Where is the dang fuel?

[JasonBourne]

I work for a husband/wife owned company (three trucks) and last monday the owner (husband) tells me to fuel up my 240 gallon (2- 120 gal tanks) rig and so I get right on it because my gauge is reading just above E. So I fuel up and my tanks get filled with 135 gallons, according to my math; that means there was 105 gallons in my tanks...... yes I do believe the gauge is more than likely on the fritz. BUt 105 gallons? Ok maybe but, I zero out the odometer at the time of fill up and the owner says ok trucks gets approx 6 mpg you should be good for at least 1000 mlles, and I agree with that number. Well I ran about 875 miles and refueled (only 22 gals) for the last part of one run, beacuse my gauge was once again hitting E. Should I just run by my odometer? Should I trust the gauge? Should I work for swift? (a joke about all the jokes) or what the heck is going on?

[truckinusa]

Usually to be safe you don't want to go any closer than 20% of capacity or it will suck air. Once it does that you are dead until someone brings you like 20 gallons. Best thing to do is figure out your fuel mileage on a good stretch like 500 miles or more and never drive further than 20% left in your tanks. .20 x 240gallon capacity = 48 so round off to 50 gallons. If your truck gets 6mpg then u should be able to go 190 x 6 = 1140 miles. Good luck.

[RedRollingRoadblock]

What he said. If I get nervous about my fuel level dip the tanks. Get on a level spot and find something to stick them with. I use my pin puller but have used a winch bar, tree branch or anything else. Use a flashlight to look into them and you can get a good idea. By holding your hand on the side of the tank you can feel where the temperature difference is on the tank and make a fairly close guess. Never trust the gage. Alot of companies will not fix fuel gages. And make it a point to look in the tank before you depart. With the price of fuel eight foot credit cards are again becoming popular.

[JasonBourne]

Thank you for both responding. I did that yesterday red, you know with a stick and I had about 2 inches on one side and 3 inches on the other side. So how does that translate into approx miles? Thanks again.

[aggressor]

Are you fueling both tanks?

How much fuel did you put in after the 875 miles?