Cruising range for 38 gal tank?

Maybe someone here can help?

I have a 2018 Tundra Crewmax TRD. It’s my 4th Tundra so I’m well acquainted with them. I’ve had it for about 8 months, and never once has the low fuel light illuminated or alert sounded for low fuel. I’ve gotten the miles to empty down to 2 and still no light. Service Dept says it’s dunctioning normally in tests. Has anyone heard of such a thing? I try not to rely on the light, but sometimes I forget. Plus...it’s just supposed to work!

 

Welcome to the forum!

 

Welcome Kelly70, congrats on your 2018!
Now that you mention it, I have not seen mine on yet either. Check out my pic from post in January - still shows 18 miles to “empty”, lowest I’ve been. Nice to think that reserve is in their but don’t want to chance it.

 

when my truck was stock, the low fuel light would come on around 475 miles and I would fill up between 525-550 miles. If I were to run the tank dry, it would go 600 miles.

now with the tires and small lift, the low fuel light comes on around 425 miles and I fill up between 450-475 miles. If I were to run the tank dry, it would go 525-550 miles (depending on how heavy my foot was during that tank of gas ).

I ignore the "miles to empty" display and, instead, I calculate my mileage by hand.

 

You notice how far off your electronic MPG indicator is?
I've got the numbers for the last 6 months or so (havent calculated them all, but write down ODO, Trip, Electronic MPG - then reset trip and E-MPG before taking off from the gas station).
My readout seems to be about 0.5mpg off. Truck is stock from the dealer (has a wheels and tires package that may effect - TSS comes with 20" rims and offroad tires).

I usually fill up around half a tank - but when i'm getting lazy i'll let it go further - usually not much more than 390mi which reads about 1/4-1/8 to empty i think. usually average 14.5mpg or so (hand calculated) ... lots of city miles. averaged about 16-17mpg on a road trip from TX to California.. depending on what part of the trip i was on lol

 

I usually get about 520-540 on the indicator at fill up. But, surprisingly it’s been telling me that I have 550+ miles available at fill ups, ever since I installed my TRD CAI. And I am running regular unleaded fuel all the times. I do have the flex fuel 5.7l, but, I have never put anything but regular unleaded in it.

 

yeah, the electronic display has always been a little off. it is fairly close, but it is still just an estimation/projection. calculating it by hand at each fill up is exact.

for me, the "miles to empty" display reads zero right at about when the low fuel light comes on, but the miles per gallon display is always reads about 0.5 mpg higher than what I calculate by hand.

Interesting observation...
Now that I am running the 295/55/20 tires, the speedometer and the odometer are extremely accurate (verified by gps and the speeding ticket that I just got ). as opposed to the stock, 275/55/20 tires, I was actually going a little slower and traveling a little shorter distance than what the speedometer and the odometer read.

 

I let it get down to about 10 miles til empty and I'm only able to put 30 gallons. Just filled up yesterday morning after I let it get beyond 0 miles to empty and put 32 gallons in. Regarding the range, mine comes up to about 540 on average.

 

^ me too

 

I reset my trip every time I fill up. Once it gets close to 550miles I’ll fill up. Usually takes 34-36 gallons at the pump.

 

Here,... And I was just about to contact the dealer and ask what the hell?.. glad I checked here first. Everything I see makes perfect sense. Thanks Tundra forum Family!

 

I always fill at half so it doesn't matter to me. I'm not driving 5-6 hrs straight without a break anyways.

 

Mine consistently says 500-510 at fill-up. 2018 2wd, 35,000 miles, 87 regular. I go by calculated MPG, the displayed is simply an estimate. In my case, I've gone down to 0 only a few times and have about 9 gallons left at fill-up. In realistic terms I could get about 650 miles before coasting to the side of the road on fumes. The fuel pump will NOT self destruct if you run out of gas, that is an old myth.

Dan

 

I agree with this ^^
Just traded my 07 in that I had for 11 years 275k miles on it and almost always ran it 50 miles after reading zero on display. It would consistently take 25 gallons at the pump, so I was running the tank pretty dry for 11 years no fuel pump problems. Now with that said I have been a little cautious doing that with my brand new 19’. But give it a year and I’ll be doing it again.

 

This particular meter was somewhat accurate on my 16 Tacoma, but I've learned to completely ignore it in my Tundra. During the summer I'm usually at about 535 miles to empty after a fill up, but in the winter it has gotten as low as 490 after filling up. I think it just averages your MPG's for the previous tank.

 

I have a 2017 Platinum Tundra with 38 gallons tank, on long trips I average 17.6 mpg. Got 513 miles when it showed 25 miles left. Filled up took 29.6 gallons. That included some city traffic at start of my trip. I kept truck at 70 mph most of the time on interstate.
After fill up it showed 570 miles to empty. Even showed getting 21 mpg till I hit the hills in NC. Then dropped down to 15 mpg. On the way home was doing 80+ averaged 14.6. Big difference from 70 mph. The most fuel I have put in my 38 gal tank has been 30.1 gallons. That was when I let the mileage meter read 0.
So there was 8 gallons reserve. If I baby it I figure I can get close to 640miles to an empty tank.

 

City driving I get 400-450 before light comes on. When the light comes on and display reads 0 miles until empty then you have 8 gallons left in the tank.

Road trip I’ve gotten over 600 miles on one tank of gas. Before I filled up.

I normally get 20-25 mpg on long road trips


My last fill up showed 577 miles until empty

 

here are the stats for our 2018. 80-95% of the time is city driving. the min mpg is when towing from ATL to ND with a 6x12 uhaul trailer and the max mpg was driving from ND to ATL (without a trailer) to move furniture back.

 

here are the stats for my 2014 4Runner. the min mpg and the max mpg is from the same trip pulling a 6x12 uhaul trailer for a different load of stuff a few years earlier.

my driving cycle is 4 days a week at 73 mph to/from work. 1 way is about 15 miles door to door. rest is city traffic.

 

I have a 150 mile daily commute all highway. I cruise anywhere from 72-80mph. When I fill up it typically says 500 miles until empty. If I drove it dead empty I could probably get 550-575 miles out of it.