Hi All,

I have a question regarding TCH fuel tank capacity and the Fuel Light Indicator . According to the specs for TCH 2007 model, the max fuel tank is 17.1 Gallon. But whenever my TCH fuel light indicator turns on, I would fill up the gas just in case. I notice that everytime I fill it up, it would only be around 14.3 gallons. My total milage per full tank is averageing around 570 Miles. In addition, according to the "Fuel Ecomony meter", it shows that I'm doing around 41 MPG. I'm wondering how accurate is the TCH fuel light indicator? If I'm averaging around 40 MPG, shouldn't I be able to go over 600 total miles?

Mike

I also tend to fill up when the low fuel level light is on and it's usually around 14 gallons. My fuel indicator light goes on when the fuel gauge is on the second line on the gas indicator. At this point, the cruising range is usually down to 0 miles. However, as I continue to drive, the cruising range jumps back up to about 30 miles. Keep in mind that I still have 3 gallons left in the car.

Thanks Steve for your reply.

When i filled up my gas, the "Cruise Range" is normally 10 to 15 miles. I never got it down to 0 before. So basically you are saying that if the cruise range goes down to 0, it's still safe to continue to drive? I was afraid that if the cruise range goes down to 0, I'll run out of gas in middle of freeway. I did that once with my Honda Civic Hybrid back in 2004. So that means the "Cruise Range" is not accurate, since I still have about 3 gallons left on my gas tank...

There have been a number of discussions about this subject in the past. Try this link or do a search for another one.

Bottom line: Users generally have about 3 gallons remaining in the tank when the low fuel light comes on and many report driving past the zero miles remaining display.

http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/s...sing+range+tch

Thanks Kevin for this info.

I think the 3 gallon reserve is about right for most vehicles. This was the same with our old Camry. Our Ford Super Duty has about 3 gallons left when the low fuel light comes on which means I can travel another 27 miles without running out of fuel when towing our travel trailer

I routinely go beyond 0 mile cruise range. Once I think I drove for about 100 miles past it, I think. Not voluntarily of course. I was along a particularly desolate stretch of highway 16 between Macon, GA and Savannah, GA. The NAV wasn't showing a gas station so I just drove to the exit where I knew there was a station. I filled up with a little over 16 gallons at that time so I guess I could've gone another 30-40 miles.

I have gone as much as 115 miles beyond the "O Cruising Miles" indicator. I typically fill up soon after it reaches "0". Today I filled up for the first time in a month after going 642 miles, about 37 miles after "0". The fill was 14.97 gallons.

The 3 gallon limit is typical. The idea of a low fuel light is to warn you before you run out of fuel. Most people drive with less than 1/2 tank of fuel, and they need to be reminded before it goes out.

Don't worry, it's no big deal to be reminded early. Unless you are hypermiling and want to get that extra good mileage without the weight of a full tank :-)

On a previous car, fueled it up shortly after the fuel light warning came on. After filling, figured at the light coming on situation in reality had over 4 gallons left in tank. The car was avg 21 miles per gallon. Multiplying 4 X 21 =84 miles of travel left in the fuel tank. To be on the safe side, when first noticing the fuel light on figured there was 50 miles to empty, before hitting that mileage, pulled up to the pumps before 40 miles were traveled to refuel.

The cruising range left in the tank could purposely be made to show less miles then actually be left in the tank. Would guess to say the manufacturer uses this as a safety buffer. They don't want the vehicle user to run the tank near the cruising range prediction and run out of gas a few miles before the miles limit was reached. Manufacturers don't want complaints on cruising range prediction. We all know we have different driving habits, terrain, temps, snowy, slow down conditions that can vary our normal driving range by miles.