Fuel Gauge Inaccuracy
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Joined: Nov 2003
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Fuel Gauge Inaccuracy
Anyone notice how inaccurate the fuel gauge is in the Escape? At least mine is. It isn't broken, just inaccurate. When the gauge is dead on half a tank it you should have approximately 8 gallons of gas left, right? 16 gallon tank, half vull if your an optimist, half empty if your a pessimist, it would tend you to believe you have 8 gallons of gas left, wrong! More like 10 to 11 gallons left on my gauge. I filled my tank up when it was dead on half a tank and it only took about 6 gallons of gas and this was topping the tank off also, could not squeeze another ounce of gas in there. Besides that it works fine and does get more accurate as it gets closer to empty. When it is just about empty it will take about 15 gallons of gas. It is just on the other end of the scale where the inaccuracy is..
Last edited by tonyford; Feb 21, 2006 at 01:35 PM.
Postmaster
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 4,004
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From: North of Boston MA
I have two Hybrid Escapes and both gas gauges are inaccurate as you described. The Hybrid has a 15 gallon tank and when it reads half tank, there is really about 9 gallons left. I've gotten to where I don't even look at the gauge since the Hybrid has a Miles to Empty meter. When it gets down to 0 MTE, there is about 1.5 gallons left - a pretty safe reserve at 34-35 mpg.
Senior User
Joined: Aug 2003
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From: MA
My '05 has the same innacuracy. I can only imagine that it has to do with the shape of the tank... if it's smaller at the top, the gas level goes down faster if the gauge only measures vertically. An annoyance, but after 12K, I'm used to paying very little attention to the gas gauge until it's below 1/4.
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Joined: Dec 2003
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From: Texas
The tank isn't square. At 3/4 I've gone 50+ miles. 1/2 I've gone 150+ miles. 1/4 I've gone 250+ miles. The light comes on at over 350+ miles. This is an 05 I4. My 02 V6 was about the same but subtract about 10 miles per each quarter.
The first quarter seems to have half the space as the 2nd and 3rd quarters. The last quarter seems a little larger.
The first quarter seems to have half the space as the 2nd and 3rd quarters. The last quarter seems a little larger.
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Joined: Mar 2006
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Fuel gauges almost always behave like this, but it isnt really a problem in design, it is just how they are measured. And the shapes of most fuel tanks are a rounded rectangular box with shallow changes in the shape for mounts etc. You will find more on how it works at places like this one:http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-gauge.htm
Essentially the needle is built to be failry accurate, but very conservative on what it reports. Better to to have more than you think you have, than not as much as you think you have, isnt it...
Essentially the needle is built to be failry accurate, but very conservative on what it reports. Better to to have more than you think you have, than not as much as you think you have, isnt it...
Last edited by Mickey21; Mar 1, 2006 at 08:36 AM. Reason: typo...
