I tried a search and didn't find anything. I've noticed that when my info center tells me I have very little fuel left (this morning I had about 8 miles until empty), and I go to fill up. I can only get 25-26 gallons of fuel into my tank, even though I have a 30 gallon tank. I've never had a very accurate gas gauge in any car or truck I've owned, but this is the worst. Is this something that anyone else is noticing or just my truck. Is this even something that can be fixed?

Thanks,
mikebaby

 

I've noticed the same thing with mine Mike. I talked to my shop about it and apparently Ford does it on purpose. The sending unit is mounted in a little sump in the bottom of the tank(saw one out of truck) and its a little buffer zone thing. You can never really run it down to a gallon or so.

 

Mines damn near dead-nuts. Ran it down to 3 miles, then put about 26 gallons in (27 gallon tank). I'd say it's within a gallon or so. Is the truck new? The "miles till empty" is based on the fuel economy of the last 500 miles traveled, so if your driving habits suddenly changed, it would be off somewhat. Plus, I think how much you top off your tank might affect it also. The sticker might say 30 gallons, but how much will it REALLY hold?

EDIT: I see you have an 04, so I guess it's not new. Maybe try resetting?

 

Maybe your truck knows you better than you know yourself and is doing this on purpose so you don't leave yourself stranded on a lonely country road with no gasoline!

 

Mines the same way. I have the 30 gallon supercrew tank and Even when I run it down to 0 miles, it still will only take 26 gallons, and thats topping it off til it almost overflows.

 

BINGO!! Thats exactly why they do it.

 

Hmmm, they must have forgot to do it to mine. I ran out of gas today, thought I could make it back into the station, but nope, ran out. Embarassing as all hell. Mine is stalling empty about 20km after the idiot warning chime. Wierd thing is though, I poured in 2 litres of gas (out of a pop bottle of course), started the truck and it showed just under an 1/8th of a tank?????? WTF

 

...oh and then it took 134 litres to fill. (36.7 gallons?)

 

I have an '04 scab and the window sticker said it has a 27 gallon tank. I've never been able to put more than 24 gallons in it. I wondered about that too, mine is an xlt, so I don't have the info center. So is everyone's assumption that the fuel gauge is just very inaccurate to the point of at least 2 gallons?

 

My guess its a safety feature, my truck does it as well. I just figure that it will tell you that you have less gas in the truck than what you actually have, in case you need that little extra to get to a gas station.

 

My truck does the same thing!

 

reserves very in most vehicles. My 04 has about 4 gallons in it when warning sounds. 20 yrs ago empty was empty now they leave you a little reserve so you don't walk.

 

I've got the 30 gallon tank and the most I've put in my tank was 28.4 gallons. I'm not sure how many miles I drove it with the gas light on but I do remember that big gas bill