How many miles REALLY left after low fuel light?

[ck42]

Just went through my FIRST tank of dealership fuel.
Low fuel light came on and indicated 27 miles left.

Anyone have any experience with going beyond this?
Only asking because once every couple of years, I inevitably find myself in a situation where I have to stretch things (out somewhere with no gas stations around) and it's nice to know how much farther I can really go.

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[Whitest Russian]

The light comes on when you have 1.8 gallons left. Just multiply 1.8 by whatever mpg you're getting and that's how far you can actually go when the low fuel indicator comes on.

 

[MichaelC]

Perhaps one way to find out would be to drive until it reaches zero, then fill the tank to determine how much fuel was still left (in other words, if the tank holds 12.4 gallons, and you put 11.8 in, you had .6 remaining. Assuming all that fuel is usable (and assuming that potentially running it down to completely empty doesn’t harm the fuel system in some way), that would be presumably be good for another 20 miles or so.

 

[djentlguy]

Just went through my FIRST tank of dealership fuel.
Low fuel light came on and indicated 27 miles left.

Anyone have any experience with going beyond this?
Only asking because once every couple of years, I inevitably find myself in a situation where I have to stretch things (out somewhere with no gas stations around) and it's nice to know how much farther I can really go.

I have only had my EX-T for over a year, and from my experience I think it gives the alert when it reaches the last gallon or so. But you will notice that on full tank the range value will slightly vary based on ur driving style, coz ur mpg is mostly how ur driving (city/highway stop and go etc)

I would say, unless ur getting stuck in traffic and pushing ur ac to the limits u can easily cover 20+ miles (with 3-4miles slack for refueling).... good luck

 

[ck42]

The light comes on when you have 1.8 gallons left. Just multiply 1.8 by whatever mpg you're getting and that's how far you can actually go when the low fuel indicator comes on.

So...knowing the actual amount of fuel left when the light comes on is perfect. Interesting though that with this tank, I averaged a little over 35mpg, but using this, the indicator should have then told me I have 63 miles left.
I guess I'll wait until the light comes on again and run the math and see if it's far off again.

BTW....1.8 gallons left seems high to me based on previous cars. Is this value something that is found in the car's manual or online? Guessing it is since it's such a specific value.

 

[CivicXI]

It's just under 2 gallons left. Buy be careful because the turbo has a much wider range of mpgs depending on if you're doing stop and go or cruising vs the normally aspirated engine.

 

[xcivicx]

my light came day before yesterday, not more than a mile afterwards i took a round trip of 6o miles was worried the whole time about gas so at a 60 miles i made sure to stop for gas next easy station. any way it took 11.6 gallons at fill up. so mine comes on with over 2 gallons when the light comes on.


if you ask why i did not fill up sooner, i was in a hurry to the stadium where i had the best seats in the house, once in a life time seats for us ham and eggers. tv seats right behind home plate.

 

[ck42]

Great responses. Thanks, everyone!

 

[RYSBRNR]

Manufacturers don’t show the full tank size in the gauge readings, they typically set the full and empty indications to a very rough 10% below true full or above empty, they call this the fuel reserve. In my 2017 Accord it was two gallons, in the Civic it’s 1.8 per the gent above. That way, when the range indicator gets low and your cornhole gets tight thinking you’re about to be out of gas, you still have a significant reserve to get you somewhere. And more faith in your car. And in Honda. Everybody wins.

 

[ck42]

Okay then...good to know that I should easily be able to squeeze another 50mi out after the light comes on.

 

[Old guy]

The light comes on when you have 1.8 gallons left. Just multiply 1.8 by whatever mpg you're getting and that's how far you can actually go when the low fuel indicator comes on.

Now in my Si, every time I've gone down to the low fuel light, when I fueled, I had anywhere from 2.0 to 2.4 gallons left. Have only done this in warm months. Winter in Iowa I refuel at half tank.

 

[Schmullis]

Dude, pay attention to the gas gauge. Fill up no lower than a quarter tank. Not good to run dry and suck up anything in the tank.

 

[fc two]

Doesn’t it tell u how many miles

 

[RYSBRNR]

Dude, pay attention to the gas gauge. Fill up no lower than a quarter tank. Not good to run dry and suck up anything in the tank.

Another add on to this, the fuel in the tank cools the fuel pump so if you let it go under the quarter tank mark a lot your fuel pump may burn out sooner. May generally means will. And will means guaranteed lol

 

[VarmintCong]

Just went through my FIRST tank of dealership fuel.
Low fuel light came on and indicated 27 miles left.

Anyone have any experience with going beyond this?
Only asking because once every couple of years, I inevitably find myself in a situation where I have to stretch things (out somewhere with no gas stations around) and it's nice to know how much farther I can really go.

Not sure about the fuel light itself but when it reads 0 miles range, I had like 3/4 gallon left I think.

Having filled a couple cars that were completely empty, they usually go higher by 1/2 gallon than the rated tank size.

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