Odd fueling experience.

So, I bought my pro a few weeks ago. I have been consistently filling the tank at half tank. Takes about 31 to 34 dollars each time at 2.99. After some errands I realized I was well below 1/8 of a tank, and went to fill up. It took 40.....at same fuel prices. So.. Simple math.. Full tank down to half is 34 bucks, but half down to almost E is like 6... Maybe 8.. 10 tops? Wth? Lol. I feel, like I'm gonna get 230 miles out of first half tank and like 80 out of the last. Anyone else get this?

 

Most people go off of gallons used, not dollars spent, but I get what you're saying. I sort of watch the odometer, and when the fuel gauge says 3/4 tank, I've usually gone over 100 or so miles, which you'd think would extrapolate to 400+ miles driven per tank...doesn't work out that way. It seems to me the miles tick by faster later in the tank, as you've noticed...but that has been the case with every vehicle I have tracked mileage in.

 

Trying to be helpful here, I think most people have noticed that the fuel gauges on most cars seem to drop slower when full than when closer to empty. I imagine this may be partly psychological, but I think it's also been observed that manufacturers program the gauges this way cause they think that the longer the tank appears "full" after a fill up, the happier the consumer will be with the car. "Hey Ma, Look what great gas mileage this car has -- I filled it up yesterday and it's still showing as Full!" LOL and SMH.

Apple, and I imagine other manufacturers, do this with their phones. Ever notice how long your phone claims to have "100 %" battery life after you've removed it from the charger? Obviously, the moment you do it's less than 100%. Let's say they're rounding up. But it still says 100% longer than it really should.

Having said that, I haven't myself noticed this phenomenon with the 4Runner. Not that I've paid much attention to it, but my impression has been that the gauge seems to drop proportionately with miles driven.

I think the bigger issue here for the OP (for which he may get some friendly "gruff") is that the truck is so new. Too little data to be statistically significant. Do some fill ups over a couple thousand miles then see where you are.

But, no, it's very unlikely there's something wrong with your gas gauge.

 

It's normal for the first half to last much longer than the second because manufacturers don't have much faith in people's ability to watch their fuel level. Empty is nowhere near empty on the 4runner.

Example: On my 4Runner when the needle is on E and the low fuel light comes on it generally takes 19 gallons to fill it back up. The display usually says I have around 25ish miles left to drive. However, the OM says the 4Runners have a 23 gallon fuel tank. So what happened to the other 4 gallons?? I'm betting that I could drive another 75 miles before I ran out of gas. That's why it doesn't last as long. The first half appears to be half the tank and the second "half" includes the 4 gallon buffer.

That's my theory at least. Someday I will toss a fuel jug in the truck and see if it works that way.

 

I agree, most vehicles get less mileage from the last half of the tank, to varying degrees. But at most.. Was I on empty, 10 bucks would have likely got me to half. Then another 30 to 35 to get to full seems a bit beyond the norm. I dont really care... As long as there is fuel in it I'm fine, I dont over land so I'm not nitpicking every gallon. Just making an observation at how tilted it was and seeing if it common on these rigs.

 

I like this theory. Good insight. Backed up by my own experience. The one time I let me truck get to the point of a low fuel warning light, it was showing 25 miles remaining. But when I filled it up at "7 miles remaining" it took only 20.25 gallons. So I estimated that there's about a 3 gallon reserve when the warning light comes on, and about 2 gallons when the computer says Zero miles remaining.

Again, great theory. This could explain why it's a commonly observed phenomenon across many, many cars for many, many years now.

 

I definitely understand what you’re saying. As @glwood54 stated I’ll get around 85-100 miles depending on driving style from full to 3/4. Then from 3/4 to half I’ll be right around 135-150 from 1/2 to 1/4 around 200 ish at that point I go fill it back up if I have time. I normally see around 265-280 before I fill up and I usually put around 16-17 gallons in after that. Now last night I forgot three separate times to fill up. I was at 7 miles to empty and it took the full 20 gallons