I've gotten into a bad habit of letting the gas gauge read empty and sometimes I wait until the check guage warning comes on. I know there's "back-up" or "reserve" in the gas tank. How much?

i've gotten down to about 10 litres........about 2.5 gallons

I think you could probably get around 30 miles after the light comes on. I would try and break that habbit (I use to do it too) because running till she's nearly empty is hard on your cats plus you're more prone to picking up gas tank sludge that way.

But back when I was a youngin' I could get 20-30 miles. :D I wouldn't try it though. Plus, Explorer gauges are known for not being consitant or very acurate.

i can go to work and back after the check guage light comes on. thats at least 22 miles.

Mine is 20 gallons... I've been running on Empty for 3 years now. Haven't had the time to fix the sending unit.
Although last year went to beach on a !REALLY! HOT day, and gas guage started working (I think the air in the float expanded enough to make it rise in the tank).

It is not recomended to run the vehicle for an extended period of time with the tank lower than 1/8 of a tank. This is because the fuelpump is submerged in the fuel and uses the fuel surrounding itas a coolant. Running the tank low reduces the amount of gas cooling the pump, this causes the pump to run hotter and reduces the pump's life.

I have found it to be about 2 gal.

Yeah I used to wait fot the check gage ( their mispelling ) and do between 18 and 20 additional miles.
Till one day I ran out two blocks from the gas station.
Let me tell you, I am not in the best shape and that heavy damn truch sure proved the fact.

I don't play that game no more.

just yesterday my light came on as I wasnt paying much attention to the fuel level, went and filled it up and got 16 gallons in...so mine is about 3+ gallons once the light comes on.

Originally posted by section525
I think you could probably get around 30 miles after the light comes on. I would try and break that habbit (I use to do it too) because running till she's nearly empty is hard on your cats plus you're more prone to picking up gas tank sludge that way.


I agree... 30-40 miles is around what I get when the light comes on. That's not including the time I was towing a trailer in a headwind and ran out at about 20 miles:mad: That was hard on my sandals. Another time I was offroading and the truck died due to the angle of a hill I was going down. It still had a few gallons in it but wouldn't run well due to the terrain.

My gauge has been messed up for a long time, so I'm careful to not go beyond 300 miles per tank with my 5.0L.

Funny, tho...I just changed out the fuel filter which had about 35-40K on it, and now my gauge seems to be giving me a more accurate reading. Maybe something about a clogged filter was causing a bad signal???

r.s.