Tank Reserve. Anyone actually know?

Anyone know what the actual reserve Toyota uses for the tank. That is how many gallons are left with the indicator on E?

Anyone ever actually run out of gas? How far did you go after "Empty"?

This is merely out of curiosity and in the event of poor planning/dumbassery

 

I have to believe the fuel tank capacity is somewhere near 21 gallons. A normal refill near the final 25 mile warning notice for most of us is somewhere in the 18 gallon range. The most I have ever filled up with was 20.1 gallons and that was running about 40 miles after the "refuel" (0 miles left) warning.

I have never taken it to not running empty.

 

3-4 gallons?

 

I've always wanted to know the same thing. I've made myself sweat a few times...likely for no reason. The most I've gone beyond Empty was 10 miles. There's got to be at least 3 more gallons in there so maybe 50-60 miles beyond E?

 

I don't think there is 3 gallons left when you hit "O" MTE. I have gotten my truck down to 5 - 7 MTE on the digital read out. When I gassed up the truck, I put in almost 20 gallons in it.

This is a total guess, but I think once you zero out the MTE, you have 1 gallon left, and the actual mileage will vary based on your driving, your truck and the weather/road conditions at the time. A good guesstimate would be: Another 18-ish miles before you finally run out of gas.

 

Rather than thinking of E as meaning "Empty", think of it as meaning "Emergency pending if you do not add fuel to keep the in-tank fuel pump from overheating".
It is a good number to know though.

Semi-related: We have attendant fill pumps. jabbering with the attendant while tank was filling, I guessed it would take $80. She got into how much it takes to fill her car, etc.
The pump stopped at $80.18. She said "Whoa, you know your truck better than I know my car." I said "there must be something wrong with your pump."
She just stared. Didn't get the joke.

 

Ive gone 15miles past "0" miles.

 

My tank doesn't run on Reserve. It runs on expired Ol' Grand Dad.


The MTE calculation is so variable from truck to truck, there is no way to answer. You have to get close to zero, measure the fill up minus (miles to zero / average MPG). Subtract that from 21 to find your reserve, and do take note that the reserve will vary depending on your driving and fill up habits.

My truck takes 19 gallons to fill at 0 MTE ± .5 gal, depending on habits during my last road trip. 1.5-2.5 gals in reserve at empty. I usually fill at 1/4 tank, so it doesn't matter to me much. Ive only hit 0 miles a couple of times, Ive never gone below -5 miles.

 

Sounds like we're all relatively in the same boat. I would just suggest to the OP to run it to the 25-0 MTE warning a few times and take note of how many gallons it takes to refill. It sounds like most of us take an average of about 18.5 gallons to refill in that scenario. A little research since my post above says the 3rd gen tank is 21.1 gallons official capacity. After testing, if you find that you are also refilling with about 18.5 at warning then this means that you likely have 2-2.5 gallons left beyond "refuel" warning or "empty".

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-far-have-you-gone-after-0-miles-to-empty.410922/

 

Nice. Thanks for the link. Searched but didn't come across that one.

 

The best way to find stuff on here...if you don't already know it, is to put your search in Google, but add Tacoma World at the end of it. The search feature on here sucks.

 

So for all curious minds...from the below 2016 thread someone actually ran their truck completely out of gas. They got 32 miles additional after the gauge was on E and 0 MTE. Another poster confirmed 2 gallons of "reserve" after talking to a Toyota Engineer.

EDIT
As above VegasVic got 40 miles after it reading 0 MTE
As below @hiPSI got 40 miles after 0 MTE reading

Thanks for chiming in Ya'll
Cheers

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-far-have-you-gone-after-0-miles-to-empty.410922/

 

3 gallons

 

Funny, because of my mom, I grew up believing there was a tiny "extra" reserve tank under the car somewhere, that was tapped into when the light came one. Wasn't until I got older that I realized my mom was a habitual "E" driver. I'm going to check my manual later but I thought I read the light comes on when you had about 25 miles left. I could be and probably am wrong though. I'll post back with my findings.

 

The most I've ever put into mine was 19.4 gallons. I'm sure it had been well below "E" when I filled up. Couldn't tell ya how many miles and I don't much care. Don't trust or rely on 'DTE' - only the fuel gauge.

 

I've went 40 past the zero just for fun. Three gal for a total of 21.1

 

Good to know! Thanks