The other day I was driving around and trying to get as much out of my tank as I could. I noticed the needle was almost covering the mark on the gauge for E and the light has yet to come on. Now in the entire time of owning the car it has only came on maybe two times.
I know it would be covered under warranty but I changed my LEDs a while back. Everything worked fine up till this point. Does anybody have any ideas or advise before I go back and they tell me I'm F'ed?

Dear Opiter,

I miss the old Avatar, but understand the Forum rules.

When you first turn your ignition switch to the "ON" position, your dashboard should shine every light for 2 seconds as a start up diagnostic. Try this. Does the low fuel light come on? the other part of the diagnostic is does it go off after two seconds? If Yes, and Yes, no problem your fuel light works. If No, and you did replace the lights with LED's, you will need to test the LED light behind the low fuel silhouette.

Also, please note that most manufacturers set their fuel light sensor to show when you have between 30-50 miles (roughly) of fuel left. This may be as little as 1 .25 gallons in the Accent. You would have to drive the needle down to the E before this low fuel light will show.

Byron

My needle is well into the "E" before the light comes on to warn me. I did the same as you once, Opiter. I kept waiting for it to come on... and waiting... and waiting...

When it finally came on, I stopped at the nearest filling station... it took about 10.2 gallons to fill it up.

Thanks guys, yeah I miss my old one too.

I only changed the ODO, Speed and Tach, and gas and temp gauges everything else stayed the same. I'll have to try pushing it on this tank, getting close anyways.

I might try another speed run to get a new pic for my avatar, that'll burn up some gas :P

This post has been edited by Opiter: Aug 29 2008, 12:15 PM

ive found that my light goes on when i have about 9ish liters left.. 9/3.8= 2.3 gallons

..if that helps

I've gone 60 miles after the light came on. Gas pump said 12.2 gallons although we only have a 11.9 gallon tank. Go figure that one out.

yup i ran my car down till it started sputterin and i filled up with almost 50 liters...

How many km's do you guys usually average at 1/2 tank? Im at about 160ish range with pretty much 100% city driving. Is that bad or about average?

That's nothing... the closest I got to empty was 11.6 gallons out of 11.9, because I REFUSE to pay the stupidly high city gas prices. I drove back home to the suburbs on fumes and got gas for 35 cents less per gallon. Totally worth the potential for damage from gas sediment. Not that there'd be that much considering how new the car is, but still.

Depends on how crappy the traffic is in your city and how well timed the lights are. If my calculations are correct, you're averaging about 17 MPG (200 mi per 11.9 gal of gas) with 100% city driving, which is pretty bad. Even being the aggressive a s s hole driver that I am in the city, I still get 26 MPG city. Closer to 30-31 Highway. And I'm an aggressive driver. Very aggressive lol. I have a short air intake so I like to hear that baby roar in the city.

But when I first got my car (brand new) it wasn't getting that great of gas mileage, until the ECU started to learn about how I drive, and now it gets about 3 MPG more on city and 6 more on highway, after about 3,000 miles.

This post has been edited by bloodninja: Aug 29 2008, 08:20 PM

The light seems slow to react, often leaving one to wonder if it's even going to come on. Mine is buried on 'E' for quite a while before it ever lights. I usually have around 9.5 gallons used when the light first comes on.

usually when my gas guage is at 1/2 my trip odo says 200 mi. unless i was wasting gas by going a hundred or trying to race scion xc's and losing.

the slow gas light could be due to the baffles in the tank. i dont know how it is inside ours but in my old ricer K car if you turned left fast enough the car would die cuse all the gas wen tto the other side of the pump line. maybe our tanks have something that slows the movement gooder

my wild guess is that when you put your needle back when you change your leds, you misplace it. that happen to me as well.

My low fuel light does not come on as part of the start up diagnostic, it never has. However, my low fuel light does work correctly, as I have had it come on once or twice before.

My question is this: What difference does it make, it's bad for the pump to run it that low on fuel anyway...

oops.

This post has been edited by bloodninja: Aug 30 2008, 03:28 PM

Same here, that's one of the few lights that don't come on during the diagnostic. Looks like other models do though.



Definitely a good idea to not let it run too low too often. :thumbsup: It's bad for your fuel pump and can be bad for your nerves too when you're worried about running out :grin:

Here's some pics; the first one 356 mi is 20 seconds after the light came on, and the second is 20 seconds before I pulled into the gas station. So, maybe you can use this to see where my needle is compared to yours when your light should come on. I got 35.2 mpg this tank, first tank with my diy sri.