Gas tank/ Fuel gauge question
 

Hello,

I have a 1988 RX7 TII 10AE, and I get about 11mpg city, 17mpg highway.

I was wondering, is the gas tank actually smaller than what the owner's manual says?

Because I always fill up with 1/4 of the tank left, but when I fill it up completely, it always fills up only like 6-8 gallons, which is much less than what 3/4 of the tank is in the manual (edit: apparently it's 16.6 gallons)

Either way, my point is, how correct is the fuel gauge?

I'm asking because I might be going on a pretty long but important road trip, and I'm concerned about gas stations being far in between. I REALLY don't want to get stranded.

Any thoughts or advice is appreciated, thanks in advance.

We'll from driving around in rx7's of all kind, i learned, that the gas needle can be a a good ways down below the acually E mark before you run out of gas. if all else fails drag around a small amount of gas in the hatch maybe.

YES - the gauges on these cars for the most part not not tremendously accurate

Mine used to be very accurate. Now it only reads when the car has more than 3/4 a tank of gas in it.

I judge fill ups by the trip meter. I don't try not to go past 230 miles in town. Steady pace on the highway and it was good for over 300 miles.

I have the same deal- I mine takes 6-8 gallons when its at 1/4 tank. The math doesn't add up. But for the past couple of weeks it keeps getting worse-now I apparently burn 1/4 of a tank after 20 or 30 miles on the highway. I tried running it down to as close to empty as i could, and I got pretty darn close (within a gallon I think) when you could just barely see the line next to the E above the needle. So I guess what I'm saying is that the needle just falls too fast at first, so your gauge is not very accurate. I don't know if this helps you, but its a thought.

Does any warning light go off when the gas is low?
How much farther can you usually go if a warning light goes off?
And like, when does it come on? 1/8 tank?

Okay, one thing you can do is goto the back, take out the fuel pump cover then you should be able to see (fuel tank) how much gas left you have inside. This requires a phillips screwdriver.

I changed my fuel gauge 3 times thinking it was faulty, but I think the actual problem is the Fuel Level Sender in the gas tank. I'm going to order a new one from dealer ($$$) So I'll post if it fixes the problem.

yeah the gas gauges tend to be very inacurate, on one of my cars i can go way past E like so low the gauge almost doesnt read, then in my other car it empty right before E, but when full goes WAY past the F

There is a low fuel light in the warning light cluster in the top center of the dash. Mine has always come on when there are about 3 gallons left in the tank.

I bought my car new, and the guage has always worked the same way--after filling the car up, I go about 80 miles before the guage drops from full to half full, then I go about 140 miles between half full and the time the light comes on. I fill it back up when the light comes on, and it takes about 12.5 gallons.

Well maybe my milaeage isnt as bad as i thought. My gauge tells me my tank is emptyign very quickly but maybe its just the gauge. I mean i ahve driven 20 miles on E with the gas isiot light never coming on. Im abotu to get a 2.4 galon gas can and just drive (locally) till it dies just to see how far off the gauge is.