I was wondering how many gallons do i have left when the low fuel light comes on, andis the trip computer accurate?

The last time the light came on I filled up immediately, only 16 gallons to fill up. We have a 19 gallon tank.....So the light comes on at 3 gallons?? Seems kind of high, my 03 CL type-S light would come on when I had two gallons left, I think.

Also the trip computer seems a little off. When that light comes on it says I can drive 40 miles, but is also saying I’m getting 20 mpg so I should be able to drive 60 miles. Currently the computer is telling me I can only drive 2 miles, I think ill drive it until it stops to see how accurate this thing is.

Anyway, I just wanted to hear some experiences that others in this forum have had.

Oh I have a 06 RL with 600 miles on it.

 

My experience is that when the light goes on, I have about 20 miles left. It's my understanding that you don't want to get down to the last gallon - you could risk getting water or foreign objects in your fuel supply system.

 

the RL (as do many automobiles) has a reserve tank. So you have a lot more than 20 miles (obviously this will vary based on highway vs. city driving).

I'd speculate as much as 40-60 miles.

 

What do you mean - reserve tank?

 

He means that the light comes on well before the tank is near empty because it prevents some idiot owner from running out of gas and then blaming Acura that they didn't give enough advance warning.

 

I find that the light comes on when the trip computer reads that there is a range 20 or 25 miles left based on the mileage reading at the time. So if you have a mileage of 20 mpg, it will light up when you have 1 gallon left (not including the reserve). If your mpg is at 16, it will light up when you have 1.25 gallons left. I think the reserve is 2 gallons since I fill up with approx. 16 gallons when the light comes on. Hope this helps... what do others think?

 

Just a side note. Fuel injectors have real tight tolerances. The injectors use the fuel for both a lubricant and for cooling.

It's pretty easy to score injectors if they are allowed to function while not receiving fuel.

Most engines will shut down when a major fuel pressure drop is sensed.

Also a severely clogged injector will self destruct fairly quickly.

 

Even when my TL was "completely and totally empty" (like below a '0' reading), I was only able to fill up 14.8 gallons before it came close to spilling over (total tank capacity is listed as 17.0 gallons).

I understand there are two flaws in the scenario above (1. don't try to push your Acura to run out of gas and 2. don't fill past the fuel pump auto-stop), but just using as a point of comparison here...

 

My light comes on with about 25 miles left before empty. Also, Even though a gas tank is rated at a certain capacity doesn't necessarily mean that it's all usable fuel. Most tanks have a certain amount of gas that's in a sort of "dead' space.

 

The RL does not have a reserve tank (with the exception of Jaguars of the '70s and early 80's which had two access tanks on each side of equal capacity but one tank was 1.5 gallons larger). The light comes on with about 2-3 gallons left in the tank. But, if you find yourself parked head down on a decline, you might see the indicator come on a little bit earlier then typical.

For the longevity of your fuel pump, you should always keep a minimum of 1/4 tank of gas in the tank. Also, you should not top off your tank when filling up. Doing so minimizes the life of the float in your tank.

 

Well i just drove my RL until the trip computer said 0and then i drove 4 more mile to the gas station. I pumped 17.5 gallons of fuel into the tank to top her off. So it looks like you will get the low fuel warning with about 3 gallons left, and the trip computer will read 0with about 2 gallons left in the tank.

I put 344.2 miles on this tank of gas and when filling the tank up I put in 17.599 gallon. The trip computer told me i had an average of 19.7 MPG, my calcutaions came out to 19.557. At least the trip computer seems to be calculating MPG well, to bad it doesnt want to include the full 19.5 gallons in our tank when it calculates how many miles you can put on the tank.

 

19.5 gallons? The RL fuel tank has a 17.1 gallon capacity so I don't know where you're getting your number from...

 

My book (2005) shows 19.4.
Are you looking at imperial gallons?

 

My experience with Acuras is that you have about 2 gallons left when the light comes on.

 

I got the informations from acura's website:
Fuel Tank Capacity:19.4 U.S. gallons (73.3 liters)

 

My experience is that you have 2 gallons left BEFORE the "reserve" portion of the tank (which is another 2 or so gallons).

Otherwise there's no way I'd be able to drive 20-25 miles past "zero" as I did once in my TL.

Once again, this isn't good practice (going below the 'recommended' zero portion) but you never really have use of the full 19.4/19.5 gallons that Acura advertises.

 

I have always thought the trip computer distance left indicator basically only went to the low fuel light when the tank got low. I say this because as stated by others, it will read mega low (like 20km) left when the low fuel light comes on but when filling up it is clear the tank had another 10 litres. I think it gives an estimate of distance based on the full tank but when say 1/8th left it drastically changes and bam, you're left with a very short distance remaining that doesn't jive with the gas left. Hell, I think the distance calculator changes big time after the tank is half empty...maybe that is when it goes from giving the full tank estimiate to just "full to the low warning light" (or slightly after the light comes on) estimate.

 

The fuel light and trip computer is one of my pet peeves with the RL. The trip computer is way off. My says ~20 mile range when low fuel comes on. I know form filling up as others have posted that there is at least 3 gallons left when low fuel light comes on. I'm OK with that, but the trip computer range is worthless. When range goes to zero, I have about 2 gallons of gas left. Now the range is useless. Just when I need it the most, it provides no information.

 

Very very hard for anything to be more accurate than that. Each car would have to have it's fuel fuel pickup point calibrated as to exactly how much gas it could actually get out of the tank. I would rather be on the conservative side. You can't even take a hard corner with 2 gallons left without fuel starvation.

 

I couldnt agree more.

 

Every vehicle I've had (Mountaineer, Touareg) that has this functionality has been useless as well at giving me true guidance on the amount of fuel/mileage left when the warning light comes on.

 

Every other car I've owned including lowly Ford Explorere and Dodge Durango worked better. There was always some conservatism, but when the low fuel light came on, range was closer to reality. My main problem with RL is, that if the range is acuurate, then the low fuel light should come on earlier. If the range was accurate, by the time the light comes on you only have 20 miles not much margin for error. However, the Range is wrong not the low fuel warning.

 

My lowly Ford station wagon said Low Fuel at 50 miles. I checked it in the Nevada dessert, during 120 degree heat, 2 screaming kids and with the in-laws: for the first 20 miles it was OK. The next 30 were non existant. The AAA rushed a couple of gallons to me in 2 and half hours. It seems that my whole family is paranoid about the warning light now!

 

Last time I drove the car it said I had 60-80KMs left before I turned it off. Today I get in and it reads a bit more than 30. Sheesh, useless range indicator.

 

The range is somewhat interesting. I have a pretty consistent driving pattern and average slightly more than 20 mpg all the time. When I fill up, the range will show just over 400 miles as I would expect (19.5x20.5). (By the way, has anyone gotten the automatic reset on fill-up to work? Mine is set to auto, but only resets when trip A goes turns 1000 miles.)

Anyway, back to the range. Somewhere between 400 miles on range and zero miles in range, it must re-calculate because range goes to zero when I have between 2 and 3 gallons left (assuming 19.5 tank). In other words, I would think that at fill-up, it would calculate range based on 17 gallons at 20 mpg since range goes to zero after using 17 gallons. It would be interesting to watch the range on a 400 mile trip and see where it adjusts itself.

 

yeah my auto reset thing works at fillup. Think it is set up in the MID menu thing.

I still think the system re-calculates somewhere around the 1/4 remaining mark to give a distance when the low warning light comes on. It'll calculate to that and then give a bit of distance after the light comes on. So with me, the light came on this morn and I had 11 KMs left. They prolly figure someone will see that and go to the gas station pretty quickly after the light comes on.

 

Yep, mine works perfectly.

BTW, I experience the same thing you do. I average around 20mpg. I always get an initial range of about 410 when I fill up and it gradually goes down to around 370.

 

I burn a tank every 2 days. When the light comes on, I often drive past zero range miles for another 20 or so miles. When I get to the pump, I can only get in 17.5 on a 19.1 tank.

These are highway miles at 80 mph.

 

Not to hijack the thread, but, yes, mine auto reset trip meter works when I fill up. Seems like I referred to the owners manual to get it set, but have left it alone since and seems to work every time. IOW - I do NOT go 1,000 miles, it just magically knows I filled up and it sets itself to 0.

Tom

 

Thanks. I'll try the set-up again. But when I go to trip computer it appears that auto reset is on. What should the setting look like in the trip computer?

 

Is that setting driver dependent like most settings?
Make sure you are setting up for the correct driver. Check "welcome driver #" when you turn the ignition key.