Gas gauge inaccuracies

[frd415]

Hi all,
I have a 22' 4 door Badlands. I picked it up on April 29. Since then I have probably filled up with premium fuel at least 6 or more times. The first few fill ups showed approximately 355 miles until empty. The next few fill ups I decided to add gas after the pump stopped on its own. I then got approximately 376 miles until empty. Last week I filled up and the miles until empty said 288. My truck was at the service department this week for the windshield recall and I asked the advisor to look into this. He told me that the tech looked into the computer and didn't see anything wrong. The advisor said based on the gas mileage displayed, which was around 17mpg, 288 is what he's seen on Broncos. I quickly told him that my truck has a 20.8 gallon gas tank and 17x20.8=356 miles. The 288 would be what you would find on a 2 door with a 17 gallon tank. He said there is nothing for them to do. Has anyone else experienced this or heard about this happening? I know there is something wrong with the computer. Thanks in advance

Sponsored

 

[Gil Carolina]

I have a 22’ 2.3 manual and have the opposite. When I’d fill up it shows 510 miles till empty. I found that resetting the avg miles per gallon everytime I fill has helped. It took 3 cycles (full tanks) to do it. Now it is consistently at 385. Might give it a shot. Hope it helps.

 

[Firefight911]

There is nothing wrong with your Bronco. It formulates a miles to empty (MTE) estimate based on a shorter duration of real world data than what you are looking at with regard to a long term data expectation. You may be averaging 200 mpg overall but, the system computes MTE based on a much shorter distance/time traveled. Drive the freeway for an hour and your MTE may show 200. Then, drive in the city with stop and go for ten minutes and your mileage will show substantially less. This is by design so that your MTE will always be based on a shorter time/mileage estimate. This is why you may actually get to zero, or less, and still have gas in the tank.

There is nothing wrong with your Bronco.

 

[PSUTE]

Don't worry about it. Miles to empty is subjective. It uses historical data to estimate. I live in the mountains, and my 2 door normally shows 255 miles~ to empty when I fill up. When I went to the flatlands, it picked up another 100 miles to empty 350~, Same speed, 75 on cruise control. Have not calculated it manually...

 

[AK SNO RIDER]

I personally wouldn't worry about it too much. Miles to empty readouts are notoriously inaccurate. It doesn't take much extra idling for them to read super low.

My '19 F150 work truck will read 50 miles to empty at 3/4+ tank in the winter time.

Reset everything then drive careful with no idling and see what happens.

 

[RHeinz]

Badlands, Sasquatch, 2.7L, MIC

Houston to the Off Roadeo, Texas. Started with full and topped off tank. Pretty sure my miles to empty was showing around 425. Drove 404 miles to the event and back to the first fill up. 20 miles to empty was showing on the display When I pulled into Buckeyes. These were traffic and highway miles at speeds up to 75 MPH. The fill up was 20.83 gallons. That’s about 19.4 MPG. I drive conservatively. Around Houston I‘m getting similar city/highway MPG (BY ODOMETER MILES/PUMP GALLONS) of 19.5. The vehicle instrument panel shows about 1.5 MPG better.

 

[bytheway]

I filled up and hit the highway for about 100 miles. It showed maybe 330 miles to empty at full. It literally didn’t move off of 330 for about 40 miles. I started to wonder if something was wrong but I guess it was just confused based on my typical city route.

 

[gnitnuj]

I may have a similar issue, I am at 7k miles on the 2.3L and this Saturday for the first time ever, my gas gauge is probably wrong. I left to my friend's place with 80-90 miles left on the tank and its maybe 7 miles away, but then when I left his place, I had 140 miles on the tank, and I know for a fact that I won't make it 140 miles. To add some additional color, I know that the MTE is always recalculating, but I've never seen it jump 50 or so miles, and definitely beyond what the vehicle will be able to make. In fact, not only did the my MTE increase by 50, but my tank went up from 1/4 to 1/2.

 

[Silver-Bolt]

It's an average based on your current MPG. My F150 Raptor I typically get 14-15 mpg in town give me a distance of 504 to empty. If I hit the highway and I am getting 20mpg the distance to empty will actually increase as I am driving.

 

[Brockdog12]

I always looked at mine being based on where the average mpg were when I gassed up, if it was at 22mpg, a full tank would show over 400+ miles to empty, less mpg, less miles to empty.

 

[Shazamalingo]

Hi all,
I have a 22' 4 door Badlands. I picked it up on April 29. Since then I have probably filled up with premium fuel at least 6 or more times. The first few fill ups showed approximately 355 miles until empty. The next few fill ups I decided to add gas after the pump stopped on its own. I then got approximately 376 miles until empty. Last week I filled up and the miles until empty said 288. My truck was at the service department this week for the windshield recall and I asked the advisor to look into this. He told me that the tech looked into the computer and didn't see anything wrong. The advisor said based on the gas mileage displayed, which was around 17mpg, 288 is what he's seen on Broncos. I quickly told him that my truck has a 20.8 gallon gas tank and 17x20.8=356 miles. The 288 would be what you would find on a 2 door with a 17 gallon tank. He said there is nothing for them to do. Has anyone else experienced this or heard about this happening? I know there is something wrong with the computer. Thanks in advance

the miles to empty is dynamic. It changes depending on what your most recent (I forget, maybe 50 miles?) MPG are. So, if you go uphill for 20 miles, your miles to empty will drop more than the gas used. If you go downhill a lot, it will shoot up more. So, your system is working just fine.

Sponsored