Gas tank question.

I ahve searched the forum and found no info so here goes.

I run the Excursion to E, THe fuel light on and the Miles to go showing about 30.

When I fill it up I can only put in about 36 gallons max. Owners manual says 44.

Anyone have similar experiences?

Is the gas gauge horribly wrong?

Is there a trick to getting more in? (park it nose down, rock it to burp out air)

Ric

 

Don't know, I always fill up when I hit 1/4 at the minimum. I want her always ready to roll and don't want to have to worry about filling up cause I need to at a higher price, or at a bad time....... The positive is I will NEVER have to worry about running out of fuel.
Hope some gambler can help you.
Pat

 

Yep, I am a gambler. I run a few miles past the point the overhead display shows ZERO MILES TO EMPTY. Last time I drove 11 miles past ZERO and only stuffed 41.7 gallons in there. This time I will try 20. I want to know exactly how far I can go if ever needed. My BMW would only go about 5 miles past ZERO and then start sputtering. I only ran out of gas once and it was in my dad's truck. I too tired of the fact that I could never put in 39 gallons in a 44 gallon tank which is what started my experiment. On the interstate I know I can drive so far past 0 to find a station that I like.

 

Being the gambler that I am, I take mine down to 0 miles all the time and figured that I have about 40 miles to go before a pushin' since it only took 40 gallons and would appear to have 4 gallons left(10 miles a gallon x 4 gallons=40 miles). That theory did not pan out last weekend as I was at about 26-28 miles past 0 and it quit!!! No sputtering, no coughing, just dead. By the grace of God I got off the interstate doing 75 mph and it cruised to a nice stop 2 miles down the road right in front of a Speedway. Whew!!! My city driving probably dropped my mph and left me less that I thought. Anyway, it was a bad idea to take a chance like that especially with my wife and kids in the X. Lesson Learned......

 

With the 35" tires I need to calculate 1.091 miles traveled for every mile on the odometer, so I couldn't tell you exactly how many miles past "0" I have gone because I didn't bother calculating. But I have put in over 42 gallons before, after driving more than 25 miles past the "0" miles left point

My wife was not with me

 

On our '00 X, whenever the light would come on and we'd make our way to the next diesel pump, we'd generally be able to fit about 40 gallons in the 44 gallon tank. If that was out on the interstate that meant we had about 80 miles left when the light came on (7.3L diesel). Just another data point.

Duncan

 

Good info from all of you.... thanks!

This really came up because of extensive interstate travel over the last two weeks. We put over 3000 miles in 2 weeks on the truck.

It got old looking for gas at E with 20 to go and find I could only put in 36 gallons. I ran it down to 0 once and put 38 in. On the interstate those extra 6-8 gallons are could mean one less stop on a long trip.

SO it sounds like:

Running it to 0 is likely "safe"

Running it beyond 0 could be unpleasant, but likely good for 30 miles.


I'll bet Ford is counting on keeping a couple gallons of fuel in the tank to keep the pumps cool.


Thanks again for all the help!!

Ric

 

Did you have any problems restarting after running your tank to empty? I was always told that a diesel is more difficult to restart than a gasoline engine.

On a trip of mostly HW miles, how many miles do you get out of one tank on your Ex.? Thanks. Fordone

 

on a trip of only hiway miles i don't get enough miles out of a tank of gas.

just joking. knew the thing would only get 12-15 mpg.

have not checked the mileage lately as the wife likes to drive it. it was she who wanted it after all. if she doesn't complain about the gas usage. that's fine with me.

seems the most gas i put in is 40 gallons and that is long after the display says 0 miles.

 

Afraid I'll have to wait for warmer weather before I try this experiment!

But I agree...it is good to know how much past E you can push things - whether you're a gambler or not. Sometimes they don't put the gas stations in the right place!

 

The last two times I filled up, my X took over 43 gallons. The first fill being 43.616, and the next being 43.8586.<O</O

I usually wait till the overhead is past 0 miles left to fill up. Not that I plan it that way, just never seems convenient to stop, as it takes forever to fill.<O</O

By the way, when I fill up, it is completely full to the neck.<O</O

Regards,
Paul Low

 

To Fordone: I have an gas engine, not diesel so one turn of the key and it started!!! I have not driven it all highway miles but it seems to be capable of 560 miles. Maybe it's time to take a trip to Ga to visit family to find out!!!

 

I was on last stretch home from a weekend and the light came on. I do not recall what the readout said, but I ended up putting 42 gallons in ($102).

My 2001 7.3L gets 660 Miles out of the 44 gallons running mixed ,(hwy/street) 15 mpg. Hwy only? I will tell you when I returnfrom the X-mas trip.

 

I find it fun to watch the overhead recalculate the remaining fuel as it reaches the final gallons of fuel left! On one trip across country I watched the readout drop from a remaining miles to go value of 160 mile to less than 6 miles in just over 50 miles! On that trip at a readout of 6 miles to empty I think I used just over 22.5 gallons of diesel.

We pushed it a little far again on this years elk hunting trip and had similar results. As I live in the cold climates in Minnesota....I try not to let my tank go much below 1/2 tank just in case I need to idle somewhere for a while so I don't like it when I see the low fuel light come on!

Drive safe and don't forget to.....

 

i think in the past someone mentioned that the fuel tank is a funky shape.
that might account for the quick drop on my gas gauge. like 1/4 tank gone after only 50-70 miles.