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From: cpliu on 15 Feb 2010 14:01
Is there a documentation on how much gas is left for each increments
in the gas gauge of a 1994 Toyota Camry? This would be very helpful in
estimating how long can my car can last before the need to add gas.

From my rough estimate:
When it reaches E (empty): 2 to 2.3 Gallon left; not all cars have
that much left after warning signal is on.
Between the middle point and the 1/4 point: a little less than 4
Gallon (drove 140 miles at ~35 to 38 MPG)
Between the 1/4 point to empty: ~3 gallon (drove 117 at 35 to 38 MPG)

A few questions:
why does the distance between 1/4 to empty shorter the 1/4 to mid
point? It seems common to different cars.
One time, I drove till my car is really out of gas (hesitates like no
gas going in engine, esp going up hills), I filled it up at the
fullest possible way. I added only 17.882. Camry is supposed to have
capacity of 18 Gallon. Why can't it reach 18? Is the fuel line not at
the bottom or some debris is taking up the space?

From: ransley on 15 Feb 2010 15:49
On Feb 15, 1:01 pm, cpliu <spamfree...(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
> Is there a documentation on how much gas is left for each increments
> in the gas gauge of a 1994 Toyota Camry? This would be very helpful in
> estimating how long can my car can last before the need to add gas.
>
> From my rough estimate:
> When it reaches E (empty): 2 to 2.3 Gallon left; not all cars have
> that much left after warning signal is on.
> Between the middle point and the 1/4 point: a little less than 4
> Gallon (drove 140 miles at ~35 to 38 MPG)
> Between the 1/4 point to empty: ~3 gallon (drove 117 at 35 to 38 MPG)
>
> A few questions:
> why does the distance between 1/4 to empty shorter the 1/4 to mid
> point? It seems common to different cars.
> One time, I drove till my car is really out of gas (hesitates like no
> gas going in engine, esp going up hills), I filled it up at the
> fullest possible way. I added only 17.882. Camry is supposed to have
> capacity of 18 Gallon. Why can't it reach 18? Is the fuel line not at
> the bottom or some debris is taking up the space?

All gauges are different, Never run that low on gas, the bottom is
full of junk by now, you are lucky nothing more happened like clogging
the filter. You have .118 gal of rust in the tank.
From: cpliu on 15 Feb 2010 16:02
> All gauges are different, Never run that low on gas, the bottom is
I'm looking for data on my specific model: 1994 Toyota Camry. Is my
estimate in line with others with the same car?

> full of junk by now, you are lucky nothing more happened like clogging
> the filter. You have .118 gal of rust in the tank.- Hide quoted text -
>
Thanks for the advice. I didn't do it intentionally. I estimated it
wrong that day. That's one reason I'd like to read the gauge better.
From: dsi1 on 15 Feb 2010 16:53
On 2/15/2010 9:01 AM, cpliu wrote:
> Is there a documentation on how much gas is left for each increments
> in the gas gauge of a 1994 Toyota Camry? This would be very helpful in
> estimating how long can my car can last before the need to add gas.
>
> From my rough estimate:
> When it reaches E (empty): 2 to 2.3 Gallon left; not all cars have
> that much left after warning signal is on.
> Between the middle point and the 1/4 point: a little less than 4
> Gallon (drove 140 miles at ~35 to 38 MPG)
> Between the 1/4 point to empty: ~3 gallon (drove 117 at 35 to 38 MPG)
>
> A few questions:
> why does the distance between 1/4 to empty shorter the 1/4 to mid
> point? It seems common to different cars.
> One time, I drove till my car is really out of gas (hesitates like no
> gas going in engine, esp going up hills), I filled it up at the
> fullest possible way. I added only 17.882. Camry is supposed to have
> capacity of 18 Gallon. Why can't it reach 18? Is the fuel line not at
> the bottom or some debris is taking up the space?
>

You want a gas gauge needle to move faster at the last quadrant. A
needle that meters gas at the same rate throughout it's range is harder
to read at the critical last few gallons.

17.882 gallons is 18 gallons in my book. However, it's likely that you
have a couple of cups of fuel still left in the tank, hence the missing
..118 gallons. BTW, don't ever run your tank that low - you're just
asking for trouble.
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