Fuel Tank Capacity

3465 Views 38 Replies 20 Participants Last post by pyrofreek, Feb 16, 2022

FJ-fanatic

Discussion Starter · Jan 23, 2022

08’ Sun Fusion 2WD owner here (66,000miles) I noticed my owner’s manual from Toyota states the fuel capacity to be 19 gallons. However, whenever I have filled ‘er up in the past (always premium) the fuel station pump would automatically stop at 15 gallons. I was upset noticing that I was only getting ~230 miles per tank.

The most recent fill up, I continued squeezing the fuel pump nozzle past the 15 gallon mark. The fuel station pump would automatically “click” and stop every quarter gallon or so. I repeated this process, squeezing the nozzle until the pump inched closer to 19 gallons. I managed to get all the way up to 18.2 gallons.

My question is two-fold: 1. How many gallons are you folks pumping into a completely empty tank? 2. Is there any harm to the fuel stem or tank components if I continue squeezing the nozzle after it automatically clicks off? I’m wondering if I should bring this up to Toyota at the next oil change.

Much appreciated for the responses and love the seeing all the FJ’s out there!

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Sanderhawk

· #2 · Jan 23, 2022

Once the fuel light comes on you still have 4 gallons left in the tank.

Reactions: 1

norm356

· #3 · Jan 23, 2022 (Edited)

x2

Unfortunately, the low fuel light was designed to come on when almost 20% of the tank capacity is still in.
You can take your calculated mpg and use the trip odometer to figure out how many more miles you can go after that red light comes on, and get closer to putting in, say, 17 or 18 gallons. But it is unnerving to be working that close to the limit with no help from the vehicle itself.

There are apps you can use, with OBD readers and a windows tablet, which can tell you true mpg & fuel/distance remaining. There are a bunch of threads on here in which folks discuss which ones they've used, had the most success with.

Trying to overfill the tank (pushing in more fuel after the nozzle clicks off) runs the risk of flooding the charcoal canister, a very expensive part to have to replace if that happens.
Years ago it was fine to do that, because the canister was up under the hood, and pretty cheap to replace. But by the time the FJ came along, those had developed into a much larger assembly (to manage much more fuel vapor), including a pump, pressure sensors, a motor and valves to run fuel system integrity self checks at night while the vehicle is parked, and is now located beside the fuel tank.
There is a fuel / vapor check valve on the top of the tank to prevent raw fuel reaching the canister and ruining it, so you cold possibly get away with overfilling your filler neck like you'd described, for a while, but if that check valve was ever to stick, even partially open, then that expensive outcome could result (the dash lights up like a christmas tree, and most off road features get shut off, until the canister system is repaired/replaced).

This tiny fuel tank is the result of taking the excellent Land Cruiser Prado chassis (Lexus GX to us Americans), shortening it to fit the FJ styling, and then fitting what fuel tank was able to be made to fit in the resulting (small) space.

Norm

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Virtual-Chris

· #4 · Jan 23, 2022

I‘ve only filled my FJ up twice now, in the short time I’ve owned it, and both times, the needle was in the E area, and I could only get 55 or 57 Liters in. If the capacity is indeed 72L, that means there’s 15-17L of fuel in there when the gauge is reading empty. That over 20%! Wow… is my gauge broken? What kind of nonsense fuel gauge implementation is this? I gather there is no way to recalibrate it?

Reactions: 1

ALB

· #5 · Jan 23, 2022

Virtual-Chris said:
I‘ve only filled my FJ up twice now, in the short time I’ve owned it, and both times, the needle was in the E area, and I could only get 55 or 57 Liters in. If the capacity is indeed 72L, that means there’s 15-17L of fuel in there when the gauge is reading empty. That over 20%! Wow… is my gauge broken? What kind of nonsense fuel gauge implementation is this? I gather there is no way to recalibrate it?

If I fill up as soon as the low fuel light comes on in my '08 it takes 57-58 liters as well. And yeah, it does seem a little early! I have put 68 liters in it (once?), but that's running around a long time with the fuel light on and the needle right down on empty. If you note your odometer reading (or use the trip odometer) when the light first comes on and keep stretching out how far you go before filling up you'll be able to figure out it's actual range.

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NyNomad

· #6 · Jan 23, 2022

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Virtual-Chris

· #7 · Jan 23, 2022

ALB said:
If I fill up as soon as the low fuel light comes on in my '08 it takes 57-58 liters as well. And yeah, it does seem a little early! I have put 68 liters in it (once?), but that's running around a long time with the fuel light on and the needle right down on empty. If you note your odometer reading (or use the trip odometer) when the light first comes on and keep stretching out how far you go before filling up you'll be able to figure out it's actual range.

Tha's interesting... I can only get that much fuel in once the gauge hits E. I believe the light comes on with 1/8th of a tank left... where is the gauge when the light comes on for you?

I will try filling when the light comes on to see how that compares with the needle on E.

Has anyone run their's out of fuel? If so, where is the fuel gauge needle pointing when that happens. In my case, I would expect it to be well below E.

Iconic_

· #8 · Jan 23, 2022

I just fill mine until it clicks once. Yeah it's only about 16 gallons but I don't think it's recommended to overfill it either.

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norm356

· #9 · Jan 24, 2022

"Wow… is my gauge broken?" - you can read the thread posted directly above yours for an answer.

Virtual-Chris

· #10 · Jan 24, 2022

norm356 said:
"Wow… is my gauge broken?" - you can read the thread posted directly above yours for an answer.

You mean post above mine (not the “thread”)?

The post above mine says that when the light comes on, there can still be 20% left in the tank. But what I’m experiencing is when the needle is at E, (which is well after the light has come on) it seems to have 20% still in the tank. Hence my question. Is mine more broken than most? Does the gauge needle travel below E? Is there any way to calibrate it?

ALB

· #11 · Jan 24, 2022

Virtual-Chris said:
You mean post above mine (not the “thread”)?

The post above mine says that when the light comes on, there can still be 20% left in the tank. But what I’m experiencing is when the needle is at E, (which is well after the light has come on) it seems to have 20% still in the tank. Hence my question. Is mine more broken than most? Does the gauge needle travel below E? Is there any way to calibrate it?

I think you're expecting too much. When the light comes on you have ABOUT 15 liters left- familiarize yourself with how far you can go on that remaining amount and that's all you need to know. How much is left when the needle is here or here is immaterial. Al

Virtual-Chris

· #12 · Jan 24, 2022

ALB said:
I think you're expecting too much. When the light comes on you have ABOUT 15 liters left- familiarize yourself with how far you can go on that remaining amount and that's all you need to know. How much is left when the needle is here or here is immaterial. Al

I think I’ve made it clear (twice now) that I have 15-17 litres left when the needle hits E… which is well after the light goes on.

I guess what you’re all saying is that the fuel gauge and light is borked. It’s calling for a refill LONG before one is actually required, and you just need to “learn” your light/gauge behaviour. Obviously, I can and will do this. But its a bit shocking the gauge/light is so badly implemented. And there’s no way to calibrate it.

Incidentally, I think the gauge is equally borked on the other end, it barely moves off full until I’ve driven like 100km.

This gauge makes me SMH…basically, it’s only useful as an indicator for the middle-third of your fuel tank. It’s useless on the full or empty thirds. LOL.

norm356

· #13 · Jan 24, 2022

There have been issues with faulty (sticking) senders in the fuel tank. The most common manifestation, however, is it stops dropping at around 1/4 tank and then the owner runs out of gas. In each of those cases a new sender corrected it.

From your description, it sounds like your issue is different.

One way to experiment out is to carry a gallon of gas with you, and then run it to empty (or first sputter) and note where the needle is at that point. Then, repeat the experiment a few more times to make sure that it is consistent. If it is, then that can be the way to read that gauge (needle below E, or whatever).

PS: you are correct, I meant to say, "post" not thread".

Reactions: 2

thane

· #14 · Jan 24, 2022

If you are going to spend any time estimating range and remaining fuel use an OBDII device.

UltraGauge is very accurate, better than 1/2 gallon, in calculating remaining fuel in factory tank.

Reactions: 1

WebSnyper

· #15 · Jan 24, 2022

norm356 said:
There have been issues with faulty (sticking) senders in the fuel tank. The most common manifestation, however, is it stops dropping at around 1/4 tank and then the owner runs out of gas. In each of those cases a new sender corrected it.

From your description, it sounds like your issue is different.

One way to experiment out is to carry a gallon of gas with you, and then run it to empty (or first sputter) and note where the needle is at that point. Then, repeat the experiment a few more times to make sure that it is consistent. If it is, then that can be the way to read that gauge (needle below E, or whatever).

PS: you are correct, I meant to say, "post" not thread".

And searching fuel gauge on the forum will get plenty of hits on this, including this thread:

www.fjcruiserforums.com

Defective Fuel Float / Fuel Gauge problems, post here!

My FJ die on me driving home on the freeway from work yesterday. Turns out the fuel float was defective, and it ran out of gas with 1/4 tank reading on the gas gauge. Just lettin everyone know, hopefully a fluke, but who knows.

www.fjcruiserforums.com

www.fjcruiserforums.com

So for all trying to see how much fuel they can get into the tank, etc, watch that Odometer and don't be too trusting of your fuel gauge when trying to get it to E or trusting the light to come on, etc.

Jshollis

· #16 · Jan 26, 2022

The first "holy sh!t I'm gonna run out of gas" situation I had, I drove about 90 miles after the light came on. Needle was below the E mark, and it only took 17.5 gallons to fill.

Virtual-Chris

· #17 · Jan 26, 2022

Jshollis said:
The first "holy sh!t I'm gonna run out of gas" situation I had, I drove about 90 miles after the light came on. Needle was below the E mark, and it only took 17.5 gallons to fill.

LOL… what you didn’t say is that you only drove 90 miles after filling before the light came on

Reactions: 2

SunFusion SuperFool

· #18 · Jan 27, 2022

FJ-fanatic said:
08’ Sun Fusion 2WD owner here (66,000miles) I noticed my owner’s manual from Toyota states the fuel capacity to be 19 gallons. However, whenever I have filled ‘er up in the past (always premium) the fuel station pump would automatically stop at 15 gallons. I was upset noticing that I was only getting ~230 miles per tank.

The most recent fill up, I continued squeezing the fuel pump nozzle past the 15 gallon mark. The fuel station pump would automatically “click” and stop every quarter gallon or so. I repeated this process, squeezing the nozzle until the pump inched closer to 19 gallons. I managed to get all the way up to 18.2 gallons.

My question is two-fold: 1. How many gallons are you folks pumping into a completely empty tank? 2. Is there any harm to the fuel stem or tank components if I continue squeezing the nozzle after it automatically clicks off? I’m wondering if I should bring this up to Toyota at the next oil change.

Much appreciated for the responses and love the seeing all the FJ’s out there!
View attachment 1190683
View attachment 1190684

"07 SunFusion with 207,000-ish. I reset my trip odometer when I fill. The low fuel light comes on around 250 miles. I have driven an additional 30-35 miles before I filled up. When the light comes on, it rarely takes over 15 gallons to fill it. I'm getting 16-17 mpg out of it even after 15 years.

Reactions: 1

AJsCruiser

· #19 · Jan 28, 2022

I'm with everyone else here, my '13 only takes 15 gallons when the needle is on E. That means I have 4 gal left. I know I get 15mpg so one day I pushed it further than normal and it took 18 gallons and had about 260 miles on the odo. I have to add 6% to that because of the bigger tires.

Reactions: 2

Virtual-Chris

· #20 · Jan 28, 2022

AJsCruiser said:
I'm with everyone else here, my '13 only takes 15 gallons when the needle is on E. That means I have 4 gal left. I know I get 15mpg so one day I pushed it further than normal and it took 18 gallons and had about 260 miles on the odo. I have to add 6% to that because of the bigger tires.

Did you notice the needle went past E? Or did it hang around E while you used the additional 4 gallons.

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