gas gauge

[KevD]

Anyone know how far you can go after the gas gauge starts to blink? Is there like a red light that comes on when it's REALLY low?? I've never tested this for obvious reasons...

Thanks!

[MadMax]

No, it starts blinking slowly then it blinks faster. After that you'll know when you're out of gas when the car stops running...

When the last bar starts flashing, you have 1.6 gallons left; and if I am not mistaken, there is 1.1 gallons once the bar starts flashing more rapidly.

But remember that the gauge on the Yaris is not a precision instrument, and several factors can dictate how much gas there is in the tank; so prepare for some fluxuation in the readings!

By the way, I hate digital gas gauges like the one on the Yaris!

Cheers! M2

[ROCKLAND TOYOTA]

i drove for 3 days locally WITH a/c on before my car died on the highway. id say i went a total of 30 miles or so.....

[beebosaur]

madmax is right. 1.6 when it starts blinking slowly. 1.1 when it starts blinking faster. so thats about 30-40 miles from the time you reach 1 bar. it's in the owners manual.

[DevilGirl]

By the way, I hate digital gas gauges like the one on the Yaris!

Cheers! M2

Totally agree with you on this one!! No real warning light, just the blinking. Difficult to see just how far you are from E...

[eTiMaGo]

I'm not sure why people really need the precision of an analog gauge, it's not hard to figure this one out, fast blinking means don't take chances, find a gas station asap!

[ilikerice]

I'm not sure why people really need the precision of an analog gauge, it's not hard to figure this one out, fast blinking means don't take chances, find a gas station asap!

I agree. No difference. either you wait til the light starts flashing on a yaris or you wait til the light on a analog comes on. I dont see any difference. not like the analog is exact either. God knows how many times I wondered how far that needle will get under that "E" before I start asking the car "Don't cut off yet, 1 more mile"

[ciscobear]

yeh about 6 litres left in the tank on first blink, second fast blink means four litres left.

I find sometimes I would first slow blink and If I have a passenger in the car, the second fast blink comes on instantly. As the guys said above, second fast blink don't take chances :)

[Yaristeve]

My 2011 does not have a slow blink/fast blink. At least, I don't think it does; how slow is slow and how fast is fast? When it goes to the last bar, it just blinks pertty quickly. When I hit the last bar, I usually fill up at the nearest gas station. The most I've ever filled was 10.6 gallons.

[MadMax]

I'm not sure why people really need the precision of an analog gauge, it's not hard to figure this one out, fast blinking means don't take chances, find a gas station asap!

I prefer the linear nature of needle gauge, and I am not a fan of 'low gas' lights either! The one on my Jeep is brighter than hell and if I'm driving while it's dark (such as on my way to work in the morning) it's distracting.

There's still over a gallon left when the fast flashing starts, so that means the tank is good for another 35-40 miles (theoretically). Given that a gallon of gas weighs over six pounds, the difference between a full tank and a low one is over sixty pounds! That's extra weight that I don't like lugging around all the time.

If it makes you feel any better, my mother-in-law refuels when the gas gauge gets to a quarter tank. Some of us prefer to live a little more dangerously...:evil:

Cheers! M2

[DevilGirl]

best way to stay safe, use the trip indicator as your gas gauge. my yaris used to be able to do 620 km before the light started to blink fast.

This theory varies depending on multiple factors. There are some instances where I've only averaged 35 MPG, whereas other times I'll get 42 MPG.

Over the course of using 10 gallons (leaving 1 in reserve), that's a 70 mile variable. Almost an entire day of commuting for me.

Consistency would be the key to being able to use that theory in practice, but even that can have variables (unknowns that pop up at you when you least expect them, such as traffic for whatever reason).




As a side note to my earlier post, I don't necessarily like the warnings lights. But I do like the analogue style for the simple reason that I don't always take note of when my gas gauge starts flashing as it is not right in front of me.

I've said this before, and the response I've gotten has been telling me to do a sweep of my guages more often.

My reply to you is this: I do a sweep of my guages quite frequently, but when you're running on only 4, maybe 5, hours of sleep a night, making the trip to the train station at a little after 4am trying to get to work, it's not easy to keep your eyes open to look at the road, let alone the guage. (lack of sleep is due to the fact that my commute is, on average, 2.5 hours each way between the hour drive to the train station, taking the train for another 40-50 minutes, plus the subway and then the walk to the building; it's only 1.5 hours in the morning if I drive all the way in, but I hate fighting the traffic in Philly in the afternoons).

Move closer to work, you say. Not possible when the fiance goes 45 minutes north for work. Unfortunately, in this economy, unless I want to take a severe paycut to the point of not being able to pay bills, I have to travel to get to a decent job.

So I will repeat my earlier statement of liking the analogue gauges better.

[fnkngrv]

I have heard of people actually using something like this to check their fuel levels even in their cars. I saw it on some forum from the UK where they modded the thing to work with a much smaller tank:

http://www.heatandplumb.com/acatalog/Titan_Watchman_Sonic_Oil_Tank_Gauge.html

The fatal flaw that I see with this is that if it is sonic and the fuel is moving of course the sonic reading wouldn't be that accurate anyway right? I mean you would essentially have to park the car to get a solid reading right?

[CTScott]

I have heard of people actually using something like this to check their fuel levels even in their cars. I saw it on some forum from the UK where they modded the thing to work with a much smaller tank:

http://www.heatandplumb.com/acatalog/Titan_Watchman_Sonic_Oil_Tank_Gauge.html

The fatal flaw that I see with this is that if it is sonic and the fuel is moving of course the sonic reading wouldn't be that accurate anyway right? I mean you would essentially have to park the car to get a solid reading right?

The yaris tank doesn't have any baffles (other than some 3/4" high ridges in the bottom of the tank) , so the fuel sloshes like you wouldn't believe. I can watch the raw values from the sender with my YarGauge, and it's a wonder that the gas gauge is able to be in the least bit accurate. The only time I can get an accurate level is when the car has been sitting still for about 10 seconds or so. In motion, particularly with a half full tank, the values will just oscillate from one end of the range to the other.

[ciscobear]

best way to stay safe, use the trip indicator as your gas gauge. my yaris used to be able to do 620 km before the light started to blink fast.

Pretty much what I do.....most I did was 650km...could have probably got to 700 km :biggrin: