Anyone ever have the fuel display suddenly drop from two bars to essentially empty?
By the miles left display on the right, it showed about 20 miles of gas left. However the fuel gauge showed 2 bars, which didn't seem right. Next time I glanced down, it was blinking on 1 bar.

When I filled it up, it took about 9.3 gallons, which means there was almost 2 gal left in the tank?? It seems like the tank will actually have at least a gallon left when the display reads empty?

 

The gauge is certainly not linear. IIRC, it goes from 3 bars to two bars with about 80 miles left. I'm not sure when it goes to 1 bar, but it is pretty fast. I have to keep a much closer eye on it because my last car (Golf TDI) could go 800-900 miles on a tank, and when the low fuel light came on, I could go another 90 miles.

My first tank, I drove until the miles to empty was zero (was caught by surprise) and it took just a hair over 10 gallons to fill it. I think the tank is supposed to be 10.5 gallon, but I could be wrong... I know it says in the manual, but I don't have it on me.

 

its a feel good gas gauge not in real time

i had a real life gas gauge in my old work truck every time the gas slosh in the tank so would the needle move with the flow of the sloshing it was quite annoying

 

Lol my civic was like that too.

I think the tank of the xD is 11.1 gallons.

 

You would be correct at 11.1

 

Damn... if it is 11.1, I could have gone 420 miles on the last tank if I kept going. I filled at 360.5, but it only took 9.4 gallons to fill it up.

 

You know its not good for the motor or fuel pump if you run it dry....... Usually when the low fuel light comes on, I find a gas station quick.

 

are you talking about running it until completely dry and it dies, or just very low? because this is a topic that has been beaten to death; something about sediment and water getting into the filter and blah blah blah.... wrong.

 

well if it dies is bad too, bu no I am not talking about the sediment or water. What I am talking about is the fuel pump only has 2 methods of cooling air and liquid. As far as the air cooling goes, it rarely has any effect unless its 60 degrees or below. If you are running low, and take a corner quickly or anything that would "starve" the fuel pump, it wont have its cooling method. Now there wont be any immediate damage to the pump but over time it will cause a premature pump failure.

 

are there any aftermarket gauges or anything out there that can give you an accurate reading on fuel levels? either by weight of the fuel left or the actual volume?

I think fuel gauges are one of those few thing on modern cars that is still archaic, and by the 21st century, we shouldn't still be guessing how much "actual" fuel there is left in the tank. Even with the "modern" miles left calculation thing that our car has, its virtually useless because we all have seen the thing go to zero and yet still continued to drive 20 or 30 miles MORE! These days with fuel being at such a premium and people wanting to get and stretch the absolute most out of every gallon they got, you THINK fuel gauges would have evolved, IMO they have not, much. Our car is a case in point.

 

I think the problem is that they would have to build and calibrate a sender for each model, since the fuel tanks are all odd shapes and sizes. Just a matter of cost, I would think.

 

My experience so far is that when the 'miles to empty' counter reaches 0, there is still just about 1 gallon in the tank. I wouldn't count on this being 100% consistent from tank to tank or car to car.

 

Look into getting a scangauge II. After three tanks it calibrates and becomes quite accurate. It registers my fill amounts to within .1 gallons on most occassions.

On the plus side that tool also measures speed, fuel usage, gph and takes all kinds of other measurements that you all would be interested in. PLus it clears codes...

 

I've had a scangauge II for over a year now... they are awesome. One of the annoying things is that it only allows you to enter the size of your fuel tank in full gallon increments.

 

When I got gas this last time, there were 2 little blocks left on the fuel gauge. Then in a matter of a few miles, they are both gone and it's blinking. It's funny how fast those last 2 go down. I probably only drove about another 5-6 miles, and the car took 10.06 gallons.

Pretty consistently, once it starts blinking, I usually get gas w/in 10 miles. One timeI filled up there was only about 1/2 gallon left in the car. The car took 10.5 gallons.

 

I think the manufactures do this on purpose to help keep some people from running out of gas regularly. There are always going to be people who think they don't need to fill up until the gauge reads empty, This way they have a "reserve" of sorts to get them to the gas station.

 

I got used to my VW's "beep" along with the low fuel light. I have to remember to look at the gauge on the xD... especially since it needs a fill-up every few days.

 

Yep...

The two bar at park and the blinking one bar at next day's start up is common.

The Scion / Toyota electronic fuel gage is well-known as awful.

I'd say that this is one of the xDs biggest flaws. I cant think of another issue which bothers me more...

 

Stop using your xD a a towtruck and you'll refill less!

 

Okay, I did ONLY get 30.1 MPG (calculated) when towing a 1,500 pound trailer... so you've got a point there. What I meant, though, is that my Golf would go about 800-900 miles on a tank and the xD (even when I get 38 MPG) goes less than 400 miles.

I'm not using my car as a tow truck. Tow trucks are those things that tow cars. I occasionally use my car to tow a small trailer... but, as we all know, any car should be able to tow a small trailer.