LR4 Distance to Empty Calculator

Okdisco

Member
Nov 8, 2021
6
2
Tulsa, OK
Picked up a 2013 LR4 about 3 weeks ago and noticed that the distance to empty displayed seems horribly off. Filled the tank and the avg mpg was showing 15.1 and the distance to empty was only 231 miles. Is there a way to reset or calibrate this or is it just a LR quirk that I have to live with? I don’t know how accurate the fuel gauge is as I’ve been afraid to push it very far towards empty. With a 22.8 gallon tank and a reserve at 3 gallons I was expecting something closer to 300 miles to empty.
 

p m

Administrator
Staff member
Apr 19, 2004
15,617
837
58
La Jolla, CA
www.3rj.org
If - if - your fuel level sender is working correctly, LR4's mileage-to-empty is remarkably accurate. Your average gas mileage will change according to your habits; my leadfoot wife manages about 15.5 in town, with me driving on the freeway it can get close to 17.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Okdisco

discostew

Well-known member
Sep 14, 2010
7,706
1,015
Northern Illinois
All cars that calculate mileage like that are kind of quirky. Usually you reset them by resetting the trip odometer. If you don't have a lot of miles in that average you can watch it fall when you sit at idle. Your going no miles and your burning fuel. After you have a couple thousand miles on that trip reset time at idle won't mess up your average that much.
It also changes with your driving style. The computer knows how much fuel pressure there is, how many milliseconds it leaves the injector open and can calculate how much fuel came out of each injector. I'm pretty sure all manufacturers do it the same way.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Okdisco

MM3846

Well-known member
Feb 18, 2014
1,221
161
LI, NY
I've driven mine to where the gauge is flat on the bottom and the fuel light on, and have never been able to put more than 16-17 gallons in.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Okdisco

Okdisco

Member
Nov 8, 2021
6
2
Tulsa, OK
Mine hit 0 while in line for gas, once. Accurate enough for me!
Do you know what it showed as the distance to empty when you filled it up?
If the continued adjustment of the distance to empty gets more accurate as the fuel level drops I can comfortably live with that. If not I’ll ignore the DTE and just be old school and watch the gauge.
 

Blue

Well-known member
Mar 26, 2004
10,043
856
AZ
I’ve driven about 5 miles with it reading zero, put in a couple gallons to get me to Costco (almost a dollar less for premium), and it stayed on zero even after putting 2 gallons in. I’ve been down to zero one other time….cruised into Costco assuming I was on fumes and only put in about 20.5 gallons. I must have still had about 2 gallons left!

I reset one of the 2 trip odometers (there’s an A and a B) with every fill up. I keep one going long-term just to see long-term mileage.

I average about 13-14 around town but today I drove about 260 miles down to Tucson and back and averaged over 17 while cruising at 80 to 95 on the I-10. The mileage sweet spot seems to be 70-75 MPH. I’m still reading a quarter tank after 260 miles.

I wouldn’t put too much stock in the DTE display.

On another note, the 22 gallon tank is way too small, should be at least 25 gallons for these pigs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Errant

discostew

Well-known member
Sep 14, 2010
7,706
1,015
Northern Illinois
I agree with Blue about not putting too much faith in the distance to empty reading. The instant and ave. mpg readout is very accurate. The distance to empty is a calculation based on info from the fuel senders. I use it to decide if I can make another trip to work or if I need to stop today. Some people like to depend on it totally. I have a hard time not laughing at people who come in saying stupid shit like " I ran out of gas and my dash said I had 4 miles range" .
 

discostew

Well-known member
Sep 14, 2010
7,706
1,015
Northern Illinois
On another note, the 22 gallon tank is way too small, should be at least 25 gallons for these pigs.
I'm pretty sure they would have done that if they could have. That's probably the biggest tank they could put in it. It's so long and fills that whole side of the truck .
 

Blue

Well-known member
Mar 26, 2004
10,043
856
AZ
I was at 274 on the odometer this morning and DTE said 43 miles. This could be the first time I see 300 miles on one tank before filling up.

Took my boy to school and now I’m at 276 miles with 40 DTE. Who took 1 mile away?

On another note, I have my spare on the back bumper and now I have all that space underneath where the spare used to be. I’ve researched second tanks but seems like a nightmare to get one actually plumbed into the system without throwing codes all over the place. Maybe have a 10 gallon tank made with its own little fuel pump and a hose so I can just fill ‘er up on my own.
 

1of40

Well-known member
Oct 23, 2017
244
58
Va
Im concerned about over heating the fuel pump when running low on fuel. I fill up at 3/4 whenever possible.
 

discostew

Well-known member
Sep 14, 2010
7,706
1,015
Northern Illinois
Im concerned about over heating the fuel pump when running low on fuel. I fill up at 3/4 whenever possible.
I agree. I try not to let it get down to far under 1/4 tank. You can tell when people drive with really low fuel cause they store a fault for misfires with very low fuel. Not on the 5.0 and 3.0. The direct fuel injection stores faults for the duty cycle running the low psi pump.
 

Okdisco

Member
Nov 8, 2021
6
2
Tulsa, OK
So I have this issue sorted out. The previous owner smacked the fuel tank hard enough to dent it where fuel sender in the tank was (per the dealer). A new tank and sender later and now the gauge and DTE calculator work as intended.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Errant and stu454

pdogg

Well-known member
Jul 18, 2005
1,216
29
Phoenix, AZ
what I find with our 2013 LR4 is the DTE will show like 10 miles, and I stop to fill it and only get about 18.5 gallons in there.. aren't these 23 gallon tanks ?