Premature Warning lights for low fuel levels

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Hello everyone. I need your help. I own a new Altima Hybrid and have found that the fuel warning light is activated when I have travelled approximately 450 to 500 miles. I am averaging approx. 32 m iles per gallon and with a tank capacity of approximately 20 gallons, my range should be approximately 640+ miles. To date I have not been able to put more than 19 gallons in then tank because my entire dashboard warning lights light up if i exceed 550 miles of driving on one tank of gas. Questions:
1. Does anyone else experience the warning lights for low fuel with at least 100 miles before empty (assuming you could use all 20 gallons of the tank)?
2. What is the stated fuel reserve for the Altima Hyb. before the warning light is activated?
3. Has anyone addressed this issue with a Nissan dealer?

I have had my car serviced by a Nissan dealer and they had no idea how to address my questions.

Thank in advance for any information.

geelong59

It's a common complaint - it's not "broken", it's how they all are. It certainly bugs the heck out of me. I haven't seen a solution anywhere.

Sorry.

-Gren

Quote:

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Originally Posted by geelong59

:) Questions:
1. Does anyone else experience the warning lights for low fuel with at least 100 miles before empty (assuming you could use all 20 gallons of the tank)?
2. What is the stated fuel reserve for the Altima Hyb. before the warning light is activated?
3. Has anyone addressed this issue with a Nissan dealer?

I have had my car serviced by a Nissan dealer and they had no idea how to address my questions.

Thank in advance for any information.

geelong59

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1. yes, we all get the warning lights. they don't want you to run out of gas i guess
2. not stated, but my dealer said 3.8 gallons (take that with a grain of salt, you know how accurate a dealer can be)
3. no, it's not broken, just annoying when you are trying to drive 700 miles on 1 tank, :D (i've done that 1 time, went up to 712 miles before I filled up <19 gallons)

As the others have already said - it is a common problem. I get between 35 - 36 mpg. The light comes on with 4 or less gallons remaining in the tank and then I generally go another 100 miles before I fillup.
Going in for service to replace the brake switch as the squeaking is annoying. I have 8500 miles and still like the car.
dierk

Nissan Service warned me about running out of gas. They said if you drive any hybrids until the car runs completely out of gas, you can mess up your hybrid battery. This costs about $7000 and is not covered under warranty. I guess this is why the Low Fuel indicator comes on so early.

close. You are correct, there is a 4 gallon reserve when the light comes on because if you drain the battery it is $3400 to replace.
You can actually squeeze almost 21 gallons into the car.

I have a 2007 altima and avergae about 32-33mpg. The tank has been off since day one and the dealership seems clueless as to how to adjust it so it reads correctly. I have run it out of gas one time and coasted it into the burgerking parking lot - even after this I was only able to squeeze 19 gallons into the tank. I have even thought that they put a smaller tank in the car than they advertise as I have never come close to 20 gallons even when i ran it empty!!!! no apparent damage to the battery pack. Love the car - just wish the power shifts weresmoother. my power drops to zero like its shifting from 2nd gear to 5th gear even though there are no gears. hard to explain but feels like a total loss of power whehn your driving it.

well the "shifting from 2nd to 5th" is really more to do with the CVT, since the car figures you stopped accelerating, it will drop to the lowest gear possible to conserve fuel.

the max I've ever filled was 19.5 gallons and I hadn't run out of gas yet. do you ever have problems with the gas needle reaching the top or the bottom? it should be about 1 needle width above the high and low tick marks

I JUST bought my 09 NAH today, i to noticed the that power shift is not smooth and feels like a total lose of power-which makes me very nervous. Thinking of taking it into a dealership to make sure everything is ok. Has any one else had a similar problem, and is this common in all hybrids?

not sure what you mean, can you describe what you're doing?

Sorry, I know the last question was unrealated to the fuel warning lights, but wanted to get back to that subject, because that is why I am on this post.
That thing is driving me crazy too. I am glad to see that people have risked going past the 0 miles left and still have not run out of gas. I have an 09 and really like the car. I generally get 32 - 34 mpg, and no amount of hypermilling every seems to get me past 35 mpg. I know I could have gotten 50+ mpg with a Prius or Insight, but personally the less mpg is worth it for the style, speed and size of the NAH.
My warning light is on now, saying I have 19 miles left but I only have 523 miles on the trip. In the past, I have filled up when the light came on, but now, with everyones input, I am going to risk getting below 0 and see what happens! Those scary warning lights flashing in my face I can now ignore, which is darn near impossible, because know matter how many times you turn it off, it comes right back on after 1-2 miles.

I did it! I kept driving after the miles left said - - - . According to the car I should have been out of gas but I wasn't. However with the light coming back on and reading 0 miles left, and the fact that the needle was right on E, I did not want to risk it too long so I only drove about 5 miles before filling it. I was only able to put in 16.65 gallons when the hose clicked. I stopped there because I wanted to check the mileage. 33.04 mpg, a reasonable amount I believe because I did a few rapid accelerations on this tank and also drove the freeway 20-25% of the time.
So yes, the warning gas low light coming on early is a minor irratation, but I still think the car is great and have had it for a year now.

I have a 2008 Altima 2.5 SL, and i have the same problem, i average 480 to 500+ miles with a tank, which should be 20 gallons, but so far the max i could fill was a little over 18 gallons, which makes me think every time the light goes on i probably have left another 2 gallons in my car which would last me another 60 miles... I've tried finding answers in different places but i haven't. i'm probably gonna drive all i can and test it myself.