[bigdaddyo811]

Anyone know or from experience when the LOW FUEL WARNING goes off?

My car says 90m left with gas but the LOW FUEL WARNING keeps beeping randomly (and annoying). The gas tank indicator shows 1/5 full so something doesnt jive.

Either the 90m is incorrect and the gas gauge is correct and the low fuel indicator valid (which means I'm in trouble if my battery runs out) or the meter is incorrect.

Either way the random LOW FUEL WARNING and beeping is driving me nuts.

 

[SoCalGuy]

When my low fuel warning (the 'ding' sound) came on, I drove about 4 miles to a gas station and filled up - 8.4 gallons. So if the tank really has only 9.5 of usable fuel storage, the low fuel warning goes off with 1 gallon or so left in the tank.

 

[LonePalmBJ]

I've taken the car on an extended roadtrip and saw the low fuel warning a couple of times. It came on when there was between 40-50 miles range left and my battery was completely empty, so I'm guessing it's two gallons.

BigDaddy, there is no Gas-only range indicator. There's battery-only range, and Total range (battery + Gas) so the 90 miles you see also include whatevers left on your battery.

I think the tank is slightly larger than 9.5 gallons. I think it's 9.9 usable, which means it may even be slightly bigger than that. Twice I've put in 9.25 gallons and the range wasn't at 0.

Brent

 

[bigdaddyo811]

My Total Range, however isnt decreasing as my battery range decreases at the same ratio (1:1 I would presume). Is that an error?

 

[LonePalmBJ]

My Total Range, however isnt decreasing as my battery range decreases at the same ratio (1:1 I would presume). Is that an error?

Total range should decrease as you drive in Stealth mode. If it's not decreasing at all I would be concerned.

The decreases aren't necessarily linear though: The first few "miles" of stealth range are a lot shorter than the last few. In other words, the Stealth range calculation fluxuates based on battery level, which can drain more or less quickly based on terrain, temperature, driving style, etc. It not uncommon for it to have gone from "50 miles" to "49 miles" by the end of my driveway and to "47 miles" by the time I get out of my neighborhood.

 

[marcus]

My range went from 90 miles to zero last week. I filled it up 7.5 gallons.

 

[bigdaddyo811]

That makes no sense to me and what concerns me. What do I listen to: the 90m range or the LOW FUEL indicator or the gauge?

If it went from 90m to zero, then something is wrong.

My range went from 90 miles to zero last week. I filled it up 7.5 gallons.

 

[Don A]

I have had two occurrences of low fuel light and alert with the fuel gauge showing empty when I opened the drivers door while my Karma was charging even though my tank was over 3/4 full.

After letting the vehicle shutdown and restarting (soft reboot) the indicator went away and the gauge showed the correct level.

Seems like there is an intermittent missing fuel level reading on start-up in some situations.

 

[marcus]

I am guessing it was just a bug, and for now I think I will keep plenty of fuel in the tank just in case.

 

[bigdaddyo811]

Well I went and filled it. Took 8.38 gallons. When all full, range is back to 277 total and 22 on battery.

The weird thing is that when I turned on the car to go to the gas station to fill, the low fuel warning didnt come on and the gauge was not orange anymore...seems sort of random.

 

[Dutch]

Well I went and filled it. Took 8.38 gallons. When all full, range is back to 277 total and 22 on battery.

The weird thing is that when I turned on the car to go to the gas station to fill, the low fuel warning didnt come on and the gauge was not orange anymore...seems sort of random.

Almost any bug will disappear after the car is switched off AND has gone to sleep (takes a few minutes; you can see the PRND-light go off). Re-starting the car earlier than that usually doesn't solve the problem because the system hasn't reset itself yet.

 

[SoCalGuy]

Well I went and filled it. Took 8.38 gallons. When all full, range is back to 277 total and 22 on battery.

The weird thing is that when I turned on the car to go to the gas station to fill, the low fuel warning didnt come on and the gauge was not orange anymore...seems sort of random.

Consistent with my experience - low fuel level when tank has about 1-1.5 gallons left. Using my range of 20-24mpg, that really only gives you about 20-36 miles to find gas!

Part of me wishes the Karma had a 13 gallon tank. Driving around in Sport mode (say, from LA to SF), the range in gas-only is really only 180ish miles (engine will work hard going steep uphill around the grapevine area north of LA)... so on a 400 mile one-way trip to the Bay Area, you'll have to fill-up TWICE - with my old '96 Explorer, I only had to fill up once (19 gallon tank, 18mpg)

 

[Fabulist]

I was driving around in Sport mode this weekend so I ended up with and almost empty gas tank but 26 miles of electric range. I got the "Low Fuel" warning and filled up the car about 10 miles later and the car took 8 gallons to fill up. So it looks like you get the warning with 2 gallons left in the tank.

The interesting question for me was what would have happened if I kept going until the gas ran out. Would the car automatically switch back to Stealth mode and use up the 26 miles that was still left on the battery or would it just coast to a halt when it ran out of gas.

 

[bigdaddyo811]

Who wants to try it?

 

[SoCalGuy]

The interesting question for me was what would have happened if I kept going until the gas ran out. Would the car automatically switch back to Stealth mode and use up the 26 miles that was still left on the battery or would it just coast to a halt when it ran out of gas.

Thought about that very question... wonder what it would do... Nimsys?

 

[matrix]

Would the car automatically switch back to Stealth mode and use up the 26 miles that was still left on the battery or would it just coast to a halt when it ran out of gas.

I wonder.

 

[Nimisys]

From an experience with a car and a bad fuel pump relay (circa BL608), when the engine starves for fuel, it will misfire and you get a blinking check engine light. The Hybrid control module then will no longer try to start the ICE for the remainder of that key cycle, and yes the car will run off the battery power alone. However you are now left with a misfire stored in the computer and it will take a hard reboot to get the ICE to start again after filling with fuel.

613 & 614 both changed when the fuel low message comes on, with 614 it comes on at about 20% remaining, or just under 2 gallons. the Fuel tank is a saddle design, with a primary pump in the right side and a transfer pump / level sender in the left, so depending on the vehicle orientation, usage below 20% can be problematic for the pickup.

 

[bigdaddyo811]

I had the gas gauge warning go off and so then I filled the tank. Now it has gone completely erratic. Half the time when I boot the car, the low fuel indicator is on (the gas pump sign where the clock usually is on the dash (not the LOW FUEL WARNING indicator with words). The gas gauge is in the red and empty.

For most of my driving today it read total range = battery range because of the error. Once in a while it was booting properly so I know how much gas I actually have left.

 

[marcus]

Same bug for me for the last few days... seems like rebooting is only a temporary fix as everything seems to pop up again.

 

[Fabulist]

I had the gas gauge warning go off and so then I filled the tank. Now it has gone completely erratic. Half the time when I boot the car, the low fuel indicator is on (the gas pump sign where the clock usually is on the dash (not the LOW FUEL WARNING indicator with words). The gas gauge is in the red and empty.

For most of my driving today it read total range = battery range because of the error. Once in a while it was booting properly so I know how much gas I actually have left.

I was having problems with the gas cap open warning that turned out to be related to a bad fuel vent line not the software. It may be worthwhile to have the dealer check the fuel plumbing rather than just assuming it is a software bug.