Ran out of gas, gauge showed a quarter full

My wife was driving her 2011 4Runner on the highway the other day and ran out of gas. The gauge on the dash read 1/4 of a tank and the digital reading said she had 60 miles to empty. Was wondering if anyone has had this issue before or may know what the issue may be?

 

lol wtf.

 

Any idea how many miles had been driven on that tank? I think it's possible that the float got stuck. Otherwise, I would think it might be a different problem. Did you put more fuel in, and did it fire back up?

 

She had a full tank before running out. Yes, I put more fuel in it and it cranked right up.

 

Doesnthe needle seem to track accurate until quarter tank? Maybe the that sensor is messed up

 

Sounds like the tank sending unit is in need of repair/replacement.

 

Thanks for the feedback from all.

 

At least it sounds like the pump is okay.

 

Lol. When I was dating my wife, she ran out of gas a bunch of times. Although I didnt like that she was stuck on the side of the road, I didn't mind leaving work to go get the gas can and get her enough fuel to get to the gas station. After all, I got to see her during the work day on those days.

We now have a saying in our home... "half is empty". Might be an accurate statement for you.

 

Did you fix this? What was the issue?

 

My wife seems incapable of buying gas before the orange light comes on. She does watch the trip odometer and miles remaining, so she never actually runs out, but she has a lot more tolerance for low fuel levels than I do.

 

So it wasn't a faulty sending unit or gauge?

 

I've driven 4 different models of Toyota ranging from 2005-13, and all of them had sloppy fuel gauges. It's a pretty standard Toyota issue, although they may have fixed it in their newer models. If you keep track of your mileage and what kind of driving you're doing (highway vs stop & go) you'll get a pretty good sense of how many miles you should get per fill (once I had a 22 gal tank run out @ 325 miles, but there were extenuating circumstances). Play it safe and go with 17/18 mpg & you'll never run out.

There may be a fuel gauge upgrade (I'm not familiar with one) but don't expect any improvement if you replace with oem parts.

 

Mine was faulty sending unit.

 

That's odd to hear. I've had 10 different Toyotas (1985-2019) and none have had a sloppy fuel gauge. The only thing I have ever noticed is that the level can fluctuate in the 4runner on steep climbs and descents. But, it rights itself on level ground.

 

To be fair the sloppiness on the gauge was relatively minor except on the 2005 4runner. The inconsistency is most noticeable after starting up, when you regularly get lower readings that can often take a while to go back up. On another note, the idiot light is way more inconsistent and regularly comes on with 1/4 tank left & then turns off again with all three models and four years. I'll take a sloppy fuel gauge over a sloppy odo or speedo any day though.

 

Agreed!

And, good point earlier about keeping track of your miles per tank. I'm pretty confident that I would know if my fuel gauge crapped out because I am always tracking this.. I reset the "trip A" odometer every fill-up because I still don't trust the computer's fuel economy readout, even though it has been pretty accurate with the '19.

 

I have a 2011 and ran out of 3 times. The latest one was one month ago and gas gauge shows 1/2 tank and about 120 miles to go till empty.
This was while in drive-thru line at Carl's Jr hamburgers, soooo very embarrassing.
The first 2 times was on the freeway, 1st time showing 50 miles remaining, the next showing 70 miles remaining.
The 2nd time was the most scary as we were in the #1 fast lane and it just died.

With so many owners with this same problem it seems it should be a recall as this is very very dangerous.

 

Report problems like this to the NHTSA.

As a side note, my low fuel indicator seems to be calibrated at 5 gallons left. Twice, I refueled soon after the light went on, one time while I was in line for gas the indicator went on. Both times I put 18 gallons in the 23 gallon tank.

 

Thanks TeslasBigCarbonFootprint I will go the the NHTAS site, maybe it will save a life.

 

Or you might get contacted by Toyota with a fix. They did have a fuel pump recall a few years back...

 

Replace your sending unit.

 

Not applicable. It's the sending unit. I replaced mine. Fixed the issue.

 

Do you reset the trip odometer when you fill up? Seems like it could save you some trouble. If it happened to me once, I'd never trust the gauge again.

As far as "so many owners" having this problem; it seems pretty rare to me. I've never heard of it happening until last November, and I've been driving Toyotas since the mid-90's.