Extended Fuel Tank Issues?
05-27-2015, 11:15 PM
#11
How many miles are on the truck?
My 12, wife's 13 and my 14 the first few tanks the gauge was 'way' off IMO. I had like 6 plus gallons to empy, yet it said I was empty.
I finally drove all past the 0 miles to empty a ways, with knowing gas stations nearby and they seemed to calibrate better. One thing though is if you pull on the nozzle a second time it'll throw the numbers off. While I normally let it click out a second time, when I don't the trucks are a lot closer to the gallon used number they display, after actually letting the tank run low.
As a disclaimer one thing I did was knowing I didn't let my truck idle for long and knowing I should be getting better than 13 mpg I quickly did the math in my head to make sure I 'shouldn't' run out of gas.
Now I once was on a road trip with the nagging wife who won't let the fuel level get less than a 1/4 tank and really pushed it since every exit with gas she would nag about getting gas. Ran out of gas almost at the top of the hill less than 300' from the gas station. Yep my stubborness had to get out and push about 40', but she coasted to the gas station. That vehicle seemed to be dead on after that. I suspect the calculation is very conservative and by forcing it to actually get closer to empty it calculates better.
My 12, wife's 13 and my 14 the first few tanks the gauge was 'way' off IMO. I had like 6 plus gallons to empy, yet it said I was empty.
I finally drove all past the 0 miles to empty a ways, with knowing gas stations nearby and they seemed to calibrate better. One thing though is if you pull on the nozzle a second time it'll throw the numbers off. While I normally let it click out a second time, when I don't the trucks are a lot closer to the gallon used number they display, after actually letting the tank run low.
As a disclaimer one thing I did was knowing I didn't let my truck idle for long and knowing I should be getting better than 13 mpg I quickly did the math in my head to make sure I 'shouldn't' run out of gas.
Now I once was on a road trip with the nagging wife who won't let the fuel level get less than a 1/4 tank and really pushed it since every exit with gas she would nag about getting gas. Ran out of gas almost at the top of the hill less than 300' from the gas station. Yep my stubborness had to get out and push about 40', but she coasted to the gas station. That vehicle seemed to be dead on after that. I suspect the calculation is very conservative and by forcing it to actually get closer to empty it calculates better.
05-28-2015, 01:07 AM
#12
Senior Member
Nope nor the 3 kids!
On long road trips generally its brought up at least once, but they laugh about it.
Although they all learned something that day.
Kids didn't realize you could still drive in neutral, and wife realized how tough it was without power steering.
Also oldest daughter realized how hard it was to push a car up even a slight hill. I could almost do it by myself, could get it barely going and damn if I didn't try without help since I screwed up in the first place!
On long road trips generally its brought up at least once, but they laugh about it.
Although they all learned something that day.
Kids didn't realize you could still drive in neutral, and wife realized how tough it was without power steering.
Also oldest daughter realized how hard it was to push a car up even a slight hill. I could almost do it by myself, could get it barely going and damn if I didn't try without help since I screwed up in the first place!
05-28-2015, 01:30 AM
#14
Hey Guys,
I'll add my experience with my new 2015 F150's extended gas tank/fuel gauge issue. I posted almost the very same complaint a month or so ago and nobody seemed to know anything about it. Well, I shut up and waited it out, going through the first 1500 miles or so wondering if I really had a 36 gallon tank or not also. Slowly it started reading more accurately on both the actual gallons still in the tank and the miles to empty. When I fill up I run it on medium speed and let it click off once and then a second time, on slow, and then even it up to the nearest 5 or 10 cents. Hand calculations (actually the acar app on my Android smartphone) were off by 1.5 to 2 mpg's lower than the truck's reading at first also, but now, at over 3300 miles, the hand calculations are usually off by less than 1 and mostly less than 0.5 mpg's. Probably depends on how I drive it and maybe the levelness of the driveway at the gas station.
I figure it has to do with the truck "learning" to read all the systems and getting more accurate with age! I know they advertise that the transmission learns how you drive and changes it's shifting patterns based on how you drive it, so.....I have no proof other than my truck, YMMV, literally!
Steve
I'll add my experience with my new 2015 F150's extended gas tank/fuel gauge issue. I posted almost the very same complaint a month or so ago and nobody seemed to know anything about it. Well, I shut up and waited it out, going through the first 1500 miles or so wondering if I really had a 36 gallon tank or not also. Slowly it started reading more accurately on both the actual gallons still in the tank and the miles to empty. When I fill up I run it on medium speed and let it click off once and then a second time, on slow, and then even it up to the nearest 5 or 10 cents. Hand calculations (actually the acar app on my Android smartphone) were off by 1.5 to 2 mpg's lower than the truck's reading at first also, but now, at over 3300 miles, the hand calculations are usually off by less than 1 and mostly less than 0.5 mpg's. Probably depends on how I drive it and maybe the levelness of the driveway at the gas station.
I figure it has to do with the truck "learning" to read all the systems and getting more accurate with age! I know they advertise that the transmission learns how you drive and changes it's shifting patterns based on how you drive it, so.....I have no proof other than my truck, YMMV, literally!
Steve
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bodybycoorslite (05-28-2015)
05-28-2015, 04:24 AM
#15
Senior Member
Last week, I drove my truck until it said 0 miles to empty. When I filled up, it took 34.61 gallons. Another time, I filled up after my display showed 5 miles to empty. The tank took 34 gallons. From my experience, I figure I have 2 gallons left when the display is showing 10 miles or less for distance to empty.
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floridawaterman (05-11-2023)
05-28-2015, 04:34 AM
#16
Senior Member
Actually it's not based on your current MPG. When you hit empty, that doesn't mean you've used 36 gallons. There will still be several gallons left in the tank. Auto companies do that on purpose. With a DTE showing 73 miles and your mpg at 13.2, that means you will use 5.53 more gallons. Since you've used 26.8 (basically 27), add 5.53 (based on current mpg), total is 32.33 gallons. That sounds about right to me.
Last edited by ODucksFan; 05-28-2015 at 04:37 AM.
05-29-2015, 10:52 AM
#18
Senior Member
BTW - In 12-14's - throw all those number out when you tow w/o an electric brake. It'll be way off, typically very conservative. With the elect. brake it'll recognize the trailer hook up and will calculate different.
05-29-2015, 11:45 AM
#19
