference as aircrew is to know that the fuel is gone when it says empty.  I think I will calibrate the fuel gauge so I don't suffer range anxiety unnecessarily.  I wonder if the same is true of electric cars where reports say the range needle falls much more than they expect.

[RAV4-D4D]

I may have misunderstood the question with my response - I thought it was being suggested the light had previously been coming on at 45miles to go... looks like that may not be the case

[FROSTYBALLS]

34 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

My preference as aircrew is to know that the fuel is gone when it says empty

That's OK, but as far as I understand running out of fuel can cause damage to the hybrid system.

Toyota historically have been cautious as regards fuel reserves in all recent models - in the two petrol Auris I had the capacity was 55 litres and the reserve 7.2, and the Aygo capacity is 35 litres with a reserve of 5.25.

[PeteB]

My low fuel warning light normally comes on somewhere between 27 and 33 miles remaining.

When I've filled up with 20-25 miles remaining on the display it's taken about 47 litres to fill suggesting about 8 litres left in tank - and I do fill almost to the top of the filler pipe so as to be as consistent as possible for my tank to tank calculations.

[Louise 1958]

My Toyota RAV4 fuel mileage isn’t working at all help?