i was wondering on a 1st gen 4runner when is the tank erally empty on the gas guage? i see that it goes way past empty when you turn it off, but im too chicken to run it dry, and too lazy to run it till it says empty and drain and measure the gas in the tank.

 

carry a full gas can with you, run it till it quits, then you'll know, valuable information

 

Running it until it is completely empty sucks all the junk in the bottom of your gas tank into the fuel lines, perhaps the fuel filter, and even worse into the efi and engine...just go fill the thing up when it gets close to empty and carry a spare gas can when wheeling. :pat:

 

there should be a "prefilter" in the tank to keep big junk out of the line
there is a fuel filter (changed it recently?)

carry a full can of fuel (safely) and run it dry. Did it with my last Chevy cause it had dual tank - "How far can I go... OK, that far - bush button and run off the full tank"

 

Also, running the tank low allows the in-tank fuel pump (if so equipped) to run hotter than it usually would, which shortens its life.

 

I wouldnt let it run dry now, it will kill ur wallet when u try to fill the whole tank at once! gas prices are awful in the whole country

 

Run it down until you are no longer comfortable, then when you fill it up subtract that amount from the total capacity and that tells you how many gallons you had left. If you also calculate your mpg, you can figure out roughly how far you could go before you were running on fumes.

Example: needle at E (empty) you fill it up with 14 gallons, you have a 17 gallon tank, you had approximately 3 gallons of fuel left at (indicated) empty. Just an example, I don't know the capacity of a first gen 4r, but it should be in your owners manual.

 

so no one realy knows? i think its 14 gallons. its just that there is 1/2 an inch between empty and where the needle stops when the truck is off, i was just curious.

 

Ok, first thing, do not trust the gauge in the 1st gen 4runners.
Mine stays at full, then quickly dipps to 1/4 tank.
When i am at E i know i have 10L left in the tank (65L tank, i fill up 55L at E).

 

Depending on tank shape, there is usually some fuel that will remain in there even when you run out of gas.

 

my gauge is the same it goes past e and when i fill it up i usually have 3 or 4 gallons left in it. its kinda good since i know when im on E i can go a ways without running out of gas.

 

1st gen runner has 20 gallons...thats what hte manual says ive never had ot on the e before

 

my manual says 17 was a factory option lots of sr5 runners have these and then 14 was regular.

 

Every gauge is slightly different, it is not a calibrated instrument, do what I suggested in my earlier post (very simple) and you will know approximately how much fuel you have left, for your gauge. A lot of times the gauges aren't linear either so you could do calculations for several fill ups over the next few weeks, ie. how much fuel it takes to fill at "empty", 1/4, 1/2, etc. if you want an even better idea of your fuel gauge.

I would highly doubt the first gen fuel tank is 20 gallons.

 

My 1st gen has a 17 gallon tank and a low fuel light that I have never seen come on.

 

hmm my mistake, thats what my dad says the manual said...oh well..i guess my mpg is better than i thought

 

NO, no one really knows. If they claim they know, they're either full of poop or they only know on THEIR truck. Resistors and gauges are not digital nasa quality instruments - they vary. They vary as they age too. At best, a fuel gauge is only a suggestion of the fuel level.

The fuel actually IN the tank is only accurately measured at rest on level ground anyway. And subtracting from the rated capacity after a fill up will not get a good answer - it is impossible to totally fill a fuel tank due to the necessary design of some expansion air space in the top of the tank, and you can't use all the fuel in it - there will always be some in there you can't draw out.

The only way to know for YOUR truck is to run it out of gas. My '85 would go 2 widths of the needle past empty. ON level ground, not accelerating or decellerating. I know, cuz I ran it out many times. My F150 starts gasping when the needle is solidly on E. Dunno bout the '90 Flamed truck, haven't run it out of gas. If your off level or sloshing it around on a trail it will suck air sooner.

If you really need to know, run it out of gas. (Won't hurt a thing - they have these things called filters...) This is actually a good thing, since you will then know for sure and will never have an excuse to run out of gas...

 

I've run my truck with the gas light on and needle below E for at least 10-15 miles and diddnt run out.

 

Running out of gas deliberately sounds kinda silly. Who wants to push a truck out of a busy street to fill up?

 

I agree. But if ya gotta know, that's the way to find out. Push? Get one of these: http://www.pws9.com/Merchant2/mercha...AR-CARBC-FC-01