How many gallons to fill up your tank after the warning beep?

[hptsang]

Today I finally have my chance to fill up my first tank. I ran for 462 miles , with one bar flashing after the beep and the computer shows 16 miles left for the rest of the tank. I went to the gas station to fill it up and only took me 9.66 gallons to fill it up to full. I thought it would take at least 11 gallons to fill it up since from the data it seems like I only have a gallon or less left in the car. Is that mean I will still be able to run 100 miles after the computer shows 0?

[fuzzy1]

Your fill sounds about right. Mine takes about 9.5 at the warning beep.

Bob Wilson intentionally runs out of fuel for sport. Somewhere around here is the very long thread where he first reports his tank calibration, along with the results of actually running it dry.

[spiderman]

Originally Posted by hptsang

Is that mean I will still be able to run 100 miles after the computer shows 0?

Yup... fudge factor to make SURE you don't run the car out of gas. Mine usually takes 9.2 - 9.5 at fill up (0 miles to empty).

[pekinkaid]

Originally Posted by hptsang

Today I finally have my chance to fill up my first tank. I ran for 462 miles , with one bar flashing after the beep and the computer shows 16 miles left for the rest of the tank. I went to the gas station to fill it up and only took me 9.66 gallons to fill it up to full. I thought it would take at least 11 gallons to fill it up since from the data it seems like I only have a gallon or less left in the car. Is that mean I will still be able to run 100 miles after the computer shows 0?

Beep and flashing pip = 9.4 gallons, twice for me.

[jburns]

Originally Posted by spiderman

Yup... fudge factor to make SURE you don't run the car out of gas. Mine usually takes 9.2 - 9.5 at fill up (0 miles to empty).

Lotta fudge.

I think this two gallon reserve is left over from years of low mileage cars. Back in the day if you got 15 MPG in a family car you were doing good. That would give you a 30 mile reserve after the gauge approached empty. Completely reasonable. This same two gallon reserve in the Prius gives you about 100 miles. Way more than necessary.

[bwilson4web]

Originally Posted by hptsang

Today I finally have my chance to fill up my first tank. I ran for 462 miles , with one bar flashing after the beep and the computer shows 16 miles left for the rest of the tank. I went to the gas station to fill it up and only took me 9.66 gallons to fill it up to full. I thought it would take at least 11 gallons to fill it up since from the data it seems like I only have a gallon or less left in the car. Is that mean I will still be able to run 100 miles after the computer shows 0?

My testing to fuel exhaustion indicates there is 2.1 gallons remaining when FLASH starts. Because there is no indication when the last of the gas is gone, I do not recommend running completely out of gas.

When the engine finally runs out of gas, the car switches to traction battery power without any driver notice. If you are driving faster than 46 mph, the MPG indicator will suddenly show 100 MPG and the traction battery SOC will start to drop. If running under 46 mph, such transitions can occur and may not be noticed until the traction battery is so low that all power is lost and the "power steering" error light comes on. At that point, the car can only roll to a stop.

When FLASH starts, I reset the current trip meter and make sure to fill up before the 2 gallons is burned up. If I'm planning to run out of gas, I'll put a 1 gallon spare can in the back and monitor the display a little closer.

Bob Wilson

[mjv]

I've been using the Miles to Empty feature (first vehicle that had one) and was surprised when you would supposedly be running out of gas and still have two gallons left, I would think that one is plenty given the MPG performance of the vehicle. What surprises me is that when stopping at an intersection I had 9 miles to empty. When I started moving again, I have 0 miles to empty! I can usually go approximately 20-30 miles without an issue, but I think I will start using the trip meter just to document how many miles I go.

[madelinesonja]

Originally Posted by hptsang

Today I finally have my chance to fill up my first tank. I ran for 462 miles , with one bar flashing after the beep and the computer shows 16 miles left for the rest of the tank. I went to the gas station to fill it up and only took me 9.66 gallons to fill it up to full. I thought it would take at least 11 gallons to fill it up since from the data it seems like I only have a gallon or less left in the car. Is that mean I will still be able to run 100 miles after the computer shows 0?

The owner's manual says that when the lowest pip starts flashing, there is a reserve of about 1.6 gallons remaining. My first two tanks, I filled up pretty much immediately once the pip started, and I got about 9.5 gallons when I filled up. Today was my third fill, and I went about 50-60 miles after it started flashing (yesterday), and it took 10.25 gallons.

[DickPhillips]

Originally Posted by fuzzy1

Your fill sounds about right. Mine takes about 9.5 at the warning beep.

I've wondered how much fuel it will actually take to fill the tank after the auto-shutoff of the pump. My wife's VW diesel powered New Beetle will take a good gallon and a half but very slowly as that stuff really seems to foam up. Maybe the best bet, if it doesn't take much after the initial shutoff to full, is to let the auto thing happen with the pump and then just round up to the next "even" money amount. If this is done consistently it might lead to a pretty constant level of fuel in the filled tank.

I've only got about 2100 miles on mine at this point so haven't filled it many times yet. Still learning about the car- a lot.