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Gas gauge accuracy

2K views 7 replies 8 participants last post by  protaganis 
#1 ·
Howdy all,

My wife and I have our new element and we love it. It has been getting pretty good mileage. This first fill up after a trip to our parents' houses recorded around 24.5 mpg, with about 50/50 Hwy and city driving. We were also hauling my sister in law and their 1 year old son, so it was a packed car. Out next tank was around 21 mpg. This is fine and all. I understand that with it being summer and our varying driving habits, we could do better. My only problem is, that before we left for home, we filled up the element and the light had come on, but i was only able to put in around 12 gallons or so. Technically, we should have still been able to drive at least another 75-80 miles before running dry right? That seems awfully early for the light to come on.
When i recorded the 24.5 mpg, we had a little less than a 1/4 tank, and was only able to put in around 10 gallons. On a 15.9 gallon tank, I was expecting to put in more gas than i did. Since we still haven't even gotten that close to a 300 mile tank yet, and we are recording pretty good MPGs, I guess we can push the E a little longer.

Does anyone else tend to think their element reads a little lower than what is actually left in their tank? At what point does the fuel light come on in the elements?
In my 1998 Blazer, my gas light usually comes on when i have around 40-45 miles left in the tank, or about 2.5-3 gallons left.
 
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#2 ·
There will probably be lots of comments to follow along the lines of "you should search the forum" etc., but to save you some searching, here's what I know about the gas gauge: The light comes on with around 4 gallons left. The fuel tank is pretty flat. I don't know if I've ever put in 13 gallons, because I always start getting nervous with my gas light on. The gas gauge is a little deceptive too in that it doesn't seem "linear". That you'll have to watch and get a feel for.

Hope that helps! :D
 
#3 · (Edited)
The gas gauge on the Element is 100 percent accurate once the gauge gets below "F," and "E" means EMPTY. If you drive the car until the gauge is at E, you will be out of gas, as in, there is no "running it below E" in the Element. Trust me on this, as I've pumped 15.7 gallons of gas into mine, and the needle was sitting right on "E". The light comes on with about 3 to 3.5 gallons remaining in the tank. The gauge also reads pretty consistently and in "linear" fashion, to the point where I can use each tick mark to instantly calculate my "miles to empty," as each tick mark normally represents 40 miles for my driving.
 
#4 ·
Everyone above is right (and yes a good source of thread on here in regards to the gas gauge). But I also think based on descriptions above there is a chance you may not be calculating your MPGs correctly. You may want to revisit just to be sure once you are able to better gauge your tanks capacity
 
#5 ·
I concur about the accuracy, or, rather, the consistency. After 85K, I know that if the needle is right on the halfway tick that it's going to take 7.5 gallons, and that if I stop and fill the moment the light comes on - a needle-width below 1/8 - it will be 12.5 gallons. The consistency has been amazing.

I have, however, noticed that it's slightly nonlinear below 1/2, moving slightly faster between ticks than the top half of the scale. I usually see 40-45 miles between 1/8 points on the top, 35-40 on the bottom. It makes me think that it is computer-interpolated just like the temperature gauge, designed to play mind games with you to goad you into refueling sooner.
 
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