Fuel Gauges

[billd766]

I can't remember seeing it before but I cannot understand fuel gauges nowadays.

I have a Ford Ranger which when the tank is full to the brim reads past the full mark and on the empty mark when I filled it last week I put 54 litres into a 70 litre tank.

My Yamaha Fino motor scooter has the same problem (except for the amount).

In this modern day and age surely it is not that hard or expensive to do.

If we can send men to the moon, explore the deepest ocean why is it so hard to get a fuel gauge to work accurately?

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

Mine Yamaha RXZ fuel gauge was ridiculously correct - when it reached the left end of the scale (empty) i had about five kilometers to find a gas station (no reserve cock on it).

So i changed the calibration somewhat and now when it reaches left end, i still have some 4 liters left.

Hey better your tank isn't empty when it alerts you to fill up than it actually IS empty at the moment the light comes on - right? Or do you like to push your vehicles?

I don't

Best regards.....

Thanh

[Gary A]

My Nissan pickup still has about ten liters of fuel left when the gauge says empty. I'd much rather have it that way than the other way.

[billd766]

Hi

Mine Yamaha RXZ fuel gauge was ridiculously correct - when it reached the left end of the scale (empty) i had about five kilometers to find a gas station (no reserve cock on it).

So i changed the calibration somewhat and now when it reaches left end, i still have some 4 liters left.

Hey better your tank isn't empty when it alerts you to fill up than it actually IS empty at the moment the light comes on - right? Or do you like to push your vehicles?

I don't

Best regards.....

Thanh

Hi Thanh

I have never seen the low fuel light come on in the Ford in the 6 1/2 years that I have had the car and I usually stick 500 or 1,000 baht in when it gets low.

On the Mio I just lift the saddle, open the tank cap and have a look and I always have enough to get to the village or in an emergency I can go to the little shop but that is about 2 baht a litre more expensive and I am a cheap charlie at times.

The last time I filled the Mio tank it cost me 130 baht and the Ford full to the brim cost me 1,800 baht.

[Cuban]

Better err' on the pesimisstic side than a long hot walk to the gas station.

Consider an error the other way - although I agree with your comment about "technology these days" people haven't kept up with the times and still run a car on fumes in the hope of squeezing a little more out of the tank.

[billd766]

Better err' on the pesimisstic side than a long hot walk to the gas station.

Consider an error the other way - although I agree with your comment about "technology these days" people haven't kept up with the times and still run a car on fumes in the hope of squeezing a little more out of the tank.

I used to see a lot of that in Pakistan and Bangladesh where guys would lie their motorbikes down in order to get the last drops of fuel out of the tank so that they could get to the pumps and put in 1 litre and repeat the operation again and again.

[philipm]

haha first off, we cant send humans down to anywhere near the deepest ocean. our heads would pop off with the pressure.... though i get your point.

alot of the fuel guages are all based on sensors in the tank, sometimes the sensor doesnt read it properlly, (when turning left or right...you can see sometimes the fuel guage will follow up or down depent on the turn direction haha)

and plus for a better safety percaution....having at least a few km when the light goes on. for my triton i got about 50-60km left when the light comes on....so im guessing if right now i get 11.2-8.2km/l so about 4-5L left. which in my opinion is great and has saved me dozens of times.

[Flatouthruthefog]

Better err' on the pesimisstic side than a long hot walk to the gas station.

Consider an error the other way - although I agree with your comment about "technology these days" people haven't kept up with the times and still run a car on fumes in the hope of squeezing a little more out of the tank.

Me too. However, back in the 70's, when muscle cars were muscle cars and men were grateful, I did notice that Ford fuel gauges were always pessimistic (ie you had more in there than the needle showed) and General Motors machines were optimistic.

And that led to me running out of juice one dawn, alone, just outside Londonderry (sorry, Derry) when the troubles were at their height. But that's another story.

Despite the rising prices, don't risk being caught out.