I have had my Accent about a month now and have refilled several times. My computer says I am averaging about 36mpg. The fuel light comes on around 305 miles or so. At 320, I am refilling. It is my understanding the car has a 11.4 gallon tank. Every time I refill it is taking 9 gallons.

Which would give me about 2 more gallons at least and I should be able to get about 60 more miles or so. Anyone know about how far can be driven when the light comes on? I am not fond of walking because of trying to push my luck.

Thanks!

 

Fill your car when the light goes on. The electric fuel pump is located in the tank and it is cooled by the fuel. When you run the tank low the pump runs hotter and wears out quicker. Don't risk killing the pump and running out of gas just to squeeze a few extra miles out of the tank.

 

I have the same question though. I've filled up twice. Both times only about 9.5 gallons.

At any rate, I'd like to ask Nova, or anyone else in the know: is driving 10/15/30 miles past the warning light going to consume gas to the point where the pump is at risk of damage? There are a few stations I frequent almost exclusively due to low prices, but if it's going to wait for another half-gallon of gas to be consumed which might affect the pump, obviously it's not worth it.

 

As long as you don't constantly drive with the fuel light on youwill be fine. There are times when I drive 50 miles with the light on but i don't do that on every tank.

 

didnt know that about how the fuel cools the pump...

But yeah, when the light comes on you have about 2 gallons in your 'reserve' tank which is more than enough to get you to a gas station in most towns, just dont do it often. I refuel when I either have half a tank, cheap gas, or I am at two bars left on the fuel gauge (about 8 gallons to fill her up).

I've been paying on average $33 to $37 per fill up whenever I fill it up shortly after the light has come on depending on the price, which <$40 a tank for almost $300 miles is always a good deal regardless of hte price of gallon. THere are stations out there that do water their gas, so cheap is not always good ;-).

 

Some friendly advice...
Don't play Russian roulette with the fuel gauge on the 2012 Accent. And don't rely on ANY of the gauges to give you accurate information. The car will strand you. My Fuel light came on once, so I switched over to the "range" on the trip computer. At 30 miles range the trip computer stops and goes to "--" marks. If you continue driving, expecting to have 30 more miles left, then eventually the last "bar" on the fuel gauge will begin to flash. THIS is your last warning! If you see that last bar flashing, it might be a good idea to stop immediately before you starve the system of fuel and trip the check engine light, or worse, damage the engine driven high pressure fuel pump.
I know the manual talks about 11+ gallons of fuel, but this is not accurate. I've measured it, and the absolute maximum available useable fuel volume is 10.3 gallons!
I noted all this when the car was new. When it was new, I could not get that last 30 miles out of the car without risking running out of fuel. The trip computer was inaccurate. But lately I've been taking careful notes on fill ups. I don't know why but it seems that the "range" on the trip computer is accurate now. I've run the car down to just below the 30 mile range threshold, filled up, and noted that there was still a gallon left (of the 10.3 available.)

 

Bottom line, don't drive far with the light on. Better yet, fill up before the light goes on.

/Thread

 

I have the 2012 Hyundai Accent Hatchback with the manual gearbox. The light comes on when you have about 2.5/3 gallons left in the tank. I don't recommend doing this, but I was able to do about 100 miles of mixed driving with the light on. when I finally refueled my 11.4 gallon tank, and was able to put 10.91 (11 for simplicity sake) gallons into the tank.

I will say, that the light does come on way to early. I understand how some people like this, but I am not one of those people. When your car gets 30-40MPG, the light does not need to come when you have 100 miles left to go.

 

It's not about how far you can go on the 2.5/3 gal in the tank, it's about the fuel pump running hot on less than 2.5/3 gal in the tank.

Like I said above, the fuel pump is in the tank and submerged in the fuel. The fuel cool the fuel pump. When you run the tank that low it uncovers the fuel pump and makes it run hotter which will wear it out faster.

So, just because you can drive 100 miles with the light on, doesn't mean you should, unless the nearest gas station is 100 miles away.

 

So, you almost got 11 gallons into your tank...
Looks like I've got an issue with my car. the fuel pump assembly must have been bent or installed incorrectly at the factory because mine will run out at 10.3 gallons used.
The owners manual does talk about 11+ but not mine.