gas gauge says E but only takes 9-10 gallons to fill up

[LongHiway]

This came up on "Car Talk", the NPR radio show a few weeks ago. Rather than tear the gas tank apart, they suggested carrying a can of gas (OK, the also admitted this had risks), and actually seeing how far you could go before running out of gas. You don't even have to go that far, 17 gallons X 22 MPG (conservative?) gets you 374 miles.

[kaz98gt]

15.9 gallons for us, which will get us a hair north of 350 miles if we're being conservative as far as mpg goes. For car talk, the jerrycan is a good idea only if you're testing, but not for a regular thing just to have around, you know? I'd rather tear apart the sender and see if the denatured alcohol would help the situation. I'm sick of additives not working; I've probably gone through a couple bottles of techron and stp fuel treatment (I'm aware there are other formulas, but found the best for the job IMO), and don't want to leave it to chance. When I go home for break I'm testing this out.

[kujito]

I don't think I've ever had a vehicle that had an accurate or precise or consistent fuel gauge, regardless of vehicle make or type. Nature of the beast I guess?

 

The gauge in my DD ('99 SUS) varies wildly. From full down to 3/4 tank has been as low as 67 miles, and as high as 147 miles.

 

However, 1/2 tank is almost always dead on at 200 miles, and I've been seeing 26 to 28 mpg without fail for the last 3 1/2 months (since I've owned it).

[suntzuo]

ashamedly, i never had checked to see just how big my tank is...

i always assumed it was about 14 gallons, because even when i ran it down so low that i had pegged the gas gauge, it never took more than 13 point something to fill it up....seeing as i have owned my car for more than five years, and never seen the gas light, i had just come to assume it simply didn't have one....heh...