The " range to empty " function on the 3rd gens computer.. how accurate are they?...

ive got a 2001 TJ and it said 140km's left but the line is sitting dead on the last notch?..

fuel is expensive atm...so i can never afford a full tank.. just under half and i usually drive that till the lights on.

sitting on the last notch on the fuel guage is DEFINETLY not 140km's worth of driving. does 20km's sound better?... or am i way off, and the computers wrong + the cars almost running on gas.

god this ****s me off

Hard to say how accurate the computer is without either running it to empty or filling it. Trip computers are only as accurate as their calibration, and the calibration can either be good or not so good.

The low fuel light in my KE Verada (no trip computer) comes on with about 15l left in the tank. There is usually about 8l left by the time the needle shows empty, so I guess that could be as much as 80km on the freeway. I wouldn't get 140km from mine with the needle on empty.

If you are game, try running the car until the engine hiccups when turning right. The pick up must be on the right hand side of the tank, so the petrol flows to the left away from the pick up in right hand turns.

I usually have 2 to 4 litres left when the hiccups start! But make sure you are not too far from a servo...

never been game to go more then about 100k's once the lights come. only managed to get 64L in the tank when i filled up. One thing though every ones fuel gauges will be different as to there accuracy

i've found that once the light comes on, i can still go an added 50 k's before i realise that i need to fill up/car starts playing funny.....

Never ever rely on the trip computer. It's there just for guidance, but nothing more.

This also goes for trip computers in Falcon's, Commodore's and Peogeot 206's from first-hand experience. I don't know about other makes but I presume they are the same, only to be used as a guidance.

However normally when I get down to the last 5 litres the trip computer will just blink dashes like it has no idea.

Edit/Add: In fact I don't even rely on the low fuel light, considering the previous car (2nd gen) didn't have one at all. I tend to rely on the fuel usage history (I keep a log) and by what my odometer tells me. On my 2nd gen I could go at least 30km once I get past the Empty line. At times the needle would even stick 4mm below the line.

i never go off of what the trip computer says, i treat 1/4 tank left as empty and then fill up, better for the fuel pump, and anyway you're delaying the inevitable, you're going to have to fill up sooner or later.

also could face embarrasment by running out of fuel by watching distance to empty ala peter brock in targa tasmania in the monaro

well if i have 1/4 left and i fill up..i think WIKKID i can drive it a little harder cuz i have so much fuel to play with. if i run it to E i learn not to be stupid in it and use it properly...altho yeh i dont want the engine to run the sediments @ the bottom of the tank. Hence why i just purcashed redex petrol treatment. cleans injectors and **** like that, only uses 10ml to every 10Ls. usually i fill up twice a week but i only put in about $20 each time...otherwise as i stated before, i use it all wrecklessly.

I've never ran mine empty, but I usualy run it til the low fuel warning light comes on and stays on (not just flickering.) At that point the trip computer usually says about 60Km to empty, and the car will take 61-62 litres (it's a 70L tank.) So I think it's probably pretty darn close to the mark. Having said that, I think I've confused it, because at the end of the last tank it was showing 90Km to empty and I'd say 30-40 was more like it. I treat the trip computer as a guide - the low fuel light is what I watch for 'get fuel now' queues.

ahhhhhh so it flickers THEN it goes constant when its realllly running low?.. ive only run it down to when it starts to light up for a few seconds...then go away for about a minute. it hasnt been on constant yet.

ahhhhhh so it flickers THEN it goes constant when its realllly running low?.. ive only run it down to when it starts to light up for a few seconds...then go away for about a minute. it hasnt been on constant yet.
Yeah at that stage you've got heaps left, maybe 100Km or more.

I was on dead empty the other day and my fuel left reading was 220 litres, which is obviously bull sh*t

I filled it up and read the manual and re-set it, and it only changed by 10 litres (from memory, it went down to 560 litres from 570).

I intend to watch it closely now to see if it is working properly or not.

If it isnt can it be fixed on warranty or thru a service?

I've found that the distance-to-empty function on the TJ trip computer is cr@p. It usually stops at about 150km to go, even if the gauge is practically on empty.

My old TH computer was much better, and the distance-to-empty was very accurate right down to 5km to go (and yes, I ran it out of fuel about 5km later - d'oh! - another story...)

I'm not sure what they did with the TJ computer, but it seems to have gone backwards from earlier models.

My trip comp works fine. :dancin: I usually will refill when the trip is showing between 50-100km left. Sometimes I will let it get to the point where the trip ceases to provide a reading, however I've driven for a while after and it's never conked out on me. So personally I'd rather go off the trip comp than the fuel needle. As for the trip meter, I only use that as a guide to how many k's I get out of a tank. Where I drive from week to week can differ ie freeway/suburbs so I don't use it as a guide to how much gas I have left.

You guys having trip computer probs, have you tried running the car to dead empty and then filling it up to the brim?

I've found instances when I did that the computer seem to feel like it has calibrated itself. Sometimes this is the only way to get the 'Range' function to work, because sometimes it will just give me dashes like the computer has no idea what to do.

I've found that the distance-to-empty function on the TJ trip computer is cr@p. It usually stops at about 150km to go, even if the gauge is practically on empty.

My old TH computer was much better, and the distance-to-empty was very accurate right down to 5km to go (and yes, I ran it out of fuel about 5km later - d'oh! - another story...)

I'm not sure what they did with the TJ computer, but it seems to have gone backwards from earlier models.
Exactly, when the orange light appears on my TJ the Dist. to Empty trip function simply blinks three dashes at me as a few other members have noticed.
S**ts you doesn't it?
One thing I want to clarify on all this is would anyone happen to know roughly how much fuel (ltrs/dist) would I have once that light comes on and the trip comp. starts flashing at me???
Thank you in advance

well if i have 1/4 left and i fill up..i think WIKKID i can drive it a little harder cuz i have so much fuel to play with. if i run it to E i learn not to be stupid in it and use it properly...altho yeh i dont want the engine to run the sediments @ the bottom of the tank. Hence why i just purcashed redex petrol treatment. cleans injectors and **** like that, only uses 10ml to every 10Ls. usually i fill up twice a week but i only put in about $20 each time...otherwise as i stated before, i use it all wrecklessly.
dude, doing it that way will cost you more. why don't you just fill up and drive conservatively, that way you have some fuel reserve to wait till when the petrol $ reaches the low of the week & it also saves you putting in redex.

My trip computer was perfect, when it said I'd used 67lt I filled up 67lt, when I had got to about 63lt used the trip computer k's to empty thing had a - - - 620 when full, when 10lt left it went - - -. It was spot on.

Have had two 3rd gen veradas. Fuel guages read well below the bottom mark.
Fuel light used to come on in KE Verada (No trip computer) but would never take more than 55 litres even though fuel guage on bottom mark if you stopped and filled up.

KL GTVi has trip computer. Light comes on when 52 litres used. Have regularly kept driving till 67 litres used showed on TC. Always fills to within 1.5litres accuracy so now have confidence in readings.

When fuel light come on distance to empty goes off but you can generally rely on the last figure providing you are on a long trip. Around town fuel usage changes too much.

The range to empty function is calculated using your most recent driving habits. If you've been on the highway and not using much fuel for a few hundred k's, it will give you a fairly high reading. This will be fairly accurate if you continue driving on the highway. If, however, you start hooning around town, until it adjusts for your current driving it will read higher than what you can actually drive. You will notice it dropping faster than it should ie, it may drop 10 k's when you've only done 5.
The opposite is true when you go from driving hard to highway driving. You will hit the highway and it might say you can do 300k's and you may get more like 500.
If your driving is consistent from day to day it will be fairly accurate, however, it will take a couple of hours driving to adjust if you change your driving style. As stated previously it is only a guide. Use your dash fuel gauge and fill up when it's low.

as stated b4 its only a guide......mine goes down to 130 instead of 150 b4(range to empty)since i change the faulty fuel sender out of warranty.

.......every ones fuel gauges will be different as to there accuracy

Not wrong, if i fill mine as soon as the light comes on, i only get about 40-45l, if i wait til it sits on empty, i only get 50-55l, which means there is still around 20l in there!

I just wait until the car cuts out when cornering, thats how i know its low... :bowrofl:

i fill up when there is half a tank left, or if it's cheapish

Easy way to tell.. throw a jerry can in the boot and go find out..:P


I did it with my corolla many years ago..:P