Fuel

[Jakecallun20]

How many gallons does the tank on a Gen 1 SLE V6 have? I've heard 16, I originally thought it was 13.5 and I just flipped through my owner's manual and it said 18.5 in the specifications...Anyone? I am hoping its the 13.5 since I only got 288.5 miles out of my last tank, which doesn't seem normal to me. Can anyone shed some light on my possible issues?

[Jon11582]

18.5.

I've filled up 17.5 before, so its definitely more than that

[Jakecallun20]

Ok, if its 18.5 then why am I getting 16 MPG?
I just changed my spark plugs, and cleaned the TB about 2k ago.

[unbalancedwood]

change your fuel filter.

I get the 26mpg/450 tank (highway) all the time. I also have 130,000mi. I want to change my fuel filter as soon as i can get some replacement parts (stripped bolt, so gonna follow Midias' tutorial)...

[Jakecallun20]

Alright, and where is the fuel filter? Is it inside the fuel tank or is this one outside?

[bronzemaxell]

one time i was in a hurry and kept driving another 60 miles after the fuel empty indicator light came on, and ended filling 17.6 gallon to top off again.

fuel filter is located under the air intake box on the driver side under the hood, bolted to the frame, be sure to use proper tools, open ended 17mm or 19mm wrench? and flare wrench 14mm. oem fuel filter is around $26 to $30 from toyota dealer.

[Jakecallun20]

Alright thanks, I'll look into replacing that.

[no_escape]

Also might want to clean out your injectors and crank case with some sea foam.

http://www.solaraguy.com/viewtopic.php? ... t=sea+foam

[Jakecallun20]

Not really sure about doing Seafoam, since it says replacing spark plugs is recommended and I just replaced them, So I can't do that again.

Anyhow, is there a tutorial on changing the filter? I have looked around and read in my repair manual and there isn't much specific stuff.

Thanks.

[aigochamaloh]

How many gallons does the tank on a Gen 1 SLE V6 have? I've heard 16, I originally thought it was 13.5 and I just flipped through my owner's manual and it said 18.5 in the specifications...Anyone? I am hoping its the 13.5 since I only got 288.5 miles out of my last tank, which doesn't seem normal to me. Can anyone shed some light on my possible issues?

Wait, you need to calculate fuel efficiency by the actual gallons filled at the station, not the gallons you know the tank is. Of course you're going to be getting low MPG if you're diving by 18.5 gallons everytime. Are you calculating it this way? That's what I'm getting from reading your posts.

[Jakecallun20]

I set the trip meter to zero when I filled up the car. When it was running on fumes again, I read the mileage at 288. So I divided 288 by 18.5 to come out to be about 15-16 MPG.

[Jakecallun20]

In other news, I found a Wix fuel filter online, at my local Oreilys auto store. Do I need the one with or with out the bracket?

[no_escape]

Did the gas station pump say 18.5 gal put into your car? That's what your suposta divide your mileage by.

[Jakecallun20]

Did the gas station pump say 18.5 gal put into your car? That's what your suposta divide your mileage by.

Well no, I didn't check. If I had to guess, I'd say like 17.2, The light was on. But I was trying to find out the Miles per gallon, from the whole tank. So since the tank was full (at 18.5) I divided that by my mileage at the next fill up. I still think changing the fuel filter will help something. I don't think it has ever been changed since 1999. The car had the original spark plugs in it when I changed those. The air filter looked original or very close to it. I wouldn't be surprised if it is the original fuel filter.

[no_escape]

When I hit the light once... and I'll NEVER do it again(Really bad on the fuel pump). I still had 2.5gal till 18.5