this may be a dumb question, but I know nothing about car so here goes...

My 05 Forester light comes on when I get to 2-3 gals. My gauge moves slowly to full as it did in my 03 Forester.

It comes on at 10 litres (2 3/4 US gallons) from empty; tank (UK spec) holds

60 litres (16.5 US gallons), if you're putting in less than 13 3/4 gallons to fill it right up then you're not getting low enough for the light to come on. HTH, Martin

My moms `95 Legacy L is the same way. In all of the past 11 years of ownership, I've had that car down to where I swore I was on fumes... and yet no gas light. However in my `01 Outback Wagon Ltd, I've gotten the light on numerous times and with the 16.9 gallon tank, I've filled it up with 16 gallons.

Thanks, everyone. I'm glad to know that there isn't anything wrong with my car and it is my fear of running out of gas that prevents me from seeing the fuel light. ;)

I doubt that the light is an old-style incandescent bulb. It's probably an LED, and those almost never go bad. That would have been the old-school answer, bad bulb!

Sounds like a bad fuel (level) sender. I did about the same, bought a used 2000 OBWL that showed fuel dropping to empty and the low fuel lamp coming on as well) with lots left in the tank. I got a $500 reduction on the price for that tho..

There's two senders and it appears that the two work together, so replacing both is the repair. I paid $330 for parts and labor on mine and all is well.

I could have been misinformed on the "replace both senders" deal.

As for the "slow move to full", that seems normal on the new senders on mine. It takes about 2 minutes to move up (from empty) while driving and longer when sitting. The top 1/4 tank takes almost all of that.

My gauge is slow to move to full in my '05 Forester, as it was in my '03 Forester. I usually have 2-3 gal left when my fuel light comes on, good for 50 miles or so.

The light... In my '97, I've seen the light come on twice in 10 years. Recently put in 13.8 gallons - no light. Without looking, seems like the manual said it should come on at 2 gallons. I wish this one was part of the ignition start up test.

The gage... I have to go by miles elapsed, because the gage gets to E much too fast. I probably have 100+ miles easily left when it first reaches E. Once on a 90 mile trip, it dipped notably below E and then 50 miles later when I got home it was back a little above E (all on level roads), and still no warning light and only took around 13 gallons.

Jim

Well, we found out about ours by running the car (1999 Legacy OBW) out of gas. :) Fortunately, it was uphill about a tenth of a mile from a gas station, and I was able to push that baby fast enough to get enough momentum to get through the traffice light and coast into the bay. We had to replace the fuel sending units along with the fuel pump (about $500 at the dealer). Make sure the fuse for your light isn't blown (unlikely); that's the first check, and I did check for that when I noticed the low fuel light seemed never to come on.

Can't answer this question, but wouldn't surprise me if this problem disappears when you replace the fuel sending units.

There would be no real *need* to replace the sender unit. If you've had no problems for 8 months and you and are aware of how it works, and can live with it, then why do it?? The $500 is better of in your pocket

My 99 works just like the OP described. I have run the gas so low that it stalls going around corners, never seen the low gas light in the 2.5 years I've had the car. When that needle gets on the E mark, I need to be close to a station.

I'll be damned if I'm going to spend good money for a light to tell me that that gauge is reading low. I can see the gauge just fine. :-)

-John O

My Forester takes maybe 5 minutes to register full when I fill the tank from 1/4. The gage is dampened to prevent sloshing fuel to move the needle around.

Hi,

There's a cheap and dirty "old timer's trick" to finding out WHEN the light will go in, IF it will (as in blown bulb, fuse, etc.): get a small gas can (one or two gallons, depending on how far from a station you might get during this exercise), and simply run the tank down until either the light comes on or you run out of gas. Then either drive directly to the station, or add your gallon or two and then drive there, and see what it takes to fill it up. (Don't forget to factor in any fuel you added, for example, if you added 1 gallon, and it takes 14 more to fill the tank, you're looking at about a 15 gal fill, so you had a shade less than 2 gal left in your 16.9 gal tank.)

Personally, I use the trip meter on any of my cars that have 'em, or just the odometer referenced against the fuel purchase book in the glove box. Gas gauges are notorious for being inaccurate in my experience...

Rick

My Forester S fuel light comes on when the needle is about "one" needle width below" the empty line. Like Carl said get a small gas can and go for it. My light come on at ~ 340 miles for my suburb type driving. Ed

Is it possible that the lug nuts are bottoming out on the stud BEFORE the wheel is fully tight?