Fuel usage

[borgna]

Hi guys i reset my fuel usage every time i fill up. My fortuner tells me i average just under 8l/100km now in theory this should mean that i could get 1000km to a tank however the second half of the tank on the gauge seems to go down quick and with a quarter of a tank left it will say about 150km cruise range until empty even when I'm still using just under 8l/100km. Now the other day i filled up with a bit under a quarter of a tank left on the gauge with it telling me my cruise range was 110km so you would think that there would be say 10l of fuel left but when i fuelled up it only took 55 litres so there must have been 25 litres left which in theory if i was to run it completely dry i should still get 300km's.

I was just wondering if everyone else's cars do this to? is it just a safety thing so that you don't suck up the sludge from the bottom or so that you have a good reserve of fuel after it tells you to fill up? Also my fuel light comes on when it says my cruise range is 40km and the gauge is very close to empty. Is every one else's like this and has anyone hit 0km on the cruising range and kept going?

[Anthony]

My GX has always been this way. Tank reads 1/4 left (20lts), thinking it'll take about 60lts to fill it. Wrong!!! I think(?) car makers do this as a caution against running completely dry & sucking up the muck in the bottom of the tank. I & others have also experienced issues with range/distance to empty.

[mrh460]

The manual states that the fuel warning light comes on when there is approximately 12L remaining.

This explains why the effective range is over 100km after the light comes on.

[borgna]

ok thats good to know so theres really no need to panic when it says 40km to empty because really theres about 140km of usage left. It's all new to me coming from a 1995 gq patrol to a fortuner haha only have 2000km on the clock so far

[gbrought]

Yes. It’s also worth remembering that diesel expands by about 10% when filling. So even if the tank was empty, a “fill” will only ever be about 72-73 litres. The only way you could get 80 litres in the tank would be to take 60-90 more mins: fill to the neck, wait five minutes to get another litre in. Repeat.

So, 72 litres @ 8 l / 100kms will get you close to 900kms out of a tank but never 1000!

[Spook1205]

That’s probably going to be the best thing I will learn today

[thehunteroz]

Hat's off to you sir i too learnt something new today.

[borgna]

That may explain why I could only ever get 36l of diesel into my 40l headboard tank on my patrol haha thanks mate

[thehunteroz]

i've got a request with Toyota WA in at the moment for early fuel empty illumination, apparently it's back in Japan, and they are working on it.

[Chrissey]

thehunteroz Please update us on what Toyota says. My brother had this investigated on his new Hilux in Germany 6 months ago to the point where Toyota removed the fuel tank, without any luck. One theory is, that they didn't bother sourcing gauges for different tank sizes, but I guess we will never find out. On a side note, I just did my first longer trip and got 8.5ltr with heaps of stuff on the roof and 4 persons on board, very happy!

[thehunteroz]

Chrissey, sure i'll let you know when and if i find out

[Chrissey]

thehunteroz , any news regarding this?

[thehunteroz]

nothing of yet, sorry