38 Gal tank experiences....

On my previous Tunda I had the 26Gal. Never really paid much attention to how many gallons i was puttin in until I got my 2016.

Just seems like I should be able to go to maybe 32 or so..
Thanks for your reply....

 

Just out of curiosity, are most people calculating mpg at fill-up (miles driven since last fill-up / gallons required to fill-up truck) or just reading the AVG MPG displayed via the on-board computer. Personally, I have found the AVG MPG displayed on most vehicles to be significantly different than the actual MPG (calculated at fill-up, as noted above).

 

I'm looking at the tank average on the DIC and comparing to my hand calculated numbers and it's pretty much dead on. Ditto for the trip average that pops up when I shut the truck off, assuming I drove more than a few feet. The Eco number on the infotainment screen is way out to lunch, though.

 

I am getting 17 MPG on my Tundy, that is through calculation and not the truck telling me!

 

I tested the gas tank before . Mine is 38 gal also ...

Drove until 0 miles , and than added another 60 miles below 0 . And total 33,2 gallons refuel added on . So , still have 4,5 gallons in the tank after 60 miles below 0 distance to empty

 

That is CRAZY!!! I would figure that a vehicle that has a 38 gallon tank would have 15% left in it once the gas light came on (5-6 gallons in reserve). If I drove another 60 miles AFTER the reserve light came on (assuming about 15 mpg) I would assume I am on fumes - maybe 1 or 2 gallons left. I would NEVER expect having 4-5 gallons left in reserve even AFTER driving another 60 miles past "0 distance remaining". This is crazy, and I would assume to be a design flaw.

For what it's worth, my daily drivers are an Alfa Romeo Gulia and a Ram 2500. The Gulia has a 15.3 gallon tank and I routinely put 14+ gallons in it. The Ram has a 34 gallon tank and I usually fill it up with 30-31.5 gallons.

Next week I'm getting my 2020 Tundra 4x4 Limited. Can't wait to see how much gas it will take when the "reminder" light comes on.

 

It's not crazy. Hook a 7k lb travel trailer up, watch your MPG plummet to 8 MPG then try to drive another 60 miles and see if you make it.

 

In Canadaland here, so my experiences are in Liters. The truck has a 144L (38Gal) tank. I've driven it to 0kms of range twice, the first time I filled up immediately, and it took 100L (26Gal) of fuel. That's a 44L (12Gal) reserve, or almost 50% of the usable tank. On my last tank, I took it to 0 Liters, then drove it for maybe 50kms more past that. When I filled it, it took 110L (29Gal), so still 34L (9Gal) of fuel left in the tank.

I look at it like this: With 100L (26Gal) of 'non-reserve capacity', assuming I get 14L/100km (16.8mpg), I've got 714kms (444Miles) of range before the gas light comes on. With the remaining 44L (12Gal) reserve, I can drive an additional 314kms (195 miles) before the truck actually runs out of fuel. That's a great safety margin, and I'm more than happy with that.

Average unloaded range of 700kms on the highway is more than enough, in my mind. At 100kms/hr (62mph), that's 7 hours of driving. I'll want to stop long before that to stretch my legs and get some food, might as well stop for fuel as well.


So, every summer we do a camping trip from Winnipeg to Rushing River, a 500km (310Mile) round trip. We tow our pop-up trailer behind the truck, and get an average of 16L/100km (14.7mpg). I burn through 80L (21Gal) of fuel on that trip, plus maybe another 5L (1.3Gal) of fuel puttering around that weekend, going to the store, etc. The usable capacity of the truck is so big I can easily do that entire weekend on one tank of gas, and still have a 1/4 tank left once we get home, before dipping into the reserve.

My Brother-in-Law, by comparison, has a Toyota 4-Runner with a 75L (20Gal) tank. Pulling his 20' travel Trailer along the same route, he gets 21L/100km (11.2mpg). When he arrives at Rushing River, he's already burned through 52.5L (14Gal) of his fuel, and is basically on Empty. The day before we leave to drive back to winnipeg, he drives the 30-minutes into Kenora so he can fill his vehicle, because there is zero chance of him making it home on the fuel he has left, even counting the reserve in his tank.

 

I do both. past vehicles, the displayed MPG was always off. To my surprise, the Tundra is really close. +/- .3 mpg each time.

 

So, the takeaway seems to be the Tundra has a pretty accurate device that calculates average mpg. And, the amount of gas left in the tank after "0 miles remaining" is displayed is ridiculously high - probably 5 or 6 gallons. Personally, when "0 miles remaining" is displayed, there should be about 5% of the fuel remaining. In this case, about 1.9-2.0 gallons. To design it any other way seems "flawed", IMO.

A vehicle should be designed so that it can actually use 98% +/- of its fuel capacity. Not 85-90%. To knowingly design a system otherwise seems flawed, to me.

I had a Ford Excursion 4x4 with the 7.3 liter Powerstroke. That vehicle had a 44 gallon tank and I would often take it skiing with 3 friends to VT. I would fill up in NJ before leaving, drive to Killington, drive around for 3 or 4 days, and then drive back to NJ without getting fuel. On a highway ride like that (80-85 mph) I got about 20 mpg. I would often put 40 or 41 gallons in that truck when filling it.

My point is I have never seen a vehicle that states "0 miles remaining" on the dash, but 15% of the fuel capacity still in the tank. To have that situation is "flawed", IMO.

 

The Tundra can use 98% of its capacity. The light coming on doesn't restrict the flow.

If you're towing and only getting 7 to 8 MPG, that's less than 50 miles complete empty, bone dry, nothing left for the fuel pump to suck up. Not cutting it that close, it's about 35 miles.

Your Excursion betters the Tundra's fuel economy by a few MPG, BUT......

You state you got 20 MPG. 20MPG x 4 gallons left = 80 miles to bone dry.
Tundra gets about 16 MPG x 6 gallons = 96 gallons to bone dry.

It's not that big of a difference.

 

I put 100L in my truck when it said it was at a quarter of a tank. That would say I should have about 10 litres (less than 3 gallons) when it's empty. Haven't tried taking it lower.

 

Just filled mine up today. Dash said 10-15 mte. It took 31.7 gallons. 408 mte afterwards. Hand calculated about 10mpg. I did pull my enclosed trailer at the 1st of the tank. And I have a lead foot. LOL

 

Truck said 42 miles to empty with about 450 miles driven, filled up, truck took about 27 gallons, still had over 10 gallons of fuel left, good to know I could easily get 500 miles of range without towing anything.

 

Very nice. I couldn't get that even with stock tires.

 

Here is about the best data you can get.
2020 Crewmax, 38 gallon tank.

Refuel light and "0 miles to go" literally turned on and beeped as I pulled into the gas station this morning.

Filled the tank with 93 octane and got exactly 32.17 gallons in the tank when the pump clicked off.
Ive learned not to try for the next even dollar amount... since it ALWAYS = spilled fuel out the filler neck. When it clicks off... Im done.

In the grand scheme of things... 5-6 gallons of gas will not go very far in these trucks... so I wont deliberately run it this low again.
I only did it so I knew exactly what mine had left when it got to "zero".

 

The only question remaining is how much of the roughly 6 gallons of fuel left in the vehicle is usable by the vehicle.

 

Why wouldn't it all be usable?

 

Thats my same experience, cant get anywhere near 30 gals or over on fill-up.

I will be due maybe Monday or so, may drive it down to almost zeros miles left and then see what happens at the pump.

 

It might not all be usable if the inlet line to the fuel pump is in a position where it will not "access" all the fuel that is left in the vehicle.

 

These tanks will use all the gas in the tank.
I didn’t realize it but had a broken fuel gauge and ran out of gas. The gauge was stuck at about 1/4 tank. My Tundra has the 38 gal tank swap.
AAA brought 1 gallon of gas and I drove to a gas station that was a 1/2 mile away. It took 37.5 gals to fill it up.

 

Great info. Sorry you had to find out the hard way.

 

I got a little more than 17mpg on a road trip from Indianapolis to Virginia Beach. Unfortunately, I do not recall the range.

I typically get between 13.5-15mpg in town. I had plan to drive my Tundra on the highway more frequently but since Covid and work from home schedules took over, I have not been able to realize my true fuel range per tank under "normal" conditions.

 

That's not bad. Obviously, you were not towing anything. How loaded was the truck and how fast were you driving?

I haven't taken a long trip in mine yet. Only have 700 miles on it far.

 

The bed was comply filled with clothes, kid toys and beach stuff. However it was not heavy - 300lbs max. And, a family of 4 in the cab.

We were driving 70-75mph most of the way up and down hill.

 

I'm probably beating this horse, but has anyone noticed how the DTE changes? Or lack thereof?

So every time I fill up, I get my normal DTE reading, which is fine and I don't complain about it. But one day I noticed I filled up on gas, DTE said 479 or something like that. I drove on a flat road and was averaging 18-19 for that section. I drove for about 12 miles but noticed the DTE only dropped by about 6 miles. So it adjusts as how you drive, but strangely.

In contrast, Wife and I just drove our 16 Accord V6 from NE Ohio to Topsail NC and the DTE on her car started at around 535 and after about 20 miles down the highway, as my gas mileage was increasing and approaching 35-38 mpg, the DTE would climb to low 600's.

Not complaining at all because it's just me observing, but it's very interesting to see how differently two vehicles can adjust their DTE as you drive. Personally I prefer to see a live change in the way the Accord does it.

 

This one has baffled me recently....
Since purchasing my truck in 2018, my DTE has always read 408mi on the dot after fill-up. Recently, I noticed after a fill-up that it read 500-something miles. Hmmm, strange. Next fill-up it read over 600mi! It's bounced around between 500-625mi for a full tank, and doesn't get down to the 400mi mark until around a 2/3 tank.

Anyone know what might be going on? Makes me question the accuracy of the DTE number.

 

Have you disconnected your battery at anytime? If you do it resets the DTE computer, and it will start out much higher and eventually (thousands of miles) it will find a balance based on how it's been driven.

 

Aha! Yes, I replaced the battery a few months back. I've been driving so infrequently that I didn't even realize that this all started when I replaced the battery. Good to know. Thanks!