Low Fuel warning light at 1/2 tank

[Yeyo507]

Hello,

new to this forum. Just purchased a xlt supercrew 2wd from carvana 3 days ago with 30k miles. I received it with a “full” tank according to the fuel gauge. I think I’ve put around 150 miles over the weekend just fine. This morning the low fuel warning light popped up saying I had 75 miles to empty but the gauge shows half tank, yes not 1/4, I said 1/2. I looked through this forum and I noticed that most people get the warning light at 1/4 but 1/2 seems I bit of a stretch. I highly doubt this is normal.

I have 2 days left out of the 7 days money back guaranteed.

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[AzScorpion]

No that's not normal at all. Mine always comes on right around 1/4 tank or so and says 50 miles to E.

 

[BS67]

Welcome Joel! That's not normal. Did you try and put fuel in it and see how much it takes to fill up?

 

[Yeyo507]

I will fill up tomorrow and drive around to burn some gas and see what happens. I was reading another post suggesting it could be an electrical issue, damaged connectors around the gas tank.

 

[BS67]

I will fill up tomorrow and drive around to burn some gas and see what happens. I was reading another post suggesting it could be an electrical issue, damaged connectors around the gas tank.

There may be better recommendations than mine from others more knowledgable but might be possible to disconnect the battery cables and see if it'll re-set. Just thinkin' out loud.

 

[alcohenusa]

I will fill up tomorrow and drive around to burn some gas and see what happens. I was reading another post suggesting it could be an electrical issue, damaged connectors around the gas tank.

You might look at the overall average MPG and see what the truck says. It could be that if it has a very low average MPG that it truly thinks there are only 70 miles left to go. You could reset the fuel economy stats and see what happens with the miles to empty.

Though, as previously mentioned, 50 miles to empty is more normal to get the warning.

 

[Frenchy]

I will say that this could(key word) be normal for the favt that depending on your driving habbits the low fuel will com on anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 tank.

 

[BassRanger]

If you just got the truck and haven't filled the tank, it's very likely the lot or previous owner was either driving like a nut or letting the vehicle idle for long periods of time. The distance to E and low fuel light are based on your average fuel economy since last fill up. My distance to E can drop 80+ miles while towing. It goes back to normal after a tank or two without the trailer.

 

[Yeyo507]

Thank you guys for the quick responses, Hopefully the computer just need to adjust to my driving. I’ll do a trip reset and fill up. —>

 

[Trustable]

It COULD be based on driving habits of you/previous driver, but my focus had a similar issue with the tank. The needle would not drop for the first 100 or so miles (never the same), and then it would randomly drop at some point to 1/2or 3/4. I noticed my ranger seems to have the same issue I just mentioned with the gauge twice so far. I'm not sure how gas in the tank is measured, im assuming its a sensor instead of something physical. Over 10k miles, the low fuel light has always come on right at 50 miles for me. Hopefully its not an issue with the tank and just with the saved mpg on the fuel economy tab of the cluster.

 

[Trustable]

Thank you guys for the quick responses, Hopefully the computer just need to adjust to my driving. I’ll do a trip reset and fill up. —>

you may want to reset not just the trip, but the fuel economy tab in the cluster as well.

 

[EJH]

Don't freak out. The truck is smart, sometimes too smart.

It analyzes the last several hundred miles and uses that average for MPG to figure when you are at (what the truck thinks) is 50 miles left. It will then put the low fuel warning up regardless of the actual volume of gas left in the tank. This can be a cool feature, but for people like me who tow then don't tow, then tow, etc the low fuel warning is always off reality.

I get 10-14 MPG towing and when most of my recent few hundred miles have been towing, my truck flashes low fuel anywhere between 1/4 and 3/8 of a tank.

Most likely the previous owner's driving habits had a very low MPG (probably a lot of towing, or the truck was idling at the dealer a lot) and your truck is still basing the 50 miles to empty on that history. If your actually real time MPG is normal (20 MPG +/- a few MPG) then don't worry. It will normalize as you drive more.

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