Full Tank Gauge never gives me the correct total miles to empty

[Maunissan]

I Have this same issue every time I fill the tank.

When I fill the tank and turn the car on, the fuel gauge gives me a lower miles to empty number (usually around 170).. I have a heavy foot and I usually drive around the city which it makes the car to use more fuel but this value is definitely too far from what it should be - and what it was when I started driving the car. (around 250 miles to empty)

So I took the car to Ford to be serviced, twice, with the same complain. Both times they inspected, and updated-reseted the module and it got back to normal (250-260 miles to empty). But also both times, when I spent all the fuel and refiled the tank, the gauge gave me again a lower number (today was 208 miles to empty with the full tank).

I'm really pissed and I wonder if this will never work correctly. I guess taking the car again to Ford will be pretty much useless. (Btw last time they spent one entire week with the car - without providing a spare-courtesy car - it was a pain).

Anyone with the same issue?

TKY

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[downtheroad]

My guess is it looks at the most recent consumption trend. Drive like a great great grandma for 25 miles before you put gas in it. YMMV, lol

 

[Crew4991]

Not really an issue per say, its your driving that is to blame. You are having too much fun! LOL

You have a heavy foot so the distance calculator is using that as a baseline. Driving the car hard and getting around 170 miles seems accurate. Fuel capacity is a 16 gal tank, so that means you are getting ~10-11 mpg.

On the flip side, I drive mostly open freeways at slower highway speeds in a 6 speed manual. I get about 430 miles before empty which is ~26-27 mpg and it has been very accurate.

 

[Tyler Durden]

I Have this same issue every time I fill the tank.

When I fill the tank and turn the car on, the fuel gauge gives me a lower miles to empty number (usually around 170).. I have a heavy foot and I usually drive around the city which it makes the car to use more fuel but this value is definitely too far from what it should be - and what it was when I started driving the car. (around 250 miles to empty)

So I took the car to Ford to be serviced, twice, with the same complain. Both times they inspected, and updated-reseted the module and it got back to normal (250-260 miles to empty). But also both times, when I spent all the fuel and refiled the tank, the gauge gave me again a lower number (today was 208 miles to empty with the full tank).

I'm really pissed and I wonder if this will never work correctly. I guess taking the car again to Ford will be pretty much useless. (Btw last time they spent one entire week with the car - without providing a spare-courtesy car - it was a pain).

Anyone with the same issue?

TKY

If I am not mistaken, it sounds like you want the miles to empty number to reset to factory everytime you fill up. The thing is, it is using your driving habits to guess what it will be.

Therefore, you yourself said you drive with a heavy foot, the car knows and its letting you know. Since you drive with a heavy foot this is your expected miles to empty once you fill up.

The miles to empty does not reset to factory every time you fill the tank with gas, it uses your driving habits.

You want your miles to empty to increase, don't drive with a heavy foot and do more highway driving.

 

[Maunissan]

Not really an issue per say, its your driving that is to blame. You are having too much fun! LOL

You have a heavy foot so the distance calculator is using that as a baseline. Driving the car hard and getting around 170 miles seems accurate. Fuel capacity is a 16 gal tank, so that means you are getting ~10-11 mpg.

On the flip side, I drive mostly open freeways at slower highway speeds in a 6 speed manual. I get about 430 miles before empty which is ~26-27 mpg and it has been very accurate.

Lol - i would love to say I'm driving fast but the fact is I use the car pretty much to do groceries, take the kids to school, around the city mostly having to respect the 25-35 miles hour limit.

And it's true I don't have a super light foot - I probably accelerate more than I should but it's kinda hard to play "Driving mrs Daisy" with a V8.

I wonder, according you are saying, everytime they reset the module it also resets the average fuel consumption value, raising the total to a reasonable number, and after the computer realizes how I drive, it lowers that.

It makes some sense indeed, but even though, I think the difference is a lot. Can I be such a bad driver? (I really wonder)

TYY

 

[broncoboy22]

Not really an issue per say, its your driving that is to blame. You are having too much fun! LOL

You have a heavy foot so the distance calculator is using that as a baseline. Driving the car hard and getting around 170 miles seems accurate. Fuel capacity is a 16 gal tank, so that means you are getting ~10-11 mpg.

On the flip side, I drive mostly open freeways at slower highway speeds in a 6 speed manual. I get about 430 miles before empty which is ~26-27 mpg and it has been very accurate.

This

 

[GT7 Mayhem]

Lol - i would love to say I'm driving fast but the fact is I use the car pretty much to do groceries, take the kids to school, around the city mostly having to respect the 25-35 miles hour limit.

And it's true I don't have a super light foot - I probably accelerate more than I should but it's kinda hard to play "Driving mrs Daisy" with a V8.

I wonder, according you are saying, everytime they reset the module it also resets the average fuel consumption value, raising the total to a reasonable number, and after the computer realizes how I drive, it lowers that.

It makes some sense indeed, but even though, I think the difference is a lot. Can I be such a bad driver? (I really wonder)

TYY

It's not about being a bad driver, It's more about the stop and go driving, the short trips, and accelerating fast. These are all things that will reduce your gas mileage by a lot.

For example, my wife mostly does around town driving like you. Her car typically says around 380 miles when we fill it up (It's a Lincoln Nautilus, not a Mustang). We took her car on a long trip, all highway miles, and when we filled the tank it estimated 530 mile range. Huge difference!

So what everyone else is saying on here is true. These cars learn your tendencies and tend to estimate your range based on your recent driving. Again, I know the example I gave is not a Mustang, but it's still made by Ford and probably has the same computer set up.

 

[AzkAdAsh]

Lol - i would love to say I'm driving fast but the fact is I use the car pretty much to do groceries, take the kids to school, around the city mostly having to respect the 25-35 miles hour limit.

And it's true I don't have a super light foot - I probably accelerate more than I should but it's kinda hard to play "Driving mrs Daisy" with a V8.

I wonder, according you are saying, everytime they reset the module it also resets the average fuel consumption value, raising the total to a reasonable number, and after the computer realizes how I drive, it lowers that.

It makes some sense indeed, but even though, I think the difference is a lot. Can I be such a bad driver? (I really wonder)

TYY

It's not that you're a bad driver, but because you burn a lot of gas real quick on short trips with a lot of acceleration and your car is estimating for that. My driving is an even split between city and highway. I get 18 MPG average per tank. A 16 gallon tank at 18 miles per gallon gives me about 290 miles per tank and when I fill up, my range is in the 275-300 range depending on how much time I spent in traffic for the previous tank.

Just do the math. Multiply your current MPG by 16 and see what number you get. I bet it's close to 170.

 

[AZ_Ryan]

What others have said it spot on. The computer is calculating your miles to empty based on your driving.

I have seen my miles to empty recalculate and even increase if I primarily do city driving, and then take a cross town drive on the freeway. My guess is the computer is looking at the last 50-100 miles or so.

These things do not get good milage in stop and go city driving. Especially if you have a lead foot. I was averaging around 200 miles a tank in my last S550 manual when I only did city driving. If I made a road trip or a couple long freeway drives it would get 240-260 a tank.

 

[roadpilot]

Why on God's green earth do you think the car is calculating anything correctly? It's just an estimation based on most recent driving habits.

Log your odometer and gallons added each fill up and do the math. THAT is your actual mileage, no matter what some silly "DTE" number is reading.

 

[AZ_Ryan]

Why on God's green earth do you think the car is calculating anything correctly? It's just an estimation based on most recent driving habits.

Log your odometer and gallons added each fill up and do the math. THAT is your actual mileage, no matter what some silly "DTE" number is reading.

Or just use the mileage reading with your trip odometer lol.

 

[Mikestang24]

I Have this same issue every time I fill the tank.

When I fill the tank and turn the car on, the fuel gauge gives me a lower miles to empty number (usually around 170).. I have a heavy foot and I usually drive around the city which it makes the car to use more fuel but this value is definitely too far from what it should be - and what it was when I started driving the car. (around 250 miles to empty)

So I took the car to Ford to be serviced, twice, with the same complain. Both times they inspected, and updated-reseted the module and it got back to normal (250-260 miles to empty). But also both times, when I spent all the fuel and refiled the tank, the gauge gave me again a lower number (today was 208 miles to empty with the full tank).

I'm really pissed and I wonder if this will never work correctly. I guess taking the car again to Ford will be pretty much useless. (Btw last time they spent one entire week with the car - without providing a spare-courtesy car - it was a pain).

Anyone with the same issue?

TKY

It's all in your head . The car predicts the mileage based on history. Leave it in normal mode and drive like a granny for a tankful of gas. The number will go up. As soon as you drive like you usually drive it'll go back down. It will also adjust itself throughout the tank of gas if you drive very conservatively.

 

[Sofa King]

 

[gtstang462002]

As just about everyone has stated. It is a best guess based on past driving styles. I wouldn't worry about it. You know what you are actually getting per tank on average and if something drastically changes then it may be cause for concern, unless you know that you have been a lead foot lary. In which case we are just paying to play.

 

[Mustang1987]

It's a guess based on how you drive. That's all it can be. You don't want it to tell you that you have 15 miles left when you actually have 7 left based on how you drive.

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