Ran Out of Fuel, Twice! With 1/4 tank showing on gauge

[LittleJoeSr]

I have not really been someone who posts. And I haven’t really been on the page since I got my BB 2dr in March. But I wanted to share this in case someone else has this issue or in case someone has an answer. I was rolling away from a stop and the truck sputtered and died, would not restart. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MAIN DRAG THROUGH TOWN, JUST UNDER AND OVERPASS FOR I-40

(Waited 3 hours for a tow, thanks USAA) got it to the dealer the next day. Took them a week to tell me the problem was the fuel level sender and the truck basically ran out of gas, didn’t even have enough to prime the system once the new one was in. (And they charged me for the fuel they had to put it in even though it was warranty work)

Here’s the frustrating part: it said 60 miles to “E” and no fuel light came on. With the truck calculating ~20MPG, that should have meant about 2.5 gallons, but they said it was less than 0.25 gallons.

2 weeks goes by, AND IT HAPPENS AGAIN! BUT AGAIN, NO FUEL LIGHT, 60 MILES TO “E” AND JUST DIED. This time, I’m on a 3-lane interstate stuck in dead stop traffic. I limp it to the shoulder and call the dealer who supposedly just fixed it and unloaded on them, swearing up a storm cause I was LIVID. They tried to give me some crap about how the system has an allowable amount of error in calculating and that the fuel pick up is in the center of the tank and blah, blah, blah. Will not be taking it back there.
But this time, a buddy of mine who is a state police officer (working the accident causing the traffic) drove me to the fuel station 1.5 miles down the road where I was able to get a fuel container and fill up the truck with about 2.5 gallons with no change to the fuel gauge. Made it back to that same station, filled the tank and finally made it to work.

So at this point, I have figured out the fuel gauge cannot be trusted and I’ll have a full fuel container in the back at all times, just in case. And today, I took it to another dealer to see if they could recalibrate it, but the told me they’d have to diagnose it first. I’m hoping they can, but they were not able to get to it for a week.

I am very seriously considering trading it in, this is major BS.


If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading my rant. Maybe it will help someone. Probably not.

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[carrellslake]

That really sucks. I just relied on my gauge to be accurate on a long, rural road trip last weekend. I would have been stuck in the middle of nowhere had it failed like yours.

 

[jnew71]

I've gone down to 5 miles left. This has me rethinking it.

 

[Lcubed]

on one of former vehicles, the fuel tank had to be replaced after it got rear-ended.
when the new tank arrived at the shop, they stored it upside down (causing the
float sensor to jam in the 'full' position)

picked it up from the shop and later that night (while at the intersection across from
the body shop) ran out of fuel with a 'full' tank. took them another two weeks to receive and test a new tank. traded in that vehicle about a month later.

 

[AK SNO RIDER]

That sucks and hopefully dealer #2 can fix it, but in the meantime instead of carrying fuel around in your trunk like a , reset your trip meter at each fill-up and fuel up again when you hit ~250 miles or whatever you like.

I always reset my trip meters at every fill up in every vehicle. Some of my stuff has broken, or simply doesn't have, a fuel gauge and its a good habit to get in to regardless instead of relying on a single sensor.

 

[Toccoa]

Queue the @Ford Motor Company intern bot.

 

[BlueBronco]

Interesting, sorry that happened to you. I typically run all my Ford's to under 5 miles to empty and have even hit 1 and 0 miles on several occasions. Hopefully you can get it fixed.

 

[mountainbronco]

Must be a stuck sensor. Have not been shaking the Bronco hard enough!
Try it, make her shake!

 

[RagnarKon]

I’ve had this issue more times than
I can count on multiple vehicles. Disappointed to see it still happening on new vehicles.

Personally I go by the trip on the odometer. Reset it every time I fuel up. If I know I can get 380 miles on a tank of gas, then I know roughy how much is left in the tank. I still do this today even though I currently have working fuel gauges on all of my vehicles (I think, anyway, never used them). And I can tell you how many miles each vehicle I’ve owned can travel on a tank of gas.

Hopefully the new dealer can figure it out, but if it takes them awhile or you need to wait for parts… just do some simple math and go off the odometer.

 

[Ares]

on the 2nd fullup, do you know if it took a full 16.9/20.8 for 2dr/4dr? Just to confirm that the tank was well and truly empty, and it wasnt a pickup issue or something else?

 

[Headsong]

Mine got right down to 2 gallons... No lights or warnings.

 

[dejones64]

That sucks and hopefully dealer #2 can fix it, but in the meantime instead of carrying fuel around in your trunk like a , reset your trip meter at each fill-up and fuel up again when you hit ~250 miles or whatever you like.

I always reset my trip meters at every fill up in every vehicle. Some of my stuff has broken, or simply doesn't have, a fuel gauge and its a good habit to get in to regardless instead of relying on a single sensor.

I always reset Trip 1 at each fill up, after filling the tank.

Would it make a difference if you reset it before filling it up?

I reset Trip 2 at each oil change.

 

[BlueOvalBandit]

I always reset my trip meters at every fill up in every vehicle. Some of my stuff has broken, or simply doesn't have, a fuel gauge and its a good habit to get in to regardless instead of relying on a single sensor.

I do the same... One thing driving in the Army has taught me is the fuel gauge is always broken... Followed by the A/C.

 

[SnowBronco]

Weird. I get a warning at 80km and 40km, with the light on, probably another warning after that but I never let it get down to 20km... And all the gas stations in the area pop up on navigation....

 

[IwannaGOfast]

I've had that thing under 10 miles at least four times, one time I got to 2. I've gotten very low on my wife's expedition numerous times and the same with the explorer she had before that. That gauge has always been pretty accurate, although I've never gone below zero. I always assumed it was like you were guaranteed to last that long, after that it's your own gamble.​

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My Chevy Cruze that I commute to work in gets down to 40 miles and then just says low, which I find super annoying.​

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