Fuel guage/warning light

[crjwingman]

Just filled up my brand new JL Sahara for the first time and I noticed something really weird. The warning light came on with about 35 mile left in range and what looked like a little under 1/8 of a tank on the needle. I won't go into the details between that and getting to the pump but I will say that at one point I did watch the needle indicate higher (by like a good 1/16th or more) from where it had previously been. I live in Chicago (flat as hell) and was on the highway at a steady clip so there wasn't really any physics reason for the change. The real surprise came when I got to the pump and, after having put maybe 15/20 miles on it after the light came on, the tank still only took 16.5 gallons. That tank is supposed to be 21.5 gallons which means there was really just a little under a quarter tank left! Given that the two door tank is closer to 18 gallons, I'm wondering if Jeep does not bother to calibrate the guage for the different sizes. Has anyone else had experiences similar to this?

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[CypressWrangler]

Ever car/truck I have had with a warning lite always has a buffer built it so you dont run out of gas.....call it a reserve if will.

 

[Rational61]

Just filled up my brand new JL Sahara for the first time and I noticed something really weird. The warning light came on with about 35 mile left in range and what looked like a little under 1/8 of a tank on the needle. I won't go into the details between that and getting to the pump but I will say that at one point I did watch the needle indicate higher (by like a good 1/16th or more) from where it had previously been. I live in Chicago (flat as hell) and was on the highway at a steady clip so there wasn't really any physics reason for the change. The real surprise came when I got to the pump and, after having put maybe 15/20 miles on it after the light came on, the tank still only took 16.5 gallons. That tank is supposed to be 21.5 gallons which means there was really just a little under a quarter tank left! Given that the two door tank is closer to 18 gallons, I'm wondering if Jeep does not bother to calibrate the guage for the different sizes. Has anyone else had experiences similar to this?

I had a similar experience yesterday; my 2018 JLU Sports S gauge told me I had about 40 miles left; indicator showed just below an eighth of a tank. Gassed up and it took 17.2 gallons. I thought this had a 22 gallon gas tank. The gauge shows full, pinned to the top of "F". Does this mean there was really over 4 gallons of gas left in the tank?

If that's the case, then I'd rather have an accurate gauge and warning system, rather than one that assumes that I'm an idiot and will run the truck out of gas.

 

[Chocolate Thunder]

Every vehicle on the road has a low fuel indicator and gauge that shows the fuel level to be lower than it truly is. It’s not broken, it’s made that way on purpose. I have a car that I’ve driven over 50 miles after the distance to empty read 0 and it still had over a gallon of gas in the tank.

When it says it’s completely empty there’s always a reserve of 2 to 4 gallons of fuel left. At least.

 

[Movingday]

Every vehicle on the road has a low fuel indicator and gauge that shows the fuel level to be lower than it truly is. It’s not broken, it’s made that way on purpose. I have a car that I’ve driven over 50 miles after the distance to empty read 0 and it still had over a gallon of gas in the tank.

When it says it’s completely empty there’s always a reserve of 2 to 4 gallons of fuel left. At least.

Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer goes on the test drive.

 

[crjwingman]

Hmmm... I've owned an alarming amount of cars in my life and I've never had one whose needle was this inaccurate. Either that or the manufacturers were lying about the size of the tank. As an example, if I ran any of the 3 Subarus I've owned down to the point that I was sweating, there was generally 1-1.5 gallons left. If I filled up right at the light coming on (which was generally just below an 1/8th, maybe there was 2-2.5 gallons. But that coincides with both what the manufacturer claimed and with the size of the tank. The same was generally true for my 4Runner.

This is my fist Jeep but nearly a quarter tank being left when it's telling you you've only got 25-30 miles left is excessive. I'd be interested to see if 2 door owners have had the same experience. I'm still sticking with my theory that Jeep doesn't calibrate eqch size tank in the Wrangler. The manual says theres roughly 2 gallons left when the light comes on and, based on my experience, that would line up well with the 18ish gallons tank in the 2 door.

 

[JeepJL18]

Only way to really tell is get a Jerry can and run your car all the way down to zero miles. The reset your trip.

Then keep going until you physically run out of gas. At that point, you can Jerry fill it back a couple of gallons.

It's the only real way to know how much is actually left once you're on zero.

 

[twisty]

Hmmm... I've owned an alarming amount of cars in my life and I've never had one whose needle was this inaccurate. Either that or the manufacturers were lying about the size of the tank. As an example, if I ran any of the 3 Subarus I've owned down to the point that I was sweating, there was generally 1-1.5 gallons left. If I filled up right at the light coming on (which was generally just below an 1/8th, maybe there was 2-2.5 gallons. But that coincides with both what the manufacturer claimed and with the size of the tank. The same was generally true for my 4Runner.

This is my fist Jeep but nearly a quarter tank being left when it's telling you you've only got 25-30 miles left is excessive. I'd be interested to see if 2 door owners have had the same experience. I'm still sticking with my theory that Jeep doesn't calibrate eqch size tank in the Wrangler. The manual says theres roughly 2 gallons left when the light comes on and, based on my experience, that would line up well with the 18ish gallons tank in the 2 door.

Test it Cosmo!! lol

 

[Biscuit]

Sheesh, of all the things to complain about! OTOH, maybe the OP wants to run out of gas (which isn't a good thing for the fuel pump or a fuel-injected engine).

 

[Bswen]

I had mine the other day just say "low fuel" instead of a range. I was on the highway and drove another 10 miles. Filled up and "only" put 18 gallons in. This is the MOST I have put in while filling up in over 11,000 miles.

To be honest, I am beginning to think FCA put the 18-gallon tanks in the four door models too. I've had a lot of cars and NEVER have they had 3.5-gallon reserves. The most is around 1-1.5 gallons of reserve. I would like to know what is going on.

With this much variance I just cannot trust how much gas is actually in my Jeep. Having said that, I don't like to run it down to empty (bad for fuel pump) but emergencies happen and shit happens, etc... so I would really like to know how much fuel I really have, not some made up range that has zero meaning to the driver/owner of the vehicle.

 

[Bswen]

Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer goes on the test drive.

I commented in another thread with the same thing. I just want someone else to do the testing to see how far it can go!!!

 

[Chocolate Thunder]

Browsing the webs today I found this. No idea how accurate it is overall, but it seems to jive with the OP’s experience.

 

[Blu bi Kong]

I have purposely ran mine out of gas once just to see how far I went. Lite came on at 40 miles remaining. Got down to 11 remaining, simply went to 'low range' after that. Watching odometer, I went 31 miles past what would have been zero.
Simply, at 40 miles remaining, I went 71 then stop. But I had my trusty 3.5 gallon can ready to go!!! I don't carry it full time but in the boonies it sure is nice insurance!

 

[Bswen]

I have purposely ran mine out of gas once just to see how far I went. Lite came on at 40 miles remaining. Got down to 11 remaining, simply went to 'low range' after that. Watching odometer, I went 31 miles past what would have been zero.
Simply, at 40 miles remaining, I went 71 then stop. But I had my trusty 3.5 gallon can ready to go!!! I don't carry it full time but in the boonies it sure is nice insurance!

My question becomes, from a completely empty tank, how many gallons did it take to fill completely?

 

[Bswen]

I have purposely ran mine out of gas once just to see how far I went. Lite came on at 40 miles remaining. Got down to 11 remaining, simply went to 'low range' after that. Watching odometer, I went 31 miles past what would have been zero.
Simply, at 40 miles remaining, I went 71 then stop. But I had my trusty 3.5 gallon can ready to go!!! I don't carry it full time but in the boonies it sure is nice insurance!

And thanks, was wanting someone to go all Kramer on theirs so I didnt have to!

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