2021 HE. Previously the low fuel light would turn on when it said I had about 40 miles left per its estimate (I brought this up on the forum and was told that you have about 30-40 miles after reaching 0 on the "mileage left" estimate). Now I seem to have the opposite issue - I'm down to about 10 estimated miles but the low fuel light has yet to turn on. Couldn't find anything in the settings to turn the notification on/off. Any idea what the issue could be?
Low Fuel Light Not Turning On
- Thread starter bsl394
- Start date
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RET2
SILVER Star
Have you verified fuel state by odometer and miles traveled?
my 08 LC light comes on with 7 miles left - but it only takes 20 gallons to fill up - so I have a 5 gallon reserve past ZERO miles until empty
- Thread starter
- #5
I just filled up and will do a verification when I fill up next. I don't mind the discrepancy between the low fuel light and the actual mileage remaining, but the low fuel light has saved me on a couple of road trips when I wasn't paying attention to the estimated mileage left and didn't realize I was running low until the light turned on. Never ran out of gas in 20 years on the road but I always get anxious when I'm below a quarter of a tank (even if I'm not on a road trip).
Short answer is I don't think there's anything wrong with your low fuel warning light. You generally have to burn into reserve for it to illuminate.
Long answer:
There seems to be two separate systems. 1) Miles to empty which is projected 2) Physical fuel gauge and associated warning light.
The miles to empty is a projected reading based on injector duty cycle. It is very conservative and will often will leave 4-5 gallons reserve once it reports zero miles range. It resets after re-fueling the vehicle, and will then project based on some extrapolation and prediction. Commonly, there is 40-70 miles range left after it predicts zero miles range.
The fuel gauge and warning light tracks to actual fuel remaining in the tank based on the fuel sender. This should be read as truth. There's probably 3-4 gallons, with 30-50 miles of range left after the low fuel light illuminates.
Long answer:
There seems to be two separate systems. 1) Miles to empty which is projected 2) Physical fuel gauge and associated warning light.
The miles to empty is a projected reading based on injector duty cycle. It is very conservative and will often will leave 4-5 gallons reserve once it reports zero miles range. It resets after re-fueling the vehicle, and will then project based on some extrapolation and prediction. Commonly, there is 40-70 miles range left after it predicts zero miles range.
The fuel gauge and warning light tracks to actual fuel remaining in the tank based on the fuel sender. This should be read as truth. There's probably 3-4 gallons, with 30-50 miles of range left after the low fuel light illuminates.