Fuel Remaining Incorrect

[UtahJeepGuy]

Anyone have any issues with the computer being off on guessing your remaining mileage? Drove to work this morning (about 20 miles) knowing I was going to get gas today bc I had about 1/8 tank. Dash told me I had about 50 miles remaining...drove my 20 miles to work...turned the truck on afterwards and it tells me 15 miles, drive about 1/2 a mile and it says "low" under miles remaining.

Me thinking I'm about to run out of gas at any minute I pull off and get some gas...clicks off after only 19 gallons in. The truck holds 22 right? Just seems like a hell of an error to be telling me literally 0 gas to having 3 gallons left.

I park in a flat parking lot, and the only thing I can think is that it's hot (Northern UT is like 95+ right now), but I have no idea why there's that much variation in guage vs actual fuel remaining.

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[Shackleton]

I’ve noticed that the computer makes it seem like it is dropping faster than it should be. As soon as it gets low with this truck I start looking for gas. I haven’t paid attention to how much I put in to compare 19 gallons to 22 gallons but the first time it happened to me I freaked out a bit. At a quarter tank remaining I start looking for fuel for the most part

 

[Mr._Bill]

There have been several long threads about this. I believe it is done on purpose to keep people from running the tank dry and burning up the in-tank fuel pump. I try to avoid going below a quarter tank, and usually fill up when down to a half.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Anyone have any issues with the computer being off on guessing your remaining mileage? Drove to work this morning (about 20 miles) knowing I was going to get gas today bc I had about 1/8 tank. Dash told me I had about 50 miles remaining...drove my 20 miles to work...turned the truck on afterwards and it tells me 15 miles, drive about 1/2 a mile and it says "low" under miles remaining.

Me thinking I'm about to run out of gas at any minute I pull off and get some gas...clicks off after only 19 gallons in. The truck holds 22 right? Just seems like a hell of an error to be telling me literally 0 gas to having 3 gallons left.

I park in a flat parking lot, and the only thing I can think is that it's hot (Northern UT is like 95+ right now), but I have no idea why there's that much variation in guage vs actual fuel remaining.

That's exactly how my 2011 Silverado did. I could park it in my driveway with 45 miles left and when I got in it the next day it said low fuel - and I had almost no miles left. Don't blame Jeep - it's how these things work.

Clicking off at 19 is also normal. You'd have to literally suck the tank dry and kill the engine to get 22 gallons in it - yes, it's a 22 but you'll never get that much in it unless you ruin things and run it dry.

Putting 19 in doesn't mean you had 3 gallons left, either - when it stops at 19 for me if I am patient I can almost always get another 1 to 1.5 gallons more in it.

 

[Willpower1]

I’d heap rather it be off in the direction you’re saying though, than the opposite…

 

[OldButStillJeeping]

There have been several long threads about this. I believe it is done on purpose to keep people from running the tank dry and burning up the in-tank fuel pump. I try to avoid going below a quarter tank, and usually fill up when down to a half.

Just figure that 1/2 tank means "it's time to buy gas."

 

[Willpower1]

Yeah I know im getting on in years. I can’t stand for my tank to get below half. Just like my dear late Daddy used to be when I was a kid and put gas in no more than $5 worth at the time haha

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Just figure that 1/2 tank means "it's time to buy gas."

If you've driven through KS and NE then you never get below 1/4 tank or about 100 miles. I was warned by a couple of friends unless I drive through in a vehicle that gets 30+ MPG, never get low on fuel (and one of those friends lives in NE and travels for his job)
I heeded his warning and really glad I did. There's nothing there.

 

[u-joint]

Just figure that 1/2 tank means "it's time to buy gas."

Ditto.

These things drink gas, no sense in pressing your luck on fumes. I'll save that for my Prius, but not in my Jeeps.

 

[pcrawfordpt]

Thinking it may be based on your current MPG in relation to fuel in the tank. If your on the highway gettin 22 MPG, it will calculate more miles until empty than if you were in the city gettin 9 MPG. For example I’m driving around town, it will say I have 120 miles remaining, then I get on the highway and it tells me I have 150 miles remaining.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Thinking it may be based on your current MPG in relation to fuel in the tank. If your on the highway gettin 22 MPG, it will calculate more miles until empty than if you were in the city gettin 9 MPG. For example I’m driving around town, it will say I have 120 miles remaining, then I get on the highway and it tells me I have 150 miles remaining.

And if you were getting decent MPG at the time you parked it, it will show more miles left than when you start it cold and take off from a stop and are getting 10 mpg or less.

I've had my JT tell me I had 250 miles left, and then I drove 15 miles more - and I still had 250 miles left..... I was driving on the highway at 60 and it was relatively flat.
I tell my wife someone is sneaking fuel into my tank - aliens! Maybe those danged gremlins.

Like I said - my 2011 Chevy Silverado was exactly as people complain about Jeep being - and they blame Jeep as if FCA invented this and are the only ones.
This is an industry thing, it's scientific, it's logical, it makes sense if you get past the dislike of what it's doing and approach it with some math. Little chance it could be made much, if any, better.

Once people decide they dislike something, or hate it, or don't "get it", logic be damned, how well it does or doesn't work, how accurate or inaccurate it is, or any math behind it just doesn't matter.

 

[gpwrang33]

Don't people want to know how far they can actually go when the "low" mileage light comes on? I like to know how far I can actually go just incase I'm somewhere in between gas stations on a long stretch. I usually push it a little more every so often around town of course where a gas station is close by or in an area where I know my road side cover with my insurance is available. Never know when the zombie apocalypse will hit and you'll have to get 100 miles out of that low gas light. i think the most I've put into the tank on fill up was around 20 gals. I also use 89 or every so often 93 just to keep the system cleaner because I do run the tank so low. My best mpg was like 20.4 after a 70mph 4 hour road trip and the worst I've gotten was like 13.8 over the winter.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Don't people want to know how far they can actually go when the "low" mileage light comes on? I like to know how far I can actually go just incase I'm somewhere in between gas stations on a long stretch. I usually push it a little more every so often around town of course where a gas station is close by or in an area where I know my road side cover with my insurance is available. Never know when the zombie apocalypse will hit and you'll have to get 100 miles out of that low gas light. i think the most I've put into the tank on fill up was around 20 gals. I also use 89 or every so often 93 just to keep the system cleaner because I do run the tank so low. My best mpg was like 20.4 after a 70mph 4 hour road trip and the worst I've gotten was like 13.8 over the winter.

zombie apocalypse is the exact reason I don't let the fuel get low. You never know when they'll pop up and the next station may be 100 miles away.

High octane doesn't necessarily keep things cleaner - it's the additives SOME companies use in their "premium" brands - to get you to pay more and buy higher octane fuel. Octane, however, doesn't clean squat. So unless you are paying for a premium brand that states specifically they add system cleaners to their gas, you aren't getting anything but higher octane. Higher octane fuel in itself doesn't do anything to clean.

 

[MPMB]

High octane doesn't necessarily keep things cleaner - it's the additives SOME companies use in their "premium" brands - to get you to pay more and buy higher octane fuel. Octane, however, doesn't clean squat. So unless you are paying for a premium brand that states specifically they add system cleaners to their gas, you aren't getting anything but higher octane. Higher octane fuel in itself doesn't do anything to clean.

Having an Audi, I can verify this. Audi requires 95 octane. And all engines around my Audi's generation, regardless of fuel used, are susceptible to carbon buildup and require cleaning.

In another car forum, someone presented the argument that chemically speaking, lower octane fuel actually has more "energy" than higher octane fuel. I don't really care to know more about that, since I have no viable choice in purchasing fuel. I have the 3 options, none of which are preferred (E10).

On the subject of indicated fuel, my driveway has a slope, maybe 3 or 4 degrees. I park the JT nose down, and the "Distance to E" is easily manipulated. I parked one time with 50 miles to E, then when I left the next day, the computer read "15 miles to E." Less than 2 minutes driving relatively level, the computer read "45 miles to E."

 

[ShadowsPapa]

In another car forum, someone presented the argument that chemically speaking, lower octane fuel actually has more "energy" than higher octane fuel. I don't really care to know more about that, since I have no viable choice in purchasing fuel. I have the 3 options, none of which are preferred (E10).

Don't know how he could possibly present that argument because he was WRONG. IF he was going by higher octane being ETHANOL blend, yeah, due to the ETHANOL. But pure gasoline, 87 has the exact same energy as 93 and anyone can google that to find out.
Ethanol itself has slightly lower energy content even though it's higher octane so if it's a BLEND, then yes, but if you leave ethanol out of the equation, no, the energy content is the same. and the BURN SPEED is the same, too. There's so much BS out there about gasoline it's scary.

This is from MIT and there's still goofs out there that insist even MIT is wrong -
With slight variations — depending on the crude oil and the refining and blending processes used in production — all gasoline grades contain the same amount of chemical energy. When combusted, premium (high-octane) gasoline and the less-expensive (and less-glamorous) regular, and all grades in between, provide the same amount of thermal energy, or heat, which an engine uses to generate the mechanical power that moves a vehicle.
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