EVIC Distance to Empty

[Liviu]

I was surprised to see that when your tank is almost empty, but still has lot of gas, the message on the Electronic Vehicle Information Center (EVIC) is changed from the distance to a "Low Fuel" message. This doesn't tell me if I can go to my preferred gas station or if I have to go to the nearest one I can find, because it doesn't tell me how many miles or Kms I can still go(they say about 30 miles – 48 Km, but this is an approximation, and of course it depends if you drive in the city or on a highway). I had before a Dodge Intrepid, and that one was showing the distance all the time and it was better that way. More than that, the message is useless and redundant, because you also have the light lit and also the fuel gauge to minimum, so there are now in fact 3 indicators telling you the same thing! So I think it will be much better if the EVIC will tell you the distance, like before. At least I couldn't find a way to change it this way, so I would appreciate if anybody knows a way to setup the EVIC to show the distance to empty all the time.

[bramfrank]

I don;t believe any vehicle displays expected nmileage to empty below about 30 miles - my GMs worked that way, my motorcycles work that way and my old LHS simply frops from 30 to zero and then chimes and the light comes on, almost the same thing.

'Low Fuel' means that you should get your butt to the closest station and add some. If you know it is about 30 or so miles you can elect to live dangerously and ignore the message for a while - but note that;

1. Running with low fuel allows fuel to slosh around more and stirs up sediment and debris that can clog the filter.

2. Low fuel levels contribute to high levels of condensation in tanks at night - this can rust out components.

3. Low fuel levels leaves a larger percentage of the fuel exposed to the atmosphere in the tank which in this age of adding corn alcohol to gasoline means you will suck in a lot of moisture, further reducing your mileage.

Edited March 8, 2012 by bramfrank

[generaltso]

I think they do this so that they don't have any liability if you run out of gas. If they told you that you had exactly 10 miles before empty, and you ran out of gas at 8 miles, you'd probably be less than happy. They avoid taking any liability by not showing you the numbers once you get close to empty.

[Liviu]

As I said, my old car, also a Dodge, had this. Of course, the number was changing according to the drive conditions, the same way that is doing it now, but now is only for over that limit. So it's not about liability as long as it will tell you anyway you are at 0. And more that that, I knew that even showing 0 in fact I still had fuel for about 2 miles (4 Km). And I NEVER ran out of fuel. In 182000Km.!! But as I said, I would like to know what happens and how far can I go, and I don't need 3 devices to tell me the same thing, that I am low on fuel. Don't you think 2 are enough??!