NAV Fuel Range and Actual Fuel Capacity in GS?

[highmiles]

Just got home from a road trip. Tonight I let my FUEL RANGE on the NAV get the 2 miles remaining when I stopped for gas. I topped it off at 15.77 gallons. I know the manual says that the Fuel Capacity of the GS is 18.7 Gal.

Is the FUEL RANGE just very conservative or is there less than the 18.7 Gal capacity shown in the manual? Don't know any easy way to be sure? The last thing I would want is to run out of gas but do I have a 3 gallon reserve? Do I trust the Fuel Reserve on the NAV?

This may seem like a trivial issue but as much as I drive I usually only stop on long trips when I need fuel. The 06 GS appears to hold about 1.5 gallons less than my 98GS which makes me stop more often. It would be nice to know if I have a 3 gallon reserve or if the printed 18.7 capacity is wrong.

[DrComputer]

I think the trip computer is VERY conservative on its estimates. I've also let it go to low fuel and have the gas light come on and only take 15 gallons at the pump. I guess they want to error on the side of caution.

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by highmiles

Just got home from a road trip. Tonight I let my FUEL RANGE on the NAV get the 2 miles remaining when I stopped for gas. I topped it off at 15.77 gallons. I know the manual says that the Fuel Capacity of the GS is 18.7 Gal.

Is the FUEL RANGE just very conservative or is there less than the 18.7 Gal capacity shown in the manual? Don't know any easy way to be sure? The last thing I would want is to run out of gas but do I have a 3 gallon reserve? Do I trust the Fuel Reserve on the NAV?

This may seem like a trivial issue but as much as I drive I usually only stop on long trips when I need fuel. The 06 GS appears to hold about 1.5 gallons less than my 98GS which makes me stop more often. It would be nice to know if I have a 3 gallon reserve or if the printed 18.7 capacity is wrong.

Highmiles, like DrComputer said I too think that the trip computer is conservative. I have found that the trip computer is showing the end of the range but I'm only adding 15.5 gallons at the pump. So I still have 3+ gallons to go - in my GS300 that is about another 80-90 miles. However, I don't like running with less than 2 gallons in the tank - so for my purposes I'll assume that I have about 30 miles after the trip computer says that I'm at 0 mile range.

I have found the MPG calculator to be fairly accurate however.

[highmiles]

Thanks for the feedback.

I too think that the MPG estimates from the Trip Computer are very accurate. I have checked a couple of tanks with my calculator and the Trip Computer has been dead on.

[frebay]

is it true that it's not good to drive on an empty tank?

[GS3rdwow]

yes because when you do that your fuel line is sucking in all the bad deposits in the base of tha tank.

[kb2yza]

Originally Posted by GS3rdwow

yes because when you do that your fuel line is sucking in all the bad deposits in the base of tha tank.

While I agree in a way I dissagree. I don't like to let my tank go low enough for the light to go on. However, Think about the setup of the fuel pump and its suction line, for it to work wouldn't the suction line have to be at the bottom of the tank all the time anyhow. Can't have it mounted to suck from the middle or you would never use half the tank of gas. Since debris in the gas will tend to settle out they would wind up right at the bottom by you suction line. Just thoughts. Oh and for reassuance normally I have seen a sock on the suction line in the tank and of course you have the inline fuel filter.