I have no idea...i always fill mine when it reaches 1/4 tank or slightly less...learned the hard way as a kid when my dad ran the ol' station wagon out of gas in the middle of Nevada...a cross country trip from Maryland to California and back again...can you say National Lampoon's Vacation...except there was no trip to Wally World!

 

1995 302 XLT Ext Cab Auto,
12MPG!!!
I need to tear that motor apart and clean her up, remove carbon, etc

 

I get 16-17 on average. I have bested a 22.5. I have a 2wd 4.6. 2005. You should NEVER let your tank run low enough for the light to come on. That is a bad thing.

 

2006 5.4l xlt 4x4 just did a round trip to reno then fallon, nv and then back to Klamath falls. My gas Milage was 18.73 and only filled up the truck once. With that Milage to the gallon and the gas tank a 30 I would have been able to have gone around 540 miles on the tank but I learned my lesson to a very long time ago, with my scout II international I had back in the 80's. Don't let the tank go below the quarter mark for you could pick up any sediment that is in your tank and that would not be good on the engine its self.

 

Why is this, besides the shock of the bill to fill it up? I always keep it above 1/2 in the winter, but if its summer time, and I'm driving it regularly, what's the harm?

 

There is sedament in the tank like mentioned above. When the tank is low it is alot easier for the pump to pick it up and clog up filters, injectors etc etc.

 

I have been told the pump gets hot when the gas is low. If there is fuel it will help cool the pump and help the life of the pump. Not sure how much truth there is to that.....

 

I've been running my truck out of gas once every week or two. I'm waiting for the time I fill the tank and the pump doesn't work. I was trying to figure out this weird buzzing noise that only happened once in a while and finally realized the other day that it was my fuel pump trying to pump fuel that wasn't there.

 

Same truck as mine, I get about 13mpg city(summer) and 18mpg hwy(summer). The winter drops both figures about 2mpg's due to the "winter gas" here in the North East US.