Only a 14-15 gallon tank?- MY17

[Sudbury78]

So, my first fill up with my new explorer as i waited for my gaugue to tell me i am 17 miles to empty. Shocked to notice the pump stopped at a sad 14.2 gallons. How is this possible?

Fast forward 5 days ( horrible gas mileage) and new station and pump stops at 14.5 gallons.

Does the explorer only have a max of a 15 gallon tank?

 

[kmarnes]

18.6 gal (70.4 L) is the actual capacity, so basically I don't think you were close to being empty. I've got a week old Explorer as well, and fuel economy is supposed to be poorer during break-in, and you are supposed to vary your speeds a lot for the first 1000miles. I'm getting about 13mpg on a Sport, mostly city driving. After the break-in is when you will get better metrics.

 

[Sudbury78]

kmarnes, have you filled up yet? 13 is brutal, im getting 16 on highway!

 

[peterk9]

So, my first fill up with my new explorer as i waited for my gaugue to tell me i am 17 miles to empty. Shocked to notice the pump stopped at a sad 14.2 gallons. How is this possible?

Fast forward 5 days ( horrible gas mileage) and new station and pump stops at 14.5 gallons.

Does the explorer only have a max of a 15 gallon tank?

It's the same size tank that is on all the 5th generation models. All that time spent waiting for your Explorer and you never read up on the specs?

Peter

 

[peterk9]

18.6 gal (70.4 L) is the actual capacity, so basically I don't think you were close to being empty. I've got a week old Explorer as well, and fuel economy is supposed to be poorer during break-in, and you are supposed to vary your speeds a lot for the first 1000miles. I'm getting about 13mpg on a Sport, mostly city driving. After the break-in is when you will get better metrics.

I don't believe there is any need to vary speeds like there was in the older engines. Nothing in the Manual about a break in period except to not bother calculating fuel mileage for the first 1000 (1600 km) miles.

Peter

 

[Sudbury78]

peterk, its not about reading up on specs. I was just floored that my first 2 fill ups are maxing out under 15 gallons to fill when both times show me i am 17-20 miles to empty. Not a chance that those additional 20 miles would translate to 5 gallons. Air in the tank? It makes no sense.

 

[thefranchise713]

Page 246 of the manual for MY 17-US, @peterk9.

Avoid driving too fast during the first 1000 miles (1600 kilometers). Vary your speed frequently and change up through the gears early. Do not labor the engine.

OP, Does the gauge show completely full when you're done re-fueling?

 

[peterk9]

peterk, its not about reading up on specs. I was just floored that my first 2 fill ups are maxing out under 15 gallons to fill when both times show me i am 17-20 miles to empty. Not a chance that those additional 20 miles would translate to 5 gallons. Air in the tank? It makes no sense.

I believe the miles to empty does not take into account the 'reserve' fuel. There is a discussion in another thread on that. It is also mentioned in the Manual if I recall correctly.

Peter

 

[peterk9]

Page 246 of the manual for MY 17-US, @peterk9.



OP, Does the gauge show completely full when you're done re-fueling?

Thanks for that info. I was just doing a search in the Manual on "break in" and that would not have come up. I thought it may have mentioned something about not towing during that period as well. Thanks again.

Peter

 

[JAPeterson]

The distance to empty and the mileage calculator on just about any vehicle is called a "lie-O-meter" for a reason.

On your mileage are you hand calculating it or just going by the display screen? I know on my 16 with 3.5 na engine that the display screen is telling me that I am getting a average of 22mpg, but I have never did the actual math to figure it out.

 

[kmarnes]

Even when your car says it's empty, it still has about 10% fuel in it. That's by design on pretty much every single car, because people are dumb, but probably more because actually running out of gas for real is not great for the engine.

As for break-in, the manual (p.246) says this:

You need to break in new tires for approximately 300 miles (480 kilometers). During this time, your vehicle may exhibit some unusual driving characteristics. Avoid driving too fast during the first 1000 miles (1600 kilometers). Vary your speed frequently and change up through the gears early. Do not labor the engine. Do not tow during the first 1000 miles (1600 kilometers).​

I'm in Canada, before my first fillup, I was at 19L/100km which was 100% city driving. Now I'm at 17L/100km with a half tank left (but I did take a freeway trip). The car is spec'ed at about 15L/100km. Still can't get used to the Canadian metric economy settings. But also, all my driving is city. So I'm not far off the mark.

 

[kmarnes]

Best way to calculate fuel economy (after break-in) is to keep gas receipts and write down your odometer reading on each receipt. Then do math.

 

[Fentress24]

I was using the fuelly app to calculate my MPG but I have recently deleted it.

Truck says I am averaging 19.6 over the life of the truck but the fuelly app said 19.3. After my first 5,000 miles my mpg started to creep up. During the first 5k miles I was averaging around 18.5 mpg and now I am sitting at 19.5 and about to pass 15,000 miles. I would say 18-20 mpg combined is average, but if I have a lot of city or back road driving I can easily see 17-18 mpg on a tank.

Typical fill up is 14-15 gallons for me too. I fill up once it rolls past the 50 miles to empty. Typically somewhere around 25-30 miles left.

 

[kmarnes]

Also seems people seem to be hung up on actual fuel capacity, and complaining about small gas tanks in newer cars. I can only speculate that because new engines have better fuel economy than before, that they can make the fuel tanks smaller and still get the same range.

 

[cwescapexlt4x4]

was your low fuel light on/gauge changed color? Here's what I do - fill up til it stops, wait about 30 seconds and give one more squirt and typically for me it's .4 to .5 (half gallon) more after the bubbles settle down.

 

[cwescapexlt4x4]

Also seems people seem to be hung up on actual fuel capacity, and complaining about small gas tanks in newer cars. I can only speculate that because new engines have better fuel economy than before, that they can make the fuel tanks smaller and still get the same range.

That and the CAFE standards (like many vehicles that are no longer coming with a spare tire) by reducing weight to meet better MPG's

 

[613GT500]

LOL...
The small gas tank does no justice for this 5000lbs beast.
Fuel economy will definitely get better and mine just started to improve now that I hit 10K miles; at an average of 18MPG.

Also, once the DTA hits 0, you still have about 1gal left in the tank.

 

[kmarnes]

2006 XLS 4.0L V6 5-speed
EPA MILEAGE EST. (CTY/HWY) 14/19 mpg
FUEL TANK CAPACITY 22.5 gal.
RANGE IN MILES (CTY/HWY) 315.0/427.5 mi.

2017 XLT 3.0L V6 6-speed (not Ecoboost)
EPA MILEAGE EST. (CTY/HWY) 17/24 mpg
FUEL TANK CAPACITY 18.6 gal.
RANGE IN MILES (CTY/HWY) 316.2/446.4 mi

The monster engine in the Sport/Platinum has slightly less range: 297.6/409.2 mi because the fuel tank is the same in all Explorers, so there's some small variation.

Gas tank size is purely based on effective range. So I'm happy to put less gas in my tank every stop.

 

[thefranchise713]

Just in case anyone is planning to push their luck on the DTE and gauge readings, keep in mind that the reserve is not for your convenience but for the longevity of the vehicle. Running out of fuel can be bad for the engine, and the liquid around the fuel pump is often used to help cool the unit.

Happy motoring, everyone.

 

[MikB]

Other than having found out that your [place vehicle type here] does not reach the expected number in gallons in relation to the size of the tank during a fill, this is all pretty much normal these days. I used to wonder why my '07 Ranger with a rated 19+ tank never filled up past 15 gallons after the warning light came on. Never filled up past 15 gallons in spite of having a 19 gallon tank. I have the same situation in my Ex except the number for a fill up is 14 gallons after the warning light comes on. I don't really pay much attention to the 'miles to empty' that's displayed on the info screen more than just looking at the gauge and paying attention to the lght. I've never found the 'miles to empty' ever being correct. In either case though, I believe I still have 4 or 5 gallons left in the tank in either vehicle after the light comes on but, I've never tested that theory. It's just as well though as one thing that hasn't been said is you don't want to run your tank down to it's lowest point anyway because of the harm it may have on the submerged fuel pump residing in your gas tank. It needs to stay cool to operated efficiently and to prevent damage. With that in mind, I don't have to wonder whether my fuel pump is in danger of being damaged if I fill up after the light comes on. In my case, being retired, filling up takes place only about once a month on a normal basis on the Ex. On the Ranger that I only use for utility any more, I think the last time I filled up was last August and it still has a half tank.