New 4runner purchase, question of about size of gas tank

Greetings all,
I just bought a 2022 TRD PRO last week. I read that the gas tank holds 23 gallons. When my gauge showed empty gas (the cpu estimated 10 miles left), I filled the gas tank all the way up. it only filled to 18 gallons. That's a big discrepancy. I know there is usually a reserve of 1 or so gallons on many vehicle's gas tanks, beyond when the gauge shows empty. Any ideas on this? We'll see how future fill-ups go, but just surprised I couldn't fill up anywhere near the advertised gas tank volume.

Thank you. I'm super excited to have my first 4runner. I hope it lasts me 20 years.

 

Pretty standard for all Runners and Toyotas in general. Probably as a safety for the fuel pump.

 

Do you run several gallons of driving past empty, knowing you have 5 or so gallons in reserve?

 

I would not risk it, but the reserve is probably higher than just one gallon.

 

So how many miles did you get with the 18 gallons?

 

not sure. the dealer had to drive it to my state. i got it with a half tank.

 

Did you just fill it until the gas pump cut off?
Or did you 'top it off?'
Maybe the pump prematurely shut off before the tank was really full, was the gas gauge showing FULL when you got back in?

I have a 2000 4Runner, sometimes the pump cuts off way early...
but usually if I fill it until the pump cuts off, I can 'top it off' with 1 to 1.2 more gallons

I don't think a 5 gallon difference is right, I think it would have held more fuel

Finally, lots of smart people say you should not top off your fuel tank, so don't pack it to the rim each time...
but I've done it just to see how close to empty I really was, in the 2000 4Runner I got within .3 of a gallon

I usually fill up until the pump clicks off, then pump more just to round up to the next whole dollar

 

Not uncommon in vehicles in general.

Had a Kia with an 18.8 gallon tank, never got to put in more than ~16 gal at a time.

Reserves can range from a couple to a few gallons, yours sounds pretty normal.

Probably done as anything from idiotproofing to fuel pump protection to compensating for fuel moving around.

 

There are a few threads on this. I forget which now, but my fuel light comes on at either 25 or 50 miles to "empty", and this range will countdown on the center dash display. At 0 miles, the range switches to Refuel and stops counting down. I've got a shade over 3 gallons left in the tank at that point. I've never ran it out, but I put 22+ gal in it once, without topping off, just trying to find the bottom.

 

I think there is about 3 gallons for reserve, I figure I have about 45 to 50 miles after zero miles left. Also, your miles to empty will change as the computer has more data to calculate MPGs.

 

I did that once. When the gas light came on, I ran the "Miles to Empty" down to 0. Then I kept driving. I was able to drive another 50 miles before I finally filled up. When I did, I put in almost 23 gallons of gas.

This test was purely for science. I haven't done it since. But it let me know that even after I have "0" Miles to Empty, I still have an emergency reserve if I ever need it.

So, to sum it up: When the gas light comes on, you have roughly 3-ish gallons left and 2 gallons left after you hit 0. But this varies based on your driving, weather, elevation, weight of the vehicle, etc..

 

Wouldn't recommend this personally. It can damage your fuel system.

 

I fill up at 1/4 tank.

 

Yes, there are about 4 gallons in the tank when the light comes on. Consider this as free insurance if you didn't plan ahead and are far from a gas station at this time. Remember, those 4 gallons only get you 60-80 miles to empty, depending how you drive.

Really no one should be waiting to the last minute before buying gas (I generally start looking at 1/4 tank), but I know it's tempting to try to extend the range when on a trip.

Separately, how is this a new issue for so many people? Every car I've had has been this way

 

Congratulations on your new TRD Pro. You won't regret the purchase. So on your question, I've only run mine down to the empty warning screen once - but it was last week. So, it's fresh in my mind. It took exactly 20 gallons. So there was a 3-gallon reserve - ie 50-55 miles (at 18mpg). BTW, I was taking my Jerry cans (and the Venture) to be refueled and had a couple of gallons in those just in case!

 

There was an old thread debating if fuel pump needs to be submerged in fuel bath to cool it. I have always filled up at 1/4 tank but not sure if it's still needed with modern cars.

 

Yep - per the 4Runner owners manual - when the Low Level Fuel Warning light comes on there is ~ 3.5gal, or less in the tank. I think it is somewhat difficult to estimate accurately how much fuel is actually in the tank based on what the After Refuel screen says. It calculates range based on the average MPG calculated after refuel - which in certain situations can be misleading. Say you refuel and then drive a long way on the highway in good conditions at 70mph. You may be getting 20-22 MPG. After burning over 3/4 of a tank you then get off the highway and are now driving in stoplight to stoplight traffic - where you are only getting about 15-16 MPG. Your after refuel AVG. MPG is going to be ~20.5 MPG in that situation - and the After Refuel screen is going to calculate a range of ~103 miles if there are 5 gallons left in the tank. But that range calculation is skewed because you used up most of the tank of gas getting 20-22 MPG - and now you are only getting 15-16 MPG and your actual range is only maybe 75 miles. In order to keep dumbasses from running out of gas assuming they can actually drive 103 more miles in this situation Toyota designs it so that there is actually more gas in the tank than the range indicated. I'm thinking when the Low Fuel Warning light comes on and the indicated range is getting close to zero - you can probably go another ~50 miles (depending on your driving conditions) - because, well, there are lots of people out there who believe whatever they see.

 

I drove till it was showing zero miles till empty once, and I still only put 21 x gallons in it.

It's normal. It's not about "fitting" a certain amount of gas in the tank, it's about driving far enough to do it, haha. Personally I try to fill up between 1/4 and 1/8, and that generally gets me through the week. 19.9mpg my last tank, btw.

 

I just had a suburu outback wilderness. i believe it is 17 gallon tank. i tend to drive until empty and i always got 16.5 gallons when I filled up, so being 5 gallons shy of listed volume just seemed odd.

 

Can't speak for what else you've driven, but this 4runner is way more idiot-proofed than any other vehicle I've had, including my 2nd gen Taco. I wasnt expecting the fuel light to come on at what's actually 1/4 tank remaining.

 

Outback has a 19 gallon tank.

 

That's true, the distance to empty gauge is very conservative.

When the actual light comes on, it seems like 4 gallons remaining. Compared to my Tacoma at 3 gallons remaining at the same time, it seems pretty similar. My Rav4 has 2.5 gallons remaining, which is actually more range than those two.

If you want to hear crazy: we used to have a Chevy Astro van that had 10 gallons remaining in the tank when the light came on (27 gallon tank). Don't know if ours was off, or if the tank shape was funny or what. But I had a fun trip once where we were sure we'd run out of gas in rural Alabama, only to realize we had about 100 miles of range remaining by the time we actually got gas. But driving for an hour with the gas light on is pretty stressful, lol.

 

I wouldn't be concerned about it. I bought my 2019 in 2018, and haven't run out of gas yet ;-)

 

You must have gotten the extended range tank

 

Half tank rule.

 

Stop eating Mexican food, and you will run out of gas.

 

Yep. Any disaster preparation guides say the same.

 

My first car was an old VW bug. It didn't have a gas gauge. There was a small foot lever you used to switch the fuel line from the bottom of the tank to further up the tank. If the engine started to sputter you switched to the lower line and you knew you had one gallon left. Of course after filling up you had to remember to move the lever back to the upper line. That taught me to manually track my milage in a notebook I kept in the glove box. To this day I use an app to track the same data. After every fill up I enter the odometer reading, gallons and price to fill it up. I can track mileage over time as well as gas prices. I know, its pretty OCD but I know exactly how much milage I get in various conditions. BTW, in 4-Lo the mileage drops precipitously.

 

I remember as a kid being in a friend’s mom’s VW and it running out of gas. She did that very thing after explaining the additional gallon. Only reason I know about this.

 

My 2024 seems to be much more conservative with the fuel estimate than my old 2015. I'm averaging 19MPG (lot of highway driving as I'm at 4500 miles in 6 weeks of ownership) and yet when I fill it up it says I have 340 miles remaining. That would be less than 18 gallons, which is about the most I put in, even when I fill it with less than 20 miles remaining. On the 2015, I averaged 18MPG and would often see 380 remaining on a full tank. That's putting me at 0 after burning 21 gallons. I often put 19-20 gallons in on each fill up. I was beginning to wonder if this one had a smaller tank, but it's probably just that they got more conservative.