I have had my 2013 Rav 4 now for about 6 months; Gas Tank issue- The manual says a 15.9 gallon fuel tank. I have driven it to (so-called) empty. I have only been able to fill up with 12.6 gallons of fuel at most. I’d like to put more in, 15.9 as it says, more driving miles!. My fuel gage says I'm on empty but still only able to get 12 gallons in. So do I really have 3 more ( ghost) gallons to ride on? thx..:shrug:
Fuel Capacity in tank is 16 gal?
luckySilver
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Have't a clue how many gallons are left when the low fuel light is on or it says "E". Significant other insists on filling up when it says 100 miles to go. That's better than what it used to be, filling up at half a tank. Typically it takes 10.something gallons when there is 100 miles to go.
The story I was told was: back when Japanese cars first came to the US, they were set when you hit E - you had a few miles and then you were out of gas when American cars typically had 2 gal or so - approx 50 miles left. Car owners freaked out as to "what was wrong with their cars" The Typical Japanese response was - E means empty - they were told - no no no - E (in Pre-light days) meant about 50 miles - so they changed to follow that unspoken custom to keep owners that were buying their first Japanese car ever to keep from freaking out. The rest is History (we know who writes the history)
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I had a 72' pinto that when the gauge got to 1/8 tank, the tank was empty! The only problem was we were 10 miles from Susanville, Ca. out in the woods at 4.am. No fun! Good to have some reserve in the tank.
Sounds like my 94 Blazer where 1/4 meant empty as empty could be. Found that out in I85 in the middle of nowhere South Carolina
In the old days with mechanical fuel pumps driven by the engine I would test the fuel gauge by carrying a spare 5 gal can of gas in the trunk and note what the gauge showed when I ran out. I don't do that anymore since the electric fuel pumps inside the tank use the fuel to cool them and it is not a good idea to run them dry.
Frank 2015 Rav4 XLE with 7500 miles
Frank 2015 Rav4 XLE with 7500 miles
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381 Posts
Hi Caram,
It's perfectly normal these days. The needles near empty, the low fuel light just comes on and the tank is still a quarter full. Mine does the same thing and so have the last few cars I've owned. On one occasion, I pushed almost 30 miles after the DTE display was reading 0. I'm going to try "really" hard to never do that again, I was sweating it at the time. I know many want the fuel gauge to be 100% accurate but that simply doesn't happen these day. The fuel pump is in the gas tank and the fuel actually acts as a coolant for the pump. Many have speculated that the bias in the gas gauge is there to help protect the fuel pump. That makes as much sense to me as any other explanation I've heard. Bottom line is, IMO, as long as the gauge is consistent about it, you'll get used to it. The low fuel light comes on and you're at 1/4 tank. Works for me!
Drive Safe,
Steve R.
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11,749 Posts
Frankly who cares? If you let your tank get that low then you are on your own. When it gets to 1/4 then fill it up and continue on. I've driven for 50 years and have yet to run out of fuel. None of my previous 40 cars had a "warning light" to tell me when I was low on fuel. I simply looked at the fuel gauge and pulled over to get gas. Is that a difficult decision? I just don't see the point of this post.
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124 Posts
My light went on yesterday - needle was midway between a quarter tank and empty.
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124 Posts
Agreed - my only thought is having a rough idea of potential range in a known setting before taking a road trip. I ran out of gas when I was sixteen (many decades ago) - something I don't want to repeat 
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381 Posts
Apparently, a lot of folks care, the question keeps coming up. Why? I have no idea! I used to work for car dealers back in the 70's and early 80's and we occasionally had customers coming in complaining about inaccurate gas gauges. These customers have always been there, and always will be. The only one I remember that we were able to do anything about was a Mercury Capri that would run "forever" on full, then fall dead on the side of the road, out of fuel, with the gauge still showing 3/8th of a tank. That one was a new sending unit but beyond that, it is what it is. As I said before, as long as the system is consistent, I'm fine with it.
Drive Safe,
Steve R.
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