miles till empty

5339 Views 26 Replies 13 Participants Last post by srpbep, May 4, 2002

slash007

Discussion Starter · Aug 1, 2001

I recently fillel up my tank when the screen showed 0 miles till empty. and it only took 18.1 gallons. I checked the offset in the calibration menu, and it was set to 0! Should I make it + or - to make it more accurate with how much gas is actually left, or should I just leave it at 0? Thanks

1 - 20 of 27 Posts

MDXNole

· #2 · Aug 1, 2001

I would leave it alone. This way it gives you a little time to get gas. What good is it if you see it go to zero driving along, then you are stuck on the side of the road.

cotmc

· #3 · Aug 1, 2001

Is that calibration menu only available on NAV units? I have a base model, and I don't recall having the capability to calibrate this feature...

slash007

Discussion Starter · #4 · Aug 1, 2001

search

If you do a search, you will find a thread that tells you how to calibrate a non-navi.

John

· #5 · Aug 1, 2001

Slash,

I searched for the note on callibrating your miles to empty computer, but I couldn't find the note you referred to. Could you please specifiy where I can find it.

Thanks.

AtlantaMDX

· #6 · Aug 1, 2001

slash007,

I'd put in an offset. I think most come with 20 as the offset. If you don't refer to the "range" of the trip computer, it doesn't really matter (you can always watch the gas gauage). But if you do refer to the "range", then I think it would be worthwhile to add the offset.

mystMDX

· #7 · Aug 1, 2001

John said:
Slash,

I searched for the note on callibrating your miles to empty computer, but I couldn't find the note you referred to. Could you please specifiy where I can find it.

Thanks.

Here's a copy for both Nav and nonNav calibrations from prior posts, just consolidated for future reference:

OK, here is what you can do. This applies only to the vehicles with Nav Systems.
Start the car and Press OK on the disclaimer screen. Press and hold the keys in this
order: Menu, Map/guide, and Cancel. Continue to hold all three for 5 seconds.

Press Trip Calibrate. You can now change the temperature reading offset and the
miles to empty offset. (An interesting note: Mine came with the miles to empty
offset set to -20 miles. Thus, it showed 0 when there was actually 20 miles or so
left. I suspect that Acura did this to insure that people do not run out of gas. I
changed mine.)

Tom

ardvarkus
Senior Member

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Sierra Foothills near
Sacramento
Posts: 240
Tom- Good work.

It is NOT in the service manual.

here is how to calibrate a non-nav:

Non-Nav:

1. Turn on display

2. Press CLOCK plus RESET together for 5 seconds. It will enter a calibration mode

3. The value which will be changed will blink. First the temp offest will blink,
pressing TRIP will toggleto the Range Offset. Press TRIP again and you are out of
the calibration mode.

4. There are two values which can be adjusted: a RANGE Offset and a TEMP offset.
The MODE and A/C button will adjust down and up (- and +) respectively.

Like the NAV, the car comes with a -20 mile range offset. This is why when you fill
up you always have plenty of gas in the tank. It can be adjusted in 10 mile
increments.

For the temp offset, be careful. Static measurements can be affected by the
engine/radiator. Don't use the weatherman's temp. Be especially careful if you use
the temp to detect road icing. better to err on the low side.

Ard

PS Credit to Tom (mogur). Once you found the Nav's mode, it was logical that the
non-Nav would have one.

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Crem de la SUV

· #8 · Aug 2, 2001

Originally posted by MDXNole I would leave it alone. This way it gives you a little time to get gas. What good is it if you see it go to zero driving along, then you are stuck on the side of the road.

I bet you set your alarm clock 10 minutes ahead so you're not late in the morning, don't you?

AtlantaMDX

· #9 · Aug 2, 2001

Um, No comment.

MDXNole

· #10 · Aug 2, 2001

Crem,

How did you guess?

slash007

Discussion Starter · #11 · Aug 2, 2001

to atlanta mdx

the reason i posted in the first place is because i noticed that most people said that thier offset was set to 20. Mine was set to zero, but when i filled up, it only took 18.2 gallons even though the range said that I had zero miles to empty. I even drove about 7 miles after it said 0.

srpbep

· #12 · May 1, 2002

Just found this thread ... Thanks for the info ... how the heck did you guys figure out:

(a) That configuration options were there?

(b) How to change the settings?

MDXLuvr

· #13 · May 1, 2002

srpbep said:
Just found this thread ... Thanks for the info ... how the heck did you guys figure out:
(a) That configuration options were there?
(b) How to change the settings?

we figured it out be lurking on this great site.

vip9

· #14 · May 1, 2002

I knew this topic was discussed before. I was just too lazy to search for it. However, now that you found it, I want to report some interesting thing which happened a few days ago.

For the 1st time in 16 months!, my "range" display went crazy. It showed 1o miles left with fuel gauge being at 1/2 full. It gradually went to 0 miles and stayed there with at least 1/3 of a tank still there (according to the same gauge) After about 20 miles more of city driving (about 2 galons with my mpg

), and with a 20-mile highway trip ahead (I hate to get off the highway to fill up if I can avoid it), while the gauge was still close to 1/3 of tankfull, I put 5 gallons in. After the highway trip (about 22 mpg), I filled her up full (took about 11 gallons)
So, I am inclined to think that the fuel gauge was correct and the computer just went crazy for no apparent reason...
Up until now that range indicator was quite reliable and computer-calculated mpg was very close to my manual calculations.

Seems OK now.

Weird...

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msu79gt82

· #15 · May 1, 2002

I've always trusted the fuel gauge ...

... rather than a miles to empty calculation. I also think the dashboards fuel warning light can be trusted. I have had the miles to empty read zero and the fuel light is not yet on and I have an 1/8 tank of gas

jj_mdx

· #16 · May 1, 2002

interesting thread.....

i'm just wondering how many galons are left in the tank when the 'low-fuel' warning light comes up? any thoughts on that?

on my first fill-up, my MDX only took about 16.5 galons, and the warning light had been on for a while and there was about 10 miles left in the 'range' window....

srpbep

· #17 · May 1, 2002

My experience [generalized] with most vehicles [domestic and import] is that the warning light typically comes on with 2-3 gallons left in the tank.

(1) Will have to test our X and report back to you [sorry, haven't gone this far and usually don't but it is worth a test].

(2) Many owner's manuals address this topic. Now that you brought it up, I don't remember seeing it. Will have to go look it up and see what it says [if anything].

jj_mdx

· #18 · May 1, 2002

srpbep said:
My experience [generalized] with most vehicles [domestic and import] is that the warning light typically comes on with 2-3 gallons left in the tank.

i agree.... my low fuel light came up when the trip computer indicated that the range was 50 miles, which corresponded to about 2.6 galons given the mpg at about 19mpg...

i will have my second fill-up tonight and i will update how many galons i pump in ...

jj_mdx

· #19 · May 2, 2002

all right, i just did my second fill-up.... and here are some details:

- according to my trip computer, i've run 330 miles, with 19 miles left till empty
- the computer said 19.4 mpg
- i pumped in 17.5 galons, which translates to about 18.9 mpg
- the 'low fuel' warning went on way before my fill-up, i ran another 40+ miles before the fill-up, so theoretically, if the trip computer was correct, i should be able to run another 19 miles, that's a whopping 60 miles after the warning light came up...

hope this helps...

srpbep

· #20 · May 2, 2002

Low Fuel Light at 3.8 Gallons Remaining In Tank

Using figures provided by jj-mdx, his [her?] MDX lit the low fuel dash warning light with approx. 3.8 gallons left in the tank [approx. 20% of gas tank capacity]. I derived this as follows:

At fillup, there was 1.7 gals of gas left in the tank [19.2 gal capacity less 17.5 gals added = 1.7 gals in tank before fillup].

Used approximately 2.1 gals of gas between time warning light lit and when actually put in gas. jj-mdx drove an additional 40 miles at 18.9 mpg. Yes I used jj-mdx's mpg calc, not the trip computer!! I have always found that the trip computer reads a little high [manual calc is ALWAYS a little lower than trip computer calc in our MDX].

1.7 + 2.1 ==> 3.8 gallons

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