Gas guage innacurate?????

[iskwezm]

I noticed when i first got my car it would say 320 miles till empty when it was filled up, now it says 285????Is this a fuel sender problem???? Or it it part of the fuel pump TSB and gas tank problem. Seems like this car just has problems from the doors back

 

[bigcat]

its based on your average MPG. you are getting less MPG now than you were geting back then.

 

[stanmckinney]

Exactly, and it will change as your driving changes. I look at my guage, not that thing.

 

[LV51FER]

Mine just says "Whoa, slow down fella, the next gas station is too far away to drive like that"

 

[Marine One]

Mine just says "GIDDDYUPPP"

 

[iskwezm]

Exactly, and it will change as your driving changes. I look at my guage, not that thing.

so the car knows my driving habits now and might tell me one day i'll get 250 from a tank??????? I dodnt know if the sender was reading off or its taking past driving habits to estimate the mileage of the full tank. I wonder how much gas is really left at "0"

 

[ONLYFORDS]

In previous the previous cars that I owned, the computer would keep an average mpg and multiplying that average by the amount of gallons of gas that were in your gas tank. I am also going to guess that the car is programmed to read 0 before you run out to give you a little cushion.

 

[hethj7]

You get a low fuel warning light that comes on telling you there are 50 miles left on your current tank. I assume that 50 miles takes into account your past mpg, but even if it doesn't, 50 miles should be enough to get you to a gas station in most circumstances.

 

[351CJ]

so the car knows my driving habits now and might tell me one day i'll get 250 from a tank??????? I dodnt know if the sender was reading off or its taking past driving habits to estimate the mileage of the full tank. I wonder how much gas is really left at "0"

The miles to empty and average MPG are calculated on the last 1000 miles that you drove. If you alwasy have the same driving habits then the computer will give an accurate estimate of how many miles on a tank you'll get.

But if you requently change your driving habits / style say from a long highway trip to stop & go city driving the miles to empty will not be acurate. However it does recalculate as the tank is emptied.

Most Ford vehicles are set up so when the gas gage needle is on empty (Bottom mark) and the computer says 0 miles to empty there is still at least 1 gallon left in the tank.

 

[VistaGT520]

Most Ford vehicles are set up so when the gas gage needle is on empty (Bottom mark) and the computer says 0 miles to empty there is still at least 1 gallon left in the tank.

This is true, BUT. One time, being the idiot that I am I thought I would see if this was true. My thinking was that I have a 16 gallon gas tank so I would just look at the gallons used gauge and once it got close to sixteen I would get gas. Well, my car finally told me that I had zero miles left but I had only used 13.8 gallons of gas so I just kept going. I ran out of gas at 14.8 gallons used. This is one gallon after the computer said zero but my question is where did my 1.2 gallons of gas go. (16 gallon tank - 14.8 Gallons used = 1.2 gallons unacounted for)

 

[SleekGT]

I like how mine always says like 300 miles till empy and in actuality I'm only getting 200 miles till empty.

15 MPG on the highway with maybe 2 or 3 stops on the way to work kinda sucks. Luckily I only drive the stang to work and back and then an occasional cruise so gas ussually lasts me 2 weeks till I need to fill up again.

 

[bigcat]

15 MPG on the hwy? are you using 3rd gear instead of 5th? i dont see how it is possible to get that bad of mileage on the hwy. if you are truely getting that mileage, i would take it in for warranty work. that is horrible mileage.

do you spend lots of time idling?

 

[steedastang06]

i get 16.7 MPG and its all highway....

 

[kooldawg6]

I have been keeping a log of my mileage since new. After 4100 miles in 8 weeks I have averaged 20.58 mpg. That is pretty much a mix of city and highway. I use it to commute 62 miles round trip and around town I turn o/d off. My very first tank got 14.8. Since then I've never gotten worse than 20.4 with my best of 22.6. I have yet to take it on a long enough highway trip to see what just highway mpg is yet.

 

[iskwezm]

i used to get about 20-23 mpg at 80 mph back and forth to work, but now i changed jobs and drive in 1 1/2 traffic for 30 miles and get about 18 mpg

 

[SleekGT]

I actually do very little idling if any at all and when I'm driving I usually am in 5th gear.

I always attributed the bad mileage due to the fact that this is my first vehicle with a stick but I really don't think I'm that bad.

I noticed my best MPG on the Interstate at around 70 MPH is like 21MPG.

Now you got me wondering...

 

[bigcat]

at 80 mph on the hwy, i get between 25-29 mpg. the 29 mpg was only one time, but 27/28 is not uncommon for me on the hwy. that is usually with me, the wife, and our luggage.

 

[351CJ]

This is true, BUT. One time, being the idiot that I am I thought I would see if this was true. My thinking was that I have a 16 gallon gas tank so I would just look at the gallons used gauge and once it got close to sixteen I would get gas. Well, my car finally told me that I had zero miles left but I had only used 13.8 gallons of gas so I just kept going. I ran out of gas at 14.8 gallons used. This is one gallon after the computer said zero but my question is where did my 1.2 gallons of gas go. (16 gallon tank - 14.8 Gallons used = 1.2 gallons unacounted for)

See, I was correct @ 0 MTE you had a gallon left.

How many gallons did you put in when you filled it up (before and after running out of gas)? Given all the problems owners are having with slow filling tanks I wonder how many gallons can really be put in the "16 gallon" tank.