Taurus fuel gauge for Dummies.

[Riptides]

I just banged up a pic in Photoshop that I took the other day to show the correct way to read the fuel gauge in older er.. is it Tauruii or Tauruses?

Anyways I figured I was getting 17MPG right now in mine, but wanted to share this photo.

Enjoy.

[Breeves002]

This is mostly true.... My 2000 seems to do it the other way around. When I hit 1/2 I'm actually at 3/4, and then it SLOWLY lowers from 1/2 to empty. Sometimes it acutlly reads 1/2 correctly believe it or not! When the gas light comes on I have 4 gallons left.

[04 SEL]

Originally Posted by Breeves002

This is mostly true.... My 2000 seems to do it the other way around. When I hit 1/2 I'm actually at 3/4, and then it SLOWLY lowers from 1/2 to empty. Sometimes it acutlly reads 1/2 correctly believe it or not! When the gas light comes on I have 4 gallons left.

I just go by the Miles to E on my Info Center But full tank for me is a little past F. If I fill up at 1/8 tank, it takes between 13-14 gallons.

By the way, why is 55MPH red?

[sfhess]

Originally Posted by 04 SEL

By the way, why is 55MPH red?

Because that was the national maximum speed limit when the car whose instrument cluster is pictured was made and sold.

[behlinla]

The speedometer was also limited to only reading up to 85 MPH. But there were ways around this for some high-performance cars. Here's a perfect example from the Mustang SVO (also note the required red mark at 55 MPH):



Back to the Future fans should also note that the real DeLorean speedometer does not actually go up to the magic 88 MPH.

[The White Falcon]

F-series trucks from the mid nineties (with dual tanks) are just as bad. I've had my needle be below the red line and still find I've got four gallons left in the tank.

If it's on the red line, you've got 25-50 miles left in tank. It's not just this one, we previously owned a 92 F-150 that did the same thing.

[jhefner]

The guage in the Blue Goose is pretty much spot on; it makes 100-120 miles on the first quarter tank, then 90-100 miles each quarter after that. But, they had to replace the tank, pump, and guage when they repaired the motor (it had rusted out while sitting up for four years), so they are new.

I took this picture when I was determining what the maximum range was after I first had it restored. You can see where the gas gauge is, the trip odometer was reading 425 miles. I put 15 gallons in; so it worked out to 27 miles a gallon:



I ran it this one low other time, and it died climbing a freeway overpass; so no more. The normal usable range is 375-400 miles, depending on how many highway v.s. city miles I have driven.

-James

[Breeves002]

Wow, I wish I could get 400 miles out of a tank. I fill up early though (my gas light turns on when I have 4 gallons left, so I fill up 12 gallons), so I usually only get 250 miles out of a tank. Still when I do the milage it's always between 18-23. I do have a heavy foot though.

[jhefner]

Originally Posted by Breeves002

Wow, I wish I could get 400 miles out of a tank. I fill up early though (my gas light turns on when I have 4 gallons left, so I fill up 12 gallons), so I usually only get 250 miles out of a tank. Still when I do the milage it's always between 18-23. I do have a heavy foot though.

I have three things going for me:

1. It has a Vulcan; they seem to do better on mileage than the Duratec.

2. I accelerate slowly, coast on hills and to a stop when I can, and use cruise control most of the time. I usually drive 60-65 on the highway; in other words; I am the other driver's worst nightmare.

3. When I had all four tires replaced this year; I replaced them with Yokohama tires that are rated as low rolling resistance (LRR) tires. Supposively, LRR tires are good for a 5% improvement in mileage or roughly 2 MPG; I think once or twice I may have hit 28 MPG; but most of the time; it means I average 26-27 MPG when I would sometimes get 24-25 MPG instead.

Dad claimed he got 30 MPG out of it when he was driving it. That of course was over 12 years and 100,000 miles ago; gas back then may have had little or no ethanol in it; mileage definitely suffers when I use E85 in our Dodge Durango; to the point where it more than offsets the cheaper price per gallon.

-James

[JW657]

Originally Posted by Breeves002

Wow, I wish I could get 400 miles out of a tank. I fill up early though (my gas light turns on when I have 4 gallons left, so I fill up 12 gallons), so I usually only get 250 miles out of a tank. Still when I do the milage it's always between 18-23. I do have a heavy foot though.

I can get almost 400 miles out of the tank in my van at 16mpg. I can get about 520 miles if I'm just on the highway. 26 gallon gas tanks rock!