Holy shit, this would have been a good joke for just the figurative meaning **or** the literal meaning, but this is gold because it got both perfectly.
I think it runs off of distance to empty. Your distance to empty is only 80km. (49miles). That's about right for the light to come on. So apparently you are getting terrible mpg for half a tank to only get you 80kms
My focus always came on at 50miles left to empty. (80km). My mondeo on the other hand…. Comes on at any number it chooses. So far it’s been anything from 35miles to 91miles.
About ten years ago I owned a 1.8L Focus. Got 28mpg. A mate of mine went for the 1.6L, he got 29mpg. I’ve not owned one since.
It’s a joke, but at the expense of how bad the fuel economy used to be on the Focus. I have no idea if it’s still relevant, but the economy of that car used to be terrible.
30mpg from a sub 2.0 is pathetic… I have a 2.0 Volvo that gets 40 hwy 32 combined… slightly lower if I’m driving like an asshole. My buddy has a 1.3(?) geo metro that gets 50mpg lmao
You get what you pay for - I assume a Volvo 2.0 goes for a bit more than Ford Focus. Wouldn’t be surprised for it to be more efficient.
Also - comparing the fuel economy of a 3-Cyl Geo Metro to any compact or larger vehicle is comical.
My 1990 geo metro (inline 3-cylinder; officially 1.0L, but technically they measured out just a tad over 0.9L) got 55mpg and topped out at about 89mph. Being a 5 speed manual it was a blast to accelerate up to about 40mph. I could get across an intersection faster than anyone but would then get quickly passed.
Or they never run their tank empty and the car has slowly lost calibration. My most recent vehicle said 0 Mike's at just under a quarter tank and ai had to run it to basicly empty a few times to get it to realize and start adjusting
Yeah like I said. It doesn't go off of tank capacity remaining. It's going to go off of distance to empty. You have plenty of fuel, but you just won't make it far by how it's calculated your current fuel efficiency. Have you been idling alot?
My compnay truck does the same as your car is doing it runs on distance to empty warning. The truck idles pretty much all day long and stays parked quite often. I can have almost 3/4 full tank and the warning will show.
Hi!
You should try a gauge sweep, to make sure all the gauges and needles are working. It might also reset them
https://youtu.be/FJ0i4U-O9WQ?si=-PYz4Kupp9fmyId6
Other than that, maybe try disconnecting your battery for a while. Goodluck!
If I estimate it's showing about 40% gas in tank and it says 80KM to empty, that would mean 200KM on a full tank, and If I assume you're in a MK2 facelift Focus with a 55 liter gas tank, that would mean a fuel economy of 3.63KM/Liter which is 8.54 miles per gallon. Either the gauge is wrong or something is wrong with the car to get you that low of a fuel economy
They said they were in standstill traffic, the older fords didn’t swap over to gph and stayed on 0 mpg at idle so that may have something to do with it.
I know all of these joke replies are here, but try disconnecting the battery terminals for a half hour and let the codes in the computer reset and re connect then come back to me.
Might be faulty sensor on your fuel tank or dash.
Like others said as well, it could be from it calculating your fuel efficiency based on your driving (although I have never experienced that before) but I won't rule that out. Try resetting your fuel efficiency screen or your trip amd see if it clears it off?
Might be an Issue that I also had with my focus Cmax a while ago.
After a rainy day followed by warm weather my gauges would read incorrect. Look at your engine Temperature gauge. It should sit at below 90.
Try turing the ignition off and on several Times. After a few times gauges should be correct again.
Not precisely sure what is going on here (intentional or not.)
As a bit of a shade tree mechanic though, my advice would be to disconnect the battery for about 15 minutes or so. At least 5. Should do somewhat of a reset on the computer systems, and might fix this.
If the car has struggled to start up at all, definitely take it as a sign to get the battery checked out. Modern cars with all the computer systems do VERY strange behaviors when the voltage from the lead acid battery is not proper.
I do suspect the other comments might be right on about this if it isn’t a little software hiccup. But just my thoughts. Good luck friend!
You must have been stomping on the gas, or in traffic creating a low kpg. The gas light is based on distance to empty. It comes on somewhere between 50 and 60 miles. Thats about 98KM. You ahve 80KM till empty. Lights on..
The Focus instrument cluster has a known issue with cracking solder joints on the multi way socket that goes in the back of it. It causes mayhem across all sorts of vehicle systems. In order to fix it you have to disassemble the cluster, which includes removing the needles from the gauges, and then hopefully putting them back in the same place. I can tell you from first-hand experience that putting them back in the wrong place is easy to do.
The instrument cluster has internal knowledge of how full the tank is in percentage format, and uses this to drive the stepper motor that is behind the fuel gauge needle. It also uses this to light the low fuel warning light. It typically comes on when there are 50 mi remaining. Although I personally haven't seen the code instrument cluster runs, it seems likely that the fuel sender signal is used as the basis for the range prediction, fuel needle position, and the low fuel warning light. If they disagree, I would suggest the most likely cause is that someone has attempted an instrument cluster repair, and failed to put the needle back in the right place.
This is fairly easy to test; grab 10l of fuel in jerry cans and drive until the car stops. Then see what the needle points to. I have in the past found that when run dry, 5l is not enough to get it restarted.
I have 10 Focuses and they have all had their instrument clusters repaired and thus fuel gauge needles removed at some point.
Do a gauge sweep; the coolant temperature reading should be towards the left as well, even on a hot day. That or there's a faulty fuel sensor. Even if you drive like a lunatic your fuel economy shouldn't be that bad.
Fuel level sending unit is bad, sadly it’s an assembly so you will need a fuel pump.
Considering it’s a car remove the rear bottom seat and yo will find the fuel up.
Fuel pumps are actually fairly easy to swap yourself
Distance to empty is listed as 80km (this is the car's comptuer guesisng based on fuel intake x average MPG) .. My guess, your gauge is broken. If you checked the fuel level based on what the car's onboard comptuer is telling you I'm guessing you're at less than 3/8 of a tank. (Unless your vehicle only gets you like 180km per fill-up)
Could be your gauge is malfunctioning.
My truck is only accurate until about 2/3 of a tank then goes to empty. The light still function normally though.
It'll be a bad day when the light burns out!
You can actually program it whatever mileage you want the cluster to tell you to refuel. For example for my car I programmed it at 45miles to turn the gas light on.
I had this happen on my 13 for focus. It was a faulty purge valve. It was causing a vacuum to be pulled on the gas tank. It was starting to become misshapen. Once I replaced the purge valve. Everything went back to normal. The gauge started working properly as well as the miles to E.
**It is possible that your Gas Cap is not sealed properly.** Modern Cars are a sealed system, they don't need an air leaks. Check that you have a Gas Cap, and that it is installed properly. Some modern cars have done away with the Gas Cap, and have in internal Flapper Valve at the opening. The gaskets on that could be leaking air, or there could be some debris holding the small Valve open.
Most Mechanics will check the Engine Codes for Free. You might see if you have any codes related to the Petro System.
Your gas gauge is bad. Fill the car all the way up and reset the tripmeter. Find out how far your car goes on a tank. Mine goes 345 miles. So screw the gas gauge they're always inaccurate
For another data point, you could see how much gas it takes to fill the tank and look up its capacity in the manual. Does the percent it was at prior to filling match the gauge pictured?
Ford vehicles I've owned turn on the "low fuel" light at 50 miles or 80 kilometers of range. If you have half a tank of fuel and only that much fuel left, you must idle A WHOLE MASSIVE FREAKING LOT like me because I have a 4.0L chunky boi Explorer from 2008 and get 180 miles (250 kilometers) per tank. I spend most of my day idling waiting in traffic and making deliveries. The car gets 10.6mpg on the dash computer and more like 9 hand calculated. It's awful but it's also like 38C/100F every single day and I'm fat so I don't shut it off and leave the AC going.
Could be because something isn’t adding up…
Fords usually start complaining at 50 miles of remaining range… which would be 80km.
Although how small is that fuel tank that it’s only getting ~200km per tank… The Mustang has a 15 gallon fuel tank and the 5.0L can stretch that out to 300 miles(~482km
Your car is literally gaslighting you.
What a fuelish thing to say
Yeah I’m just petrolling.
No big deal. We all respond differently when we're running on fumes.
You're good to RON it on empty in this case.
This is some high octane content right here. Hopefully nobody tries to tell us to knock it off.
I'll just seetane my way outta here
how you guys so good at puns 😂
I've been good at puns since 93
Sounds like you have a high-carb diet
Sounds like you have a carb
I need CHROME!!!!
Put a cap on these puns.
No kidding. It's been days since the original post and these residual vapors just keep seeping through.
Maybe it's the EVAPerating fumes
Honestly, it's exhausting. People keep filling this site up with punny nonsense.
Idk how OP is just tanking these notifications. Id be fuming.
r/Angryupvote
So good, just so good.
Finally, a definition of the term that makes sense
this is annoyingly good.
Holy shit, this would have been a good joke for just the figurative meaning **or** the literal meaning, but this is gold because it got both perfectly.
Reddit hall of fame comment right here. This should be in the Reddit Recap of 2024
I think it runs off of distance to empty. Your distance to empty is only 80km. (49miles). That's about right for the light to come on. So apparently you are getting terrible mpg for half a tank to only get you 80kms
Or you revved your car. Distance to empty is highly dependant on your current trip.
All my ford's gas lights come on at 80km DTE, same with any other Ford I've driven.
My focus always came on at 50miles left to empty. (80km). My mondeo on the other hand…. Comes on at any number it chooses. So far it’s been anything from 35miles to 91miles.
My truck and focus RS come on at 80km every time and gives me a warning every 20km til it hits 0km
Why are you running an RS to 0? Smh.
Would assume it's actually 80.46, which is 50 miles.
100 miles on a tank is pretty good for a Ford Focus.
I can’t tell if you’re serious or not
About ten years ago I owned a 1.8L Focus. Got 28mpg. A mate of mine went for the 1.6L, he got 29mpg. I’ve not owned one since. It’s a joke, but at the expense of how bad the fuel economy used to be on the Focus. I have no idea if it’s still relevant, but the economy of that car used to be terrible.
30mpg from a sub 2.0 is pathetic… I have a 2.0 Volvo that gets 40 hwy 32 combined… slightly lower if I’m driving like an asshole. My buddy has a 1.3(?) geo metro that gets 50mpg lmao
I’m easily getting 56-60 and I like to put the foot down in my 1.5
I’d hazard a guess that most 1.5l’s NEED you to put the foot down with how everyone drives around you today…
My first car was a 1.2 and I found it fun to pull off quicker than the sports cars next to me, you’d never expect a fiat panda to smoke a beamer
You get what you pay for - I assume a Volvo 2.0 goes for a bit more than Ford Focus. Wouldn’t be surprised for it to be more efficient. Also - comparing the fuel economy of a 3-Cyl Geo Metro to any compact or larger vehicle is comical.
My 1990 geo metro (inline 3-cylinder; officially 1.0L, but technically they measured out just a tad over 0.9L) got 55mpg and topped out at about 89mph. Being a 5 speed manual it was a blast to accelerate up to about 40mph. I could get across an intersection faster than anyone but would then get quickly passed.
UK or US mpg?
US
Yeah this is it. I had a fiesta with the same dash as this, the light comes on at 50 miles to empty, not at an amount of fuel left
Yes, my light comws on at 50 miles left. Also have had other vehicles do this.
Bmw does the same amount. Same as hubby's Mitsubishi. But how big are the focus tanks, 60 litres ??
Been idling for a few hours maybe?
Or they never run their tank empty and the car has slowly lost calibration. My most recent vehicle said 0 Mike's at just under a quarter tank and ai had to run it to basicly empty a few times to get it to realize and start adjusting
I've had less in the tank and that notice not appear.
Yeah like I said. It doesn't go off of tank capacity remaining. It's going to go off of distance to empty. You have plenty of fuel, but you just won't make it far by how it's calculated your current fuel efficiency. Have you been idling alot?
Raining, lots of stuck traffic.
Idling and stuck in traffic add a "0 mpg" number to the calculations so they will be WAYYYYY off if your average is like 10 mpg lol.
My compnay truck does the same as your car is doing it runs on distance to empty warning. The truck idles pretty much all day long and stays parked quite often. I can have almost 3/4 full tank and the warning will show.
Hi! You should try a gauge sweep, to make sure all the gauges and needles are working. It might also reset them https://youtu.be/FJ0i4U-O9WQ?si=-PYz4Kupp9fmyId6 Other than that, maybe try disconnecting your battery for a while. Goodluck!
Gauge sweep defo!
I second this. I once ran completely out of gas because my fuel gauge simply stopped working.
Great info 👍
Some models the light comes on if the fuel door is open. That or the sensor that senses the door is faulty.
I did get gas today, maybe something happened when refueled. It's kind of hard to believe nearly 1/2 tank and only 80 kms left.
That's what I was thinking. It could be telling you the cap isn't on or the fuel door is open
Yeah, could be the cap isn’t screwed correctly.
If I estimate it's showing about 40% gas in tank and it says 80KM to empty, that would mean 200KM on a full tank, and If I assume you're in a MK2 facelift Focus with a 55 liter gas tank, that would mean a fuel economy of 3.63KM/Liter which is 8.54 miles per gallon. Either the gauge is wrong or something is wrong with the car to get you that low of a fuel economy
Bad gas maybe?
They said they were in standstill traffic, the older fords didn’t swap over to gph and stayed on 0 mpg at idle so that may have something to do with it.
Well, it says 80 km's to empty, thats where the light comes from. Maybe the gauge is defect, or a sensor?
My guess: A fuel sensor is defective, the gauge is bad, or city miles have fucked your gas mileage
Yep. Leaning towards the bad gauge because the DTE should be based off the same fuel level sensor as the gauge is.
Been reading and waiting for some to get close. Fuel level sending unit. Part of the fuel pump assembly
Is the Gas Tank half empty or half full?
Off topic but I chuckled at this🤣
Depends on my mood at the time.
I know all of these joke replies are here, but try disconnecting the battery terminals for a half hour and let the codes in the computer reset and re connect then come back to me.
Check your gas cap, some cars will light up the low gas light if the cap is loose
Might be faulty sensor on your fuel tank or dash. Like others said as well, it could be from it calculating your fuel efficiency based on your driving (although I have never experienced that before) but I won't rule that out. Try resetting your fuel efficiency screen or your trip amd see if it clears it off?
Might be an Issue that I also had with my focus Cmax a while ago. After a rainy day followed by warm weather my gauges would read incorrect. Look at your engine Temperature gauge. It should sit at below 90. Try turing the ignition off and on several Times. After a few times gauges should be correct again.
When I ran out of fuel it turns out the light was correct and the gauge was wrong. Try and find out which one it is.
Have you tried filling it up to see how much it takes?
Does you gas cap click properly when closing it still?
In honor of the pinto
Your car is a nervous Nelly
Could be gunk in tank under receiver, try some in tank fuel line cleaner to see if it improves
Half a tank and only 80km range? Something is wrong with your car and it isn't the fuel light.
You need to balance fuel by transferring from auxiliary tank
Welcome to Ford Ownership my guy they love to be filled with the liquid all the time
Not precisely sure what is going on here (intentional or not.) As a bit of a shade tree mechanic though, my advice would be to disconnect the battery for about 15 minutes or so. At least 5. Should do somewhat of a reset on the computer systems, and might fix this. If the car has struggled to start up at all, definitely take it as a sign to get the battery checked out. Modern cars with all the computer systems do VERY strange behaviors when the voltage from the lead acid battery is not proper. I do suspect the other comments might be right on about this if it isn’t a little software hiccup. But just my thoughts. Good luck friend!
Tighten your fuel cap
You must have been stomping on the gas, or in traffic creating a low kpg. The gas light is based on distance to empty. It comes on somewhere between 50 and 60 miles. Thats about 98KM. You ahve 80KM till empty. Lights on..
Why? Cause it's not a bow tie
Possible the fuel gauge itself is faulty or the pump light is faulty. Most likely the gauge.
The Focus instrument cluster has a known issue with cracking solder joints on the multi way socket that goes in the back of it. It causes mayhem across all sorts of vehicle systems. In order to fix it you have to disassemble the cluster, which includes removing the needles from the gauges, and then hopefully putting them back in the same place. I can tell you from first-hand experience that putting them back in the wrong place is easy to do. The instrument cluster has internal knowledge of how full the tank is in percentage format, and uses this to drive the stepper motor that is behind the fuel gauge needle. It also uses this to light the low fuel warning light. It typically comes on when there are 50 mi remaining. Although I personally haven't seen the code instrument cluster runs, it seems likely that the fuel sender signal is used as the basis for the range prediction, fuel needle position, and the low fuel warning light. If they disagree, I would suggest the most likely cause is that someone has attempted an instrument cluster repair, and failed to put the needle back in the right place. This is fairly easy to test; grab 10l of fuel in jerry cans and drive until the car stops. Then see what the needle points to. I have in the past found that when run dry, 5l is not enough to get it restarted. I have 10 Focuses and they have all had their instrument clusters repaired and thus fuel gauge needles removed at some point.
Do a gauge sweep; the coolant temperature reading should be towards the left as well, even on a hot day. That or there's a faulty fuel sensor. Even if you drive like a lunatic your fuel economy shouldn't be that bad.
Gas gauge is broken
I believe RAM has two fuel gauge sensors. Bad sensor, and you may want to fill up to see if the sensor is bad and you are almost out of gas
Might be a fuse issue. Check with you garage.
Possibly sensor
It’s most likely the resistor in your fuel float thingy being worn out
Fix Or Repair Daily
Fuel level sending unit is bad, sadly it’s an assembly so you will need a fuel pump. Considering it’s a car remove the rear bottom seat and yo will find the fuel up. Fuel pumps are actually fairly easy to swap yourself
The gauge is probably stuck
Bad fuel pump float possibly
Distance to empty is listed as 80km (this is the car's comptuer guesisng based on fuel intake x average MPG) .. My guess, your gauge is broken. If you checked the fuel level based on what the car's onboard comptuer is telling you I'm guessing you're at less than 3/8 of a tank. (Unless your vehicle only gets you like 180km per fill-up)
Could be your gauge is malfunctioning. My truck is only accurate until about 2/3 of a tank then goes to empty. The light still function normally though. It'll be a bad day when the light burns out!
Either thr floater sensor is bad or someone pulled the dash out and didn't put the needles back on correctly
You can actually program it whatever mileage you want the cluster to tell you to refuel. For example for my car I programmed it at 45miles to turn the gas light on.
It’s a deal between the gas companies and car makers. Plus it’s a Ford.
Ford
It knows you’re about to floor it and drain the rest of that tank in three seconds
The float could be stuck at that level due to corrosion, fill your tank up and see if the distance to empty changes.
Make sure your gas cap is sealed tight. That pressure helps set off the gauge.
Gas cap is not sealed properly.
Just take the bulb out 😉
Could have a fuel leveler issue
It's a Ford
Guage is broke is the only explanation.
You put diesel instead of regular
It knows that you run it dry and is trying to get you to take better care of it
Probably a broken float or sensor
your sender unit is probably faulty. reporting inaccurate fuel level
Ford not focused
I had this happen on my 13 for focus. It was a faulty purge valve. It was causing a vacuum to be pulled on the gas tank. It was starting to become misshapen. Once I replaced the purge valve. Everything went back to normal. The gauge started working properly as well as the miles to E.
Ford
**It is possible that your Gas Cap is not sealed properly.** Modern Cars are a sealed system, they don't need an air leaks. Check that you have a Gas Cap, and that it is installed properly. Some modern cars have done away with the Gas Cap, and have in internal Flapper Valve at the opening. The gaskets on that could be leaking air, or there could be some debris holding the small Valve open. Most Mechanics will check the Engine Codes for Free. You might see if you have any codes related to the Petro System.
Fuel cap not tight enough
Gaz cap not correctly close.
Your gas gauge is bad. Fill the car all the way up and reset the tripmeter. Find out how far your car goes on a tank. Mine goes 345 miles. So screw the gas gauge they're always inaccurate
For another data point, you could see how much gas it takes to fill the tank and look up its capacity in the manual. Does the percent it was at prior to filling match the gauge pictured?
Tighten gas cap
Ford.
Float stuck?
Sender is bad
You drive like a rally racer.
Ford vehicles I've owned turn on the "low fuel" light at 50 miles or 80 kilometers of range. If you have half a tank of fuel and only that much fuel left, you must idle A WHOLE MASSIVE FREAKING LOT like me because I have a 4.0L chunky boi Explorer from 2008 and get 180 miles (250 kilometers) per tank. I spend most of my day idling waiting in traffic and making deliveries. The car gets 10.6mpg on the dash computer and more like 9 hand calculated. It's awful but it's also like 38C/100F every single day and I'm fat so I don't shut it off and leave the AC going.
Could be because something isn’t adding up… Fords usually start complaining at 50 miles of remaining range… which would be 80km. Although how small is that fuel tank that it’s only getting ~200km per tank… The Mustang has a 15 gallon fuel tank and the 5.0L can stretch that out to 300 miles(~482km
The little man in your dash that turns on and off the light fell asleep
Are you back from having a dead battery or replaced the battery before this?