36 Gallon Tank Reserve?

[Blueshound]

In the old days we would just bend the float on the sender to adjust the fuel guage. Not sure how the system works now but it might still be an option.

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[sbi]

Bit of an older video but this guy got almost 50 miles on empty:

TBH, the only thing I am willing to take from Mike's video is that these computers in the vehicles are piece of junk. I would not consider his single experiment as any factual data. I am willing to bet money that if run 10 more tests like this the results would be all over the place.

 

[unscheduled clean]

It would not surprise me if they do this intentionally, not only to make sure you get to a gas station, but the fuel pump is also cooled by the gas in the tank. If you continuously let the gas get too low then the pump gets hot and shortens its life expectancy.

 

[Bandito]

Hmm...this sounds a bit fishy. My 2018 EcoBoost had the 36 gallon tank and I filled it with 35 gallons a couple of times when I ran it very low, so it sounds like something isn't configured right. There's no way you should have a 180 mile reserve. That's absurd.

There may be something in the engineering settings for the truck that is off. I'd take it to another dealer and have them verify that the computer is configured for the larger tank.

 

[Pioneer74]

I got 32 gallons into mine when it said I had 27 DTE.

 

[JeffC57]

I got 32 gallons into mine when it said I had 27 DTE.

Similar results for me the last time I ran the tank low.

 

[Blueshound]

I just put in 29.88 gallons with 41 DTE. At my 19 mpg with 5.0, that likely calculates to a 4 gallon reserve. Seems reasonable.

 

[PhilK]

I just put in 29.88 gallons with 41 DTE. At my 19 mpg with 5.0, that likely calculates to a 4 gallon reserve. Seems reasonable.

 

[PhilK]

I was able to run it down to 25 miles till empty, and this time I got exactly 31 gallons into the tank. Will see if this is a consistent thing. 5 gallons left in the tank is not so bad, and from comments, this evidently allows fuel pump to last longer. If consistent, I guess I can live with it.

 

[Pedaldude]

Earlier in this and other 36 gallon tank threads, the speculation is that Ford changed the Reserve because older gen. trucks had trouble starting when parked on inclines. Which implies that the tank is poorly baffled and or the fuel pickup placed in a less than ideal location in the tank.

While running low on fuel isn't good for the in-tank fuel pump, it's not catastrophic and I have had cars where I routinely ran the tank dry without any noticeable difference in fuel pump longevity. I also usually completely fill my tanks when I do refuel and when I do see cars with seemingly premature fuel pump failure, it's in cars owned by teenagers that habitually run their tanks on empty, only putting $5-10 dollars in at a time and never having more than half a tank let alone a full tank. Even then, it usually doesn't happen for tens of thousands of miles and it's hard to tell conclusively that it was damage from running on an empty tank and not the fact that it was a second-hand high mileage vehicle in the first place.

Another factor in fuel pump damage is the waxy build up caused by ethanol blends. When the tank is run low, all that crap gets sucked into the filter sock on the fuel pump and creates a restriction, and if the vehicle sits for a long period of time, I have even seen it where the pumps are completely seized.

 

[Kanuck]

I look at the fuel gauge and Km to empty as a estimate and do not rely on how far till I am pushing the truck. The Km till empty can drop so fast just by making a corner and now you driving into a strong wind which changes the calculations anyways. I usually fill up when I am down to half a tank. With the price of fuel, it doesn't hurt as much when comes time to pay.

 

[moates]

Got 32 gallons in when mine read 13 miles to empty. Mpg read around 20. Nice reserve in my opinion.

 

[tilefordude]

Great thread...I'm in this club too ran mine to 25 miles to empty maybe can get 29 gallons in i always get the larger tank in these trucks and this one seems to hold the least

 

[DSpyV]

I had a Jeep Gladiator (sold about 6 months ago) and similar topic got brought up. What everyone found is that how the take was vented, if you went slow after the pump “clicked” you could fit in another 3-4 gallons in. Wonder if this is the same situation?

 

[Hectort713]

Hello everyone,

i have the same issues, I have pumped several times at very low DTE and have only been able to fill up with 31 Gallons and only get 483 miles to empty, on my 21 Tremor with 36 gallon tank, with 1600 miles on it, ( I also recently purchased a 21 Honda Accord and the DTE was also not calculating the correct DTE, it’s at 1800 miles now and it did learn to calculate, but that’s not the same issue with this 21 F150,) I also didn’t have this issue on my 19 F150 Lariat with same 36 g tank, on my 19 I used to fill up with 34 or 35 Gallons at the pump, well to make story short, I drove up to ford service and spoke to the service GM, and he advised me to drop off the truck, so they can drop down the Gas Tank and verify if I do have a 36 Gallon tank and that if I do, they will be reprogramming the gas cluster to see if that fixes the DTE issues. I dropped it off this morning and they told me it would be about 2 days before they can give me an update. I will update Y’all once I get updated.

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