Greetings all,

Hybie wrote:
>When it gets down to 2 or 3 bars I have to fill it with more than 12 gallons of gas >leaving me with less than one gallon left in the 13.2 gallon tank.

That is definitely NOT my experience.
In my three fill-ups with 3 or 4 bars, I put in 10.9, 10.7, and 10.6 gallons.
Filling up at 1 bar, I put in 12.3 and 12.3 gallons.
My 0-bar fill-ups (14 of them) range from 11.5 to 12.9 gallons.

I recommend keeping track (xcel wrote a nice post) to get to know just what your gauge means for your vehicle...

Seems like you have a GREAT gauge: "empty" really MEANS empty!

LOL

RPDOG

You know, when I started tracking my mileage on my '03 CVT, I kept track of how many bubbles I had left (bars).

I know that when it gets to 0 bars, I have a "reserve" that will give me another bar or two...then slowly go back down. Once it hits 0-1 bar for the second time, I know it's time to fill up.

My best tank so far is 540 miles. That was with me running out of bars at 460 miles, then getting another 1-2 bars at around 465, then dropping to 0 bars at 520 on the way home.

As far as having a linear and exact guage...that's not possible using a float. They need to do some sort of frequency on the tank or something, or go by weight. I don't know.

I know that when all bars are gone that means I need to gass up soon.

Sometimes the gauge is humouous.
My wife & I will hop in and notice 2 or 3 bars after startup.
Then after we drive a few miles it displays 4 bars.

My wife (Or someone) will say "Look now it shows higher than before"

"Yes, we have lots of benefits with a hybrid car"

Efficient drivers do it better.
1003 miles a tank personal record. 74MPG calculated. HCH1 CVT

Just filled up for 1st time. Guage was down to one bar. Only took 10.2 Gallons. total of 385 miles on 2005 CVT Civic. I didn't "top off" the tank just stopped when the pump did. For us this is great. One trip to the gas station in 13 days! One odd thing though when I got in to start the car the key wouldn't turn. I had to push it in, firmly, then turn, and it was fine. Usually we just turn it and go.

Hi everyone - this is a great forum!

I personally don't trust the bars, only because I've observed that the rate a gas guage moves from F to E is inconsistent in most cars I've owned. I don't trust them to be very precise.

I have 30K miles on my 03 HCH. The mileage readout on the dash is consistently 2.5 - 3 MPG higher than the actual. Knowing that, I use my trip odometer. When I hit about 500 miles on the tank, I start looking for a station (passively - I could still go another 80 safely, but I drive in a LOT of traffic and don't want to get caught). I've never put more than 11 gallons in it. Always between 10-11 gal.

*** Retired after 65,000 outstanding miles ***

Paul,
Be sure your foot is on the brake before turning the key.
This also applies before you can move the CVT out of Park.

Efficient drivers do it better.
1003 miles a tank personal record. 74MPG calculated. HCH1 CVT

I found out in this last tank that I had 631 miles when the "low fuel warning light" came on. I ended up with 689 miles on the tank when I filled up with 12.7 gallons. That calculated to 54 MPG.

So if you extrapolate (it's a fine day when you get to use extrapolate in a sentence!) that out to my APPROXIMATELY 13.2 gallon tank, that's 13.2 multiplied by 54 which equals 712 miles had I ran it to empty.

So that means I would have gotten 81 more miles after the "low fuel" warning light came on. 54 multiplied by 1.5 = 81. So I had 1.5 gallons of fuel left when the low fuel light came on.

So I'm going to use that figure for my car until further evidence to the contrary. My new rule is:

I have 1.5 gallons left when the low fuel light comes on for the first time.

And based on the FCD MPG for THAT tank, I will know how many more miles I MIGHT BE ABLE TO DRIVE if I need to push it for whatever reason.