have a couple questions about my tank size.
im a little confused because i read the owners manual and it says all supercabs have a 19.5 gallon tank. But the other day i filled mine up when it had about an 1/8th of a tank and it took 11.3 gallons to fill it full.
This doesnt make since to me, maybe my gas guage is off?
My truck is an 01 supercab with the 3.0 btw
If it really does have the 19.5 gallon tank its getting the crapiest gas milage ive ever seen lol.

 

How is that, it only took 11.3, so that makes no sense. It is 19.5 gallons and your gauge must be off..

 

A 2001 Supercab has a 19.5 gallon tank. When the "Check Gage" light comes on and the needle is near empty, there are usually 3~4 gallons left.

The size of the fuel tank or the position of the gauge needle have nothing to do with fuel economy. Whether your tank holds 12 gallons or 50, you still used 11.3 gallons to go X number of miles.

Figure miles driven divided by gallons used to calculate fuel economy. Better yet, average it over several tanks.

 

hmm...i think my guage is off then....i might try running the tank empty and then fill it to the top to see what i get..

 

you guage is not off when your truck is truely on E you have around 3.5 gallons leftin in your tank. so your guage is actually set up to act like you only have around 15 gallons in the tank so that you have that reserve 3 gallons or so it keep things idiot proof and you wont run out of gas

 

gotcha ...so when the light comes on and its really on E then i still have a few gallons left...
so trying to guage mpg, by say, seeing how far you go on a half tank is not really accurate then..

 

My 01 4x4 3.0 does the exact same thing. I've come to the conclusion that the gauge does not read correctly. Over the 2 years I've owned it, it's consistently taken 11-13 gallons to fill, even if the needle is brushing on E. I haven't pushed it until the light comes on, though it was on the night I bought it. With the light on, I did the entire test drive, then it sat & idled for about 15 minutes to recharge the battery, before they could drive it to the gas station.

 

Using the fuel gauge needle position is never an accurate way to determine MPG. Many gauge senders use a swinging float which makes them inherently non linear. Also, the philosophy on where to put the "empty" and "full" indications relative to the actual fuel level varies widely among manufacturers. Beyond that, there are gauge-to-gauge and sender-to-sender variations in the same vehicle line. It's best to use the gauge only for its intended purpose - to help you avoid running out of fuel.

To calculate fuel economy, divide miles driven by gallons used. To reduce error, refill the tank when the indicator is near empty and then average the results over 3 or more fill-ups. Refueling at the same station/same pump will improve the accuracy of your results.

If your truck has mods like oversized tires or an axle change that cause the speedo/odometer to be inaccurate, then a correction factor needs to be applied to the FE numbers.

 

my '01 supercab 's needle was way below "e" a couple of days ago. so, i filled 'er up, expecting something close to 19.5 gallons. all it took was 15.5 gallons to fill 'er up! my truck has a 4 gallon "safety zone" nice.