Fuel Gauge Reading Off

So the other day let the fuel get real low to where it was showing 5miles remaining. Filled it up with about 2-3 gallons. Gauge never moved after driving and multiple restarts. Filled it up later that day and I was showing approx 25-30 miles short (range to empty) of normal. That was about a week ago and same deal. Anyone ever experience this?

Short of dropping the tank and investigating and thoughts?

Easy to lose 20-30 miles of estimated range by having a heavy foot and getting even worse mileage than normal.

The fuel tank is roughly four feet long.
Two gallons is not going to raise the fuel level that much.

@Rover Range is right - 2 gallons isn't much in a tank that holds something like 22+ gallons.

That said, I did have a failure of my fuel sending unit in late 2013 (which was very early on). For whatever reason, the gauge read more than a 1/4 tank higher than it was...causing a roadside "break down" (in a small blizzard!) on the highway.

In those days, the truck was still under warranty and it wasn't far from the dealer so they came and towed it, diagnosed the problem (couldn't believe it though) and replaced the unit.

I never did find out why but I suspect it had something to do with bad fuel gunking things up (but am not sure).

That said, I don't trust those units much so am replacing my 2013 install (and everything in there) with new components - all from Continental (OEM - I don't want to do this again anytime soon) and sourced by Atlantic British. While working on the truck last month, we lowered the fuel tank and probably screwed up the sender / sensor (again) and now the truck reads empty all the time.

In this case, totally our fault, but it does go to show how touchy those things are.

And, unlike off road diesel trucks, we don't have removable fuel filters / strainers (much to my dismay). The fuel filter is a little plastic sock on the bottom of the sender unit / low pressure fuel pump which sits inside the tank and is integral to the unit (i.e. you can't just clean the thing or even replace it without pulling everything apart).

So that became the reason to just go ahead and replace everything in my fuel tank as part of my major rebuild project.

As @Rover Range notes, keep tinkering with the fuel and see what happens, let us know!

All new parts for the fuel tank (internal) rebuild........!

I stopped paying attention to the dist to empty. It will change and it doesn't make sense to look at it anymore. 86.3L or 22.798 gallons has been enough. If you run the vehicle dry of gas in some vehicles you will burn out the fuel pump.

The gas cools the pump so then it overheats and dies. At that point you are out of gas and then need a mechanic to drop the tank and replace the pump because it won't restart and drive off once gas is put back in. Not sure if the LR4 pump has that issue, but I'm not even going to tempt it lol.

So in 2013 when the fuel level sensor was wacked I drove the truck until there was nothing left in the tank.

I don't think the pump died but I wouldn't recommend it and we ultimately needed to replace the unit because of the level sensor.

And yes, the fuel cools and lubricates the pump sending unit.

Point being - running out of gas is bad.