Fuel Tank Capacity and Gauge not in sync

S

sluebeck

New member
Jan 12, 2025
2
4
Montana
Vehicles
2025 Landcruiser
I have a 2025 Landcruiser. Got it in late November, just under 2,000 miles. I've looked through the forum and haven't seen this exact issue discussed.

According to the owners manual and specs online, the Landcruiser has a 17.9 gallon fuel tank. However, when I run my car down to essentially empty and refuel it only take 15 gallons, which tells me there is still over 2 gallons of gas left in the vehicle or the fuel capacity of the tank isn't really 17.9 gallons. Are any of you noticing this, is this normal?
 
sluebeck said:
I have a 2025 Landcruiser. Got it in late November, just under 2,000 miles. I've looked through the forum and haven't seen this exact issue discussed.

According to the owners manual and specs online, the Landcruiser has a 17.9 gallon fuel tank. However, when I run my car down to essentially empty and refuel it only take 15 gallons, which tells me there is still over 2 gallons of gas left in the vehicle or the fuel capacity of the tank isn't really 17.9 gallons. Are any of you noticing this, is this normal?
Click to expand...
Hi sluebeck,
I checked ChatGPT and it says LC has a 2 gallon reserve.
 
As someone that’s owned a few Toyotas, I can attest to the fact that their vehicles are very conservative when it comes to “mileage to empty” estimates and when the gauge hits “E”…i.e. they don’t want you to run out of gas (and likely don’t want you running the tank completely dry outside of emergency situations either). As someone already mentioned, there’s usually about 2 gal. still left in the tank when it first hits “empty”
 
Yes when I run mine to empty I only put in 15 gallons or so. They have a 2 gallon reserve as its bad for the hybrid system to run out of gas. So that means we really only have about 14-15 gallons usable gas which isn't much if your going by the fuel gauge.
 
Last edited:
sluebeck said:
I have a 2025 Landcruiser. Got it in late November, just under 2,000 miles. I've looked through the forum and haven't seen this exact issue discussed.

According to the owners manual and specs online, the Landcruiser has a 17.9 gallon fuel tank. However, when I run my car down to essentially empty and refuel it only take 15 gallons, which tells me there is still over 2 gallons of gas left in the vehicle or the fuel capacity of the tank isn't really 17.9 gallons. Are any of you noticing this, is this normal?
Click to expand...
Just look at this way, Toyota does not want you to run out of gas. When you think you’re going to run out of gas you basically have another 40+ miles to find a gas station. I’m hoping in the future they put a 24 gallon tank in for future models.
 
So, what's the point of a 2 gallon reserve? With my 4runner, the fuel light would come on when the fuel gauge was just below one quarter left, telling you that you had 30-40 miles left. On the Landcruiser, it tricks you into thinking you are approaching empty, but you apparently have the same 30-40 miles left. I've never seen any Toyota do this.

I haven't seen the fuel light come on in the Landcruiser yet, apparently I will have to wait for the gauge to reads empty first? Dumb.
 
sluebeck said:
So, what's the point of a 2 gallon reserve? With my 4runner, the fuel light would come on when the fuel gauge was just below one quarter left, telling you that you had 30-40 miles left. On the Landcruiser, it tricks you into thinking you are approaching empty, but you apparently have the same 30-40 miles left. I've never seen any Toyota do this.

I haven't seen the fuel light come on in the Landcruiser yet, apparently I will have to wait for the gauge to reads empty first? Dumb.
Click to expand...
it's generally recommended to keep at least 2-3 gallons of fuel in reserve on a new Land Cruiser, especially because running completely out of gas can potentially damage the hybrid system within the vehicle; when the gas runs low, the car may rely too heavily on the electric motor which could lead to strain and potential issues. Also the fuel pump is lubricated and sits off the bottom of the tank soaked in fuel. Running it dry can also damage that. That said I wish they increased the capacity to 21 gallons or 24. Its crazy we have only 13-14 gallons of usable fuel to use. One of the biggest issues IMO.
 
sluebeck said:
So, what's the point of a 2 gallon reserve? With my 4runner, the fuel light would come on when the fuel gauge was just below one quarter left, telling you that you had 30-40 miles left. On the Landcruiser, it tricks you into thinking you are approaching empty, but you apparently have the same 30-40 miles left. I've never seen any Toyota do this.

I haven't seen the fuel light come on in the Landcruiser yet, apparently I will have to wait for the gauge to reads empty first? Dumb.
Click to expand...
My fuel light and refuel warning came on yesterday with about 20 miles left.

The point of a reserve is that it is.....a reserve. There's no trickery, just a failsafe for people who can't read gauges or ignore them, or can't read a manual. 🤷‍♂️
 
On a weekend trip I noticed that if I carefully keep pumping gas after pump auto shut off I was able to get at least another full gallon in the tank. I’ve not noticed that much gain before because I never had a tank size issue on previous vehicles. Seems minor but if you consider that plus the 2 gallons in reserve it’s another 54 miles range at 18mpg. Heading on a long trip next weekend and I’ll manually calculate and bet it comes out much better range per tank than the computer indicates.
 
SKLC said:
On a weekend trip I noticed that if I carefully keep pumping gas after pump auto shut off I was able to get at least another full gallon in the tank. I’ve not noticed that much gain before because I never had a tank size issue on previous vehicles. Seems minor but if you consider that plus the 2 gallons in reserve it’s another 54 miles range at 18mpg. Heading on a long trip next weekend and I’ll manually calculate and bet it comes out much better range per tank than the computer indicates.
Click to expand...
If you continue to do this your likely to damage your EVAP system.
 
This sounds like a Toyota hybrid engine issue (problem?). Coming from 2021 Toyota Rav4 Prime, it's supposed to have a 14.5 gallon tank. When the low fuel light comes on, I can only fill 10 gallons +/- 0.5 gallon every time for the last 115k miles. Someone else from the Rav4 Prime FB group did a full out let it run until it's dead test, turns out there were still 3.5 gallon left in the 14.5 gallon tank as reserve when the car's low fuel/fuel up signal pops up. My guess is Toyota don't want people to drive for too long (anything over 300 miles range) without stopping, and by carrying less fuel it means less weight therefore better fuel economy.
 
Apologies if this has been stated in here already - but the reserve is there to keep the fuel pump cool. Run it dry and you’ll replace your fuel pump a few times.
 
My low fuel light comes on at around 12 miles of range, which is very low compared to other cars. Most cars you will get a low fuel warning around 40-50 miles. I have ran it to "zero" miles left before, and the tank only took 15.4 gallons to get full. It's very annoying regardless of the fuel reserve intentions.

My wife has a 2020 Highlander, and when it was about 2 years old Toyota released a voluntary recall to reprogram the fuel range calculation. When it was brand new it had a similar issue but not as exaggerated as the LC.

It will probably take loads of us complaining about it at dealers for them to change the software. In reality it just means more trips to the pump. Even if I know there are 2 gallons left in there, riding around with zero miles of range is not easy to get used to.
 
The fuel level is determined by the float located on the in-tank fuel pump assy. The arm travels up and down along a resistor bank, which in turn, provides a voltage value to the fuel gage (might run through a module, IDK). For those of you so worried about levels and remaining fuel.......... remove the unit and bend the arm down about an 1/8 of an inch (which is a huge adjustment). That of course is a lot of work and IMO the juice isn't worth the squeeze, but Toyota probably feels the same way. But it is possible.......LOL

fuel sending unit 2.jpg
 
SKLC said:
On a weekend trip I noticed that if I carefully keep pumping gas after pump auto shut off I was able to get at least another full gallon in the tank.
Click to expand...
I would NOT do that. You will damage the fuel evap system, which can be costly repair bill. The Car Care Nut mentioned this in one of his videos.
 
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