deadman64 Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Had something interesting happen to me the other day.... My fuel gauge went yellow around 15 MTE and alerted me, seems to be pretty standard. But driving home the miles were dropping pretty quick until I was at 0 MTE. The gauge never went red or chimed. I continued to drive a few miles to a gas station with it saying 0 MTE and the gauge still reporting yellow. Definitely seems like something is weird with the software and the MTE it reports...anyone else ever have this happen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boogs Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 0 MTE obviously doesnt mean an empty fuel tank, as is evidenced by only being able to get about 13-14 gallons in per fill (in a 16 gallon tank). As was mentioned here or in another thread, Ford might be attempting to avoid high-pressure fuel pump issues by making sure there's at least 1-2 gallons in the tank at all times. That being said, I just filled the tank saturday after driving at least 5 miles on "0 MTE". Put in something like 14.3 gallons. Gauge was still yellow, but kept decreasing. Another few miles and it probably would have went red. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooter80 Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 (edited) Not to be a killjoy, and maybe someone posted this a bit ago, I just haven't read the entire thread, but Ford has expected what you're all experiencing. They've addressed it in the dreaded Owner's Manual. ***It Is Normal!*** FUEL CONSUMPTION Note: The amount of usable fuel in the empty reserve varies and should not be relied upon to increase driving range. When refueling your vehicle after the fuel gauge indicates empty, you might not be able to refuel the full amount of the advertised capacity of the fuel tank due to the empty reserve still present in the tank. Empty reserve is the amount of fuel remaining in the tank after the fuel gauge indicates empty. Do not rely on this fuel for driving. The usable capacity of the fuel tank is the amount of fuel that can be put into the tank after the gauge indicates empty. ***The advertised capacity is the total fuel tank size it is the combined usable capacity plus the empty reserve.*** Not saying its proper of them to essentially cripple the capacity, but they did and they told us they did. Edited March 11, 2013 by Scooter80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MineralstangGT Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Would it have anything to do with starving the fuel pump? I know that after putting the Kenne bell blower on my mustang, they advise to never run the tank below 1/4 full so that is prevented. Maybe ford just built that safeguard into the gauge then. It kills the tank size though, but there has to be some reason if its truly intentional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iggnutts Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 This means my usable capacity is between 10.5 and 11.5 gallons on my FFH. This sux for range. Compared to my previous car which I filled once a week I was hoping to fill this one only once every two weeks, with the much better mpg. Instead I only get an extra day or two between fill ups. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neod192 Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 This means my usable capacity is between 10.5 and 11.5 gallons on my FFH. This sux for range. Compared to my previous car which I filled once a week I was hoping to fill this one only once every two weeks, with the much better mpg. Instead I only get an extra day or two between fill ups. Exactly my thoughts! They got rid of the spare wheel, they could've put a 16 gallon tank in there! I wonder if we can "upgrade" the fuel tank on these 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 This is not the normal reserve - that's supposed to be about 10% or 1.5 gallons. It's not normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iggnutts Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 Exactly my thoughts! They got rid of the spare wheel, they could've put a 16 gallon tank in there! I wonder if we can "upgrade" the fuel tank on these I'd love to upgrade to a larger capacity tank! But then of course, the weight of that extra 3-4 gallons of gas would reduce the mpg to 30. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bailey151 Posted March 14, 2013 Author Share Posted March 14, 2013 This is not the normal reserve - that's supposed to be about 10% or 1.5 gallons. It's not normal. That may be "normal" but Ford may be protecting the fuel pump by purposely giving a much larger reserve. Really really bad things can happen to a high pressure fuel pump if they're run dry (like requiring a replacement of the entire fuel system........$$$$$$$). Is this the case with Ford's system? No idea. BMW had some issues with early high pressure fuel pumps..............Ford being overly cautious? Again, no idea. It does suck for range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jinx8402 Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 That may be "normal" but Ford may be protecting the fuel pump by purposely giving a much larger reserve. Really really bad things can happen to a high pressure fuel pump if they're run dry (like requiring a replacement of the entire fuel system........$$$$$$$). Is this the case with Ford's system? No idea. BMW had some issues with early high pressure fuel pumps..............Ford being overly cautious? Again, no idea. It does suck for range. If this is the way it was designed out of the box, then they should let people know that they can run the tank to empty and not have to worry about killing the pump. In all my cars I never let it get less to 1/4 tank, for that exact reason, to not over stress the pump. However, if in this car they are keeping a 3.5 gallon reserve just to preserve the pump, I will have no reason not to drive til "empty". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bailey151 Posted March 14, 2013 Author Share Posted March 14, 2013 (edited) If this is the way it was designed out of the box, then they should let people know that they can run the tank to empty and not have to worry about killing the pump. In all my cars I never let it get less to 1/4 tank, for that exact reason, to not over stress the pump. However, if in this car they are keeping a 3.5 gallon reserve just to preserve the pump, I will have no reason not to drive til "empty". Agree - a bit of communication would help................though given the excerpt from the owner's manual above maybe they feel they have. Edited March 14, 2013 by Bailey151 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txtenor Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 There are several threads on this on multiple forums. This is not simply a user training issue. The issue only affects the 16.5 gallon tanks (which excludes the Hybrids and the AWD versions of the car). There are many folks with the 16.5 gallon tank who see 14+ gallon fill-ups with their DTE reading above 0 and the fuel gauge reading above empty. There are others who can only get more than 12 gallons in if they use a "slow-fill" approach by lettingthe tank sit for 30-60 secs between clicks of the pump. Then there are those folks like me who simply cannot get even 13 gallons in during a fill-up even when we drive the car several miles past 0 DTE. A couple of folks have driven their cars to stalling (no usable fuel left) and still got a fill-up of around 12-13 gallons. The tank part numbers are correct and show a 16.5 gal capacity, but it appears that some of them have flaws in their build such that the tank simply will not accept the appropriate (or advertised) amount of fuel. And for the record (but doubtful this will be the last time I say this), no modern automobile has a "designed" reserve of 20-25% which is what a 3.5-4 gallon reserve in a 16.5 gallon tank equates to... Also, I (for one) am quite competent when it comes to cars and have had a life-long love affair with the automobile in general which includes complete motor rebuilds and doing a ton of my own maintenance and troubleshooting over the years. I will state unequivocally that this is not the designed or expected behavior. There is definitely an issue and it will only get resolved if those who have the problem report it. I would politely ask those who are conjecturing and hypothesizing on the situation without any direct experience with a 2013 fitted with a 16.5 gallon tank to stop suggesting it is user error or an imagined issue. Lastly, I love this car!! The issue at hand needs to be resolved, but it is not reducing my enthusiasm for the car one little bit. Those of us who jumped in early became guinea pigs (as is typical with any all-new model release) and we get to help Ford sort out these issues...but we also get to be the first ones on the block with this awesome car. Just comes with the territory... :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jinx8402 Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 (edited) txtenor, Like I've been saying for the past few weeks, is that there are two issues. 1) Fuel tank issue that some people are experiencing, where you cannot get any more than 12G when sitting at 0 DTE. 2) Over aggressive fuel "reserve" by the dash computer Iamweasel, who was one of the first to report getting his fuel tank swapped, initially said the fuel tank swap fixed his issue. He then back tracked a few weeks later and said he was still only able to get about 13.5 gallons in when sitting at 0 DTE. Just recently he said he was able to drive 40 miles PAST DTE and was able to get 16.x gallons in. So the question is, is Ford making the system calculate with a larger reserve to not burn out the fuel pump? If the answer is yes, that is their right to not have warranty claims for people driving to empty (which let's face it, a lot of people do no thinking of the issues this may cause). However, for people who understand this, who normally wouldn't drive past 1/4 tank, it seems like it kills driving range. To me, this means, I can safely drive to empty and not worry about damaging the fuel pump. Driving to empty, with a 3.5 gallon reserve basically means I have roughly 1/4 tank left, just like I used to fill up. Is a large reserve right or wrong? I don't really know the answer to that, but it definitely does make the range of the car seem much shorter than what I was anticipating. Maybe Ford underestimated how people would react to this. They seemed to fix the same issue with the Escape with a software update. And since it is only a TSB, only people who perceive it as an issue will have the software updated. I will add this: I spoke to my CSR and she talked with one of her technical leads and made it seem like as of right now, the Fusion does calculate the reserve as about 3.5G. She said they are always looking to make sure the customers are happy, so perhaps if enough people complain about the issue they will get a fix out for it. Lastly, I am not trying to undervalue the fact that you and many others seem to have a legitimate fuel tank issue, and agree that needs to be fixed as well. Edited March 14, 2013 by jinx8402 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.