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

[AK SNO RIDER]

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....

In AMERICAAA we get a 50 and 25 mile warning, so if he's running out at 60 there would never be a warning. Definitely got an issue with the sensor.

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[VoltageDrop]

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.

Maybe somehow your Bronco is calibrated to the larger 4-door fuel tank size? You could probably pull your AS-BUILT data and compare to the spreadsheet that's floating around here.

 

[umpire19]

Never let my tank get below a quarter of a tank, not worth taking a chance of running out that way. Plus keeps all the dirt & debris out of fuel filter. Driving 48 yrs. have never ran out of gas.

 

[BottleShark]

Never let my tank get below a quarter of a tank, not worth taking a chance of running out that way. Plus keeps all the dirt & debris out of fuel filter. Driving 48 yrs. have never ran out of gas.

I have heard this myth my whole life. The filter sucks from the bottom. Full or empty, it is always sucking what ever is on bottom. Running it low has nothing to do with trash. It has to do with heat in the pump. The fuel in the tank is what the pump uses to keep it cool. When you always run the tank low, the pump runs at higher temps and burns up faster. That is what kills the pump.

 

[Southern Girl]

My 74 Bronco had this problem. I got a new gas tank and sending unit and it fixed the issue. Sounds like a defect with the sending unit/gas tank, but what do I know about new vehicles? (Nothing)

 

[LittleJoeSr]

Maybe somehow your Bronco is calibrated to the larger 4-door fuel tank size? You could probably pull your AS-BUILT data and compare to the spreadsheet that's floating around here.

I’ve never messed with the AS-BUILT data but I’m hoping to not have to. The issue never happened until ~7,800 miles so I don’t know how it could have been suddenly changed. But I think I might check that. It can’t hurt at this point.

 

[Beach_Bum]

Sorry that you experienced this. But after the first time, what did you do to trust the system again? Seems like the easiest course of action was to reset the Trip odometer while also noting the total volume that you filled up so you could do your own calculation. Performing your own check sum a few times would have alerted you to the calibration without actually experiencing the second out-of-fuel ordeal.

We all place our trust that a vehicle is manufactured correctly and performs as expected. But after the first breach of trust, we should be more cautious in placing that trust again. I'm reminded of the adage, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

 

[MyWifesNameIsHonda]

dang, this sucks. My 2011 Harley Sportster doesn’t have a functioning fuel gauge and I would hate to have to track mileage for fuel reasons in my bronco too.
I definitely run all my vehicles as close to empty as I can before a refill.

 

[RHeinz]

Badlands 4 Door Tank, last fill up with “Miles to Empty” showing around 15:

Guess I was close…..

 

[flip]

Couple things. It's likely going to be the sender and less likely the gauge. Now, we've seen the sender get contaminated with fuel that had a high sulphur content at one point which messes up the sender rheostat. Ford was aware some fuel had problems and said to dump a bottle of Chevron Techron in with a full tank of gas and usually one or two rounds of this fixed the issue. Not saying this is going to fix your issue but may be worth a shot if your dealer is booked out and you want to try something.

 

[Letagoavs710]

Definitely a bad sensor. But you shouldn’t be below a 1/4 tank anyways unless you want to burn up your fuel pump. Change your habits.

 

[LittleJoeSr]

Sorry that you experienced this. But after the first time, what did you do to trust the system again? Seems like the easiest course of action was to reset the Trip odometer while also noting the total volume that you filled up so you could do your own calculation. Performing your own check sum a few times would have alerted you to the calibration without actually experiencing the second out-of-fuel ordeal.

We all place our trust that a vehicle is manufactured correctly and performs as expected. But after the first breach of trust, we should be more cautious in placing that trust again. I'm reminded of the adage, "Fool me one, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

Well, to be honest, I still don’t trust it. But this was the first tank after getting it back from the dealer for the same issue. The trip was reset and everything else. I wasn’t looking at miles on the tank due to the fact that I assumed it was corrected. That was my mistake. But the mistake of Ford is letting this happen 2 times and giving the answer the dealer gave. I will be filing up at 150 to E and trading the truck for something with an accurate fuel gauge.

 

[Beachin 74]

I have heard this myth my whole life. The filter sucks from the bottom. Full or empty, it is always sucking what ever is on bottom. Running it low has nothing to do with trash. It has to do with heat in the pump. The fuel in the tank is what the pump uses to keep it cool. When you always run the tank low, the pump runs at higher temps and burns up faster. That is what kills the pump.

It sounds like some folks really hate their fuel pump.

 

[LittleJoeSr]

Definitely a bad sensor. But you shouldn’t be below a 1/4 tank anyways unless you want to burn up your fuel pump. Change your habits.

As a former technician myself, I understand where you are coming from. But my habits are not the problem, the system should alert me BEFORE the fuel level gets to a point where the fuel pump is in danger and/or I am going to run out

 

[Letagoavs710]

As a former technician myself, I understand where you are coming from. But my habits are not the problem, the system should alert me BEFORE the fuel level gets to a point where the fuel pump is in danger and/or I am going to run out

Right, I don’t disagree, it should work. My wife would be stranded 3 times a week with a faulty fuel setup lol. I was just saying you can’t run out if you keep it full and it’s better for the pump.

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