Each brand is a bit different. I recently ran out of gas (mostly my fault but partially not) in my Rav4. At about 20 to 30 miles of range left the yellow warning light comes on. At that point there's something like 2 1/2 gallons of gas so I normally wait until then to plan to fill up. Based on my calculated distance and the maximum amount of gas I have put in the tank I know once it says refuel now I have 50 miles left before I'm really pushing it.
Anyway the amber light had just come on and I was only a couple miles from my house. When I was passing the gas station and there was a line of cars I figured I would fill up the next morning. As it turned out that's when he fuel level sensor decided to break. For the next 3 days I never left the house. On the 4th day I forgot all about it. When driving through town the engine shut off (out of gas). That's when I remembered I never got gas. The fuel level was showing over 1/4 of a tank which is why I didn't think about it.
The way the level sensor works in every Toyota I have had is it's nothing more than a brush that rubs on a wire wound on a piece of plastic. The that brush doesn't make contact the fuel gauge reads fuller than it really is. On older Toyotas the low level light was a separate sensor. It's not anymore. Someone with the wiring diagram can confirm this as there's only two wires going to the level sensor in the tank.
So now I always set one of the trip meters. On a new 4R it's not going to be an issue but if you keep it long enough (the rav4 took 185k miles) the sensor will break. Since the distance remaining and the fuel gauge going from white to yellow is just the computer reading the one sensor you too could find yourself on the side of the road when it fails.
Anyway the amber light had just come on and I was only a couple miles from my house. When I was passing the gas station and there was a line of cars I figured I would fill up the next morning. As it turned out that's when he fuel level sensor decided to break. For the next 3 days I never left the house. On the 4th day I forgot all about it. When driving through town the engine shut off (out of gas). That's when I remembered I never got gas. The fuel level was showing over 1/4 of a tank which is why I didn't think about it.
The way the level sensor works in every Toyota I have had is it's nothing more than a brush that rubs on a wire wound on a piece of plastic. The that brush doesn't make contact the fuel gauge reads fuller than it really is. On older Toyotas the low level light was a separate sensor. It's not anymore. Someone with the wiring diagram can confirm this as there's only two wires going to the level sensor in the tank.
So now I always set one of the trip meters. On a new 4R it's not going to be an issue but if you keep it long enough (the rav4 took 185k miles) the sensor will break. Since the distance remaining and the fuel gauge going from white to yellow is just the computer reading the one sensor you too could find yourself on the side of the road when it fails.
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