Hi guys,

My 05' GX was purchased end of March and from day one the trip computer (NOT NAV) unit has always indicated that with a FULL tank of gas my GX would have a range of about 260mile. I showed this to my dealer when I was taking delivery and he suggested that the "computer" needed to work itself out or "break-in" as it were...

...

...well, it's now November, and I have about 3000 miles on it, it still hasn't broken in yet, and I'm still getting around 250~ 260 miles on a FULL tank...

Not happy at all...

Tank capacity = 23.0 gallons
Fuel efficiency = 19 hiway 17 city

Using the more conservative 17 mpg (City) driving, I still should be seeing a range of 391miles and NOT a range of 250~260 miles. Honestly if I had seen a range of at least 320 or more miles, I wouldn't have minded...

Question:

1. Should I wait longer for a break-in period?
2. Should I bring this to the attention of the dealer/service dept.?
3. Should I NOT bother at all as 260mile range is the norm?

Please advise?


Thank you,

 

Check your fuel milage over a couple of tankfulls. Then compute the full fuel range and compare it to the indicated ones. Automotive 'computers' are notoriously inaccurate. Just look at the altitude measurements or fuel milage indications for example.

 

Hi Pete,

Thanks for the quick reply!

BTW, I haven't been just going by the computer alone. I have double-check the miledge manually via the odometer as well...

Still, 260 miles...

What should I do now?

 

What is the average MPG on the computer? My GX has about a 1000 miles on it and the range on the computer is 340 miles with full tank and the computer's average MPG is 15.5 MPG.

 

my shows up 402 with a fill-up from day one. Never heard of computer needs a breakin to be working normal. I think your dealer should fix/adjust it for you.

 

Check out your tach RPM's at 65 MPH and let us know what it reads. I drove my truck to Sacramento and back, around 260 miles round trip, and averaged 20.1 MPG, hand calculated. Never went over 70 MPH and about 85% of the driving was on highways or freeways.

 

You DO realize that the "estimated range" does NOT include about 3 gallons of the tank, right? In other words, you can run it all the way to ZERO and still have 3 gallons of fuel left. So range is actually farther than the indicator would be registering. Will pay more attention to the range on mine next time I fill 'er up. I have seen 23MPG coming back from the mountains on a 6 hour long trip. I think I got over 400 miles before the empty indicator occurred.

 

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the info... I'll double check the one more time with the next FULL refill... ESPECIALLY the empty indicator light...

 

Bad fuel gauge. How much are you putting in the tank when it shows empty?

Had a caddie that did that. 20 gallon tank showed empty at 12 gallons usage.

 

lonewolf, this should be simple to check...

Next time your range shows 0 (or call it at something under 10, it will sometimes keep going as it approaches 0), note what your fuel gauge says (does it show empty or something more)? Then fill it up. How many gallons did it take?

Depending on what your gauge says and how many gallons you'll know whether it the range calculation that is off or your tank's fuel gauge.

Assume you do understand:

- fuel gauge empty still has a pretty large reserve
- range on 0 still has a reserve
- range calculation is NOT based on average spec'd mpg, it's based on YOUR average mpg (average over some previous time period)

BTW, I have had range display on numerous cars, and I never use it or look at it. Doesn't really mean anything. If I go on a highway road trip lightly loaded staying around 55 versus doing stop and go city driving with a load, the range is much different.

 

Never really looked at it, but I will next fill-up. I do know that my avg MPG is about 15.6 though. Not happy about it - can't wait for this lease to be over so I can get my IS250AWD.