2017 32 gallon fuel tank

[jschwanke84]

This "issue" is a non-issue. I don't know why people whine about it so much to be honest. Any vehicle is going to leave a cushion of fuel remaining when the gas light comes on, and even when your miles until empty hits zero. This is a safety thing to prevent people was completely running out of gas, being stranded, and possibly damaging their vehicle. Just because we all have the same truck doesn't mean they will all calculate out the same with fuel.

If I fill up when my gas light comes on my truck will take 27 gallons. If I run it until I am down to 10 miles or so until empty according to the computer, it will take around 28. I have the 32 gallon tank.

I don't understand why people have this desire to run their fuel down to only 1 or 2 gallons remaining anyway. You don't ever want to get that low for the health of your fuel pump especially with a tank as big as 32 gallons. Just drive your truck and fill up when your light comes on or sooner. And no, you didn't accidentally get a 26 gallon tank. The larger your gas tank and the worse your average mpg the more cushion it is going to leave you. Don't overthink it like so many others on these forums!

 

[hemipower95 2.0]

What about those with a 26 gallon tank?

 

[jaypilot]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I asked because I wasn't sure if they fixed this issue in the new trucks. I did crawl under the truck and I didn't see anything that said 32 or 26g. As for my self I purchased a truck with the added fuel so that I could go farther without visiting the gas station. I sold my eco diesel truck which only had a 26g tank and when that truck said I had 50 miles left I could only squeeze out 24 gallons. That truck could also go around 600 miles on a single fill which was something I really enjoyed about the truck, hints the reason why I was wanting a little better range out of the hemi. No reason in debating weather its a good idea or not I just want a fuel gage that's accurate. The 26 gallon tank seems pretty accurate with a little added safety reserve. 6 gallon of reserve is too much.

 

[kiloRAM]

Like the original poster, I would like a reasonably accurate indication of actually how much fuel I actually have left. I try to stretch out the time between gas visits, and on long trips, I like to go as far as I reasonably can without running out of gas, and having an accurate indication of gas level is not unreasonable on a modern and expensive vehicle.

I recently upgraded from a 2004 Ram 1500 w/5.7 with 26gal tank to a 2017 Ram 2500 w/32 gallon tank. With the 2004, I could run it down to 0 - 10 miles left and consistently put 25 gallons to 25.5 gallons in the 26 gallon tank. Needing to fuel up always comes at the most inconvenient times, but I was able to dependably tell when I HAD to fuel up (like on my way to work - do I stop for gas / or do it after work?). The 2017 goes from 20 miles left to 0 miles left in a heartbeat, and I've never been able to put more than 26 gallons in it. A 6 gallon buffer is a bit excessive to me. If they wanted to ensure a big buffer, they should have sold a 30 gallon tank but made it 33 gallon or something. With the 6.4 Hemi, that would be like 30 extra miles and some change when it reads zero. I would really like my gage to read zero when I am actually close to empty.

 

[Skerj]

All vehicles have a buffer for stupidity coverage and pump protection. My wife's car says empty with 2-3 gallons or so, which is over 15% of the 14 gallon tank. I've never ran to 0, but at 50 miles to the claimed 'E' on my truck, I can add 24 gallons, and since I'm getting 12 mpg right now around town, that's another 4 gals before E. 28 gallons out of 32? Well within the 10 or 15 percent dummy margin.

 

[Jimmy07]

This "issue" is a non-issue. I don't know why people whine about it so much to be honest. Any vehicle is going to leave a cushion of fuel remaining when the gas light comes on, and even when your miles until empty hits zero. This is a safety thing to prevent people was completely running out of gas, being stranded, and possibly damaging their vehicle. Just because we all have the same truck doesn't mean they will all calculate out the same with fuel.

If I fill up when my gas light comes on my truck will take 27 gallons. If I run it until I am down to 10 miles or so until empty according to the computer, it will take around 28. I have the 32 gallon tank.

I don't understand why people have this desire to run their fuel down to only 1 or 2 gallons remaining anyway. You don't ever want to get that low for the health of your fuel pump especially with a tank as big as 32 gallons. Just drive your truck and fill up when your light comes on or sooner. And no, you didn't accidentally get a 26 gallon tank. The larger your gas tank and the worse your average mpg the more cushion it is going to leave you. Don't overthink it like so many others on these forums!

The "issue" is, my wife has a '15 1500 with the 26 gallon tank. When the fuel light comes on and says "xx miles till empty", I drive it till is says "low fuel". At this point the gauge needle in directly on E. when I fuel up I get 25 gallons in the 26 gallon tank.
I have a '17 2500 with the 31 gallon tank. When the fuel light comes on and says "xx miles till empty", I drive it till it says "low fuel". At this point the gauge needle is BELOW "E". When I fuel up I only get 26 gallons in the 31 gallon tank.

 

[dRAMbuie]

Sounds like the fix has been identified already, but since I have the 32gallon (121 Liter) tank I wanted to add to the conversation.

I don't usually let mine drop below about half, but on a couple of extreme occasions I've put somewhere in the range of 118-120 Liters (a little over 31 gallons) of gas in my tank.

So although you should never let your tank get low enough to test it, you can actually get very close to putting the full 32 gallons in it.
I'd actually guess the 32 gallon published volume is the usable volume, and not the total tank volume. But that's just a guess on my part.

 

[69GWC]

expecting to put 32 gallons of fuel into a 32 gallon tank is unreasonable.

I really doubt he wants to run it bone dry and then put 32g in, but having over 5g left when the truck is saying he is out is crazy.
clearly the gauge is still set up for the 26g tank.

I ran mine down to 10 miles left and got 24.5 g into it which is about where it should be, I would think a 32g tank should do the same type of thing and leave hit with only 2g or so left at that point.

 

[DannyMK2]

I really doubt he wants to run it bone dry and then put 32g in, but having over 5g left when the truck is saying he is out is crazy.
clearly the gauge is still set up for the 26g tank.

I ran mine down to 10 miles left and got 24.5 g into it which is about where it should be, I would think a 32g tank should do the same type of thing and leave hit with only 2g or so left at that point.

i was over-exaggerating the running it dry thing, but its not that far off based on the some of the comments in here.

to put some things into perspective, if you look at the physical size of your tank and imagine it being completely bone dry, then adding 1 gallon of gas how far do you think the fuel level would rise? would that be enough for the fuel pump to be able to suck up fuel without sucking in air? i doubt it, especially while driving. just throwing numbers out here for arguments sake, lets say you need at least 2 gallons in the 26 gallon take for the fuel pump to be able to reliably pick up fuel. being that the 32 gallon tank is not any deeper then the 26 gallon tank (it is longer), it would require more then 2 gallons in order to reliably be able to suck up fuel. its physically impossible for the 32 gallon tank to have the same 'buffer' of fuel as the 26 gallon tank.

the OP said he wants to be able to put 30 gallons in his 32 gallon tank on regular basis. i dont see that as being realistic.

 

[ChargerX3]

I just bought my 2017 truck with the larger tank. I was perplexed why I couldn't travel as far as I could with my f150 when going cross country and watching my meter. Knowing when my tank is really empty is key to me as it can allow me to make it an extra state further and not pay for as expensive gas.

Is there an update for this?

 

[ColdCase]

Does the tank have a low point (well) for the fuel pump to sit in and pick up fuel or is the bottom of the tank flat. If flat, there is no programing/calibration change that will fix that. If there is a well, then a safe level should not have a 5-6 gallon impact. Maybe some but not that much.

 

[Sir John]

Does the tank have a low point (well) for the fuel pump to sit in and pick up fuel or is the bottom of the tank flat. If flat, there is no programing/calibration change that will fix that. If there is a well, then a safe level should not have a 5-6 gallon impact. Maybe some but not that much.

I've been following these "32 gallon tank" threads across a few forums for a while now and I do believe that someone with the know, said there is a small well. Again, this is hearsay.

 

[Tach_tech]

I just bought my 2017 truck with the larger tank. I was perplexed why I couldn't travel as far as I could with my f150 when going cross country and watching my meter. Knowing when my tank is really empty is key to me as it can allow me to make it an extra state further and not pay for as expensive gas.

Is there an update for this?

As I've mentioned a few times by now, there is an update in the works for this.

 

[Tach_tech]

Does the tank have a low point (well) for the fuel pump to sit in and pick up fuel or is the bottom of the tank flat. If flat, there is no programing/calibration change that will fix that. If there is a well, then a safe level should not have a 5-6 gallon impact. Maybe some but not that much.

The bottom of the tank is petty well flat. There is a small well/indentation that the pump sits in but it's maybe 1/2 inch deep.

 

[meskier]

I have a 16, 5.7, 32 gal tank. I tow a trailer and drive in 4X4 country at times. My expected MPG varies quite a bit during a single trip and I depend on my gage to tell me how much fuel I have left. I have to do too much guessing. When on "E" I still have ~10 gallons, but how far it will go is a big variable. The gage should be more accurate than it is. I'm not happy with the ways it works. Nuf said

 

[ChargerX3]

So much for that update.

 

[Joes1500]

I just did a 2400 mile trip . 2017 4x4 , cc, short of, 1500, hemi, 32 gallon tank.

I had this issue in the back of my mind , so there were 2 times that we got gas that I kinda did a quick figure on it.

Was averaging right around 16 mpg at 75-80mph.

We would get gas when the evic would say around 100 left.


One time the evic showed 98 miles left and I put a little over 26 gallons in. The other the evic showed 83 miles left and I put a little over 27 gallons in.


So atleast in my case it seems to be close enough for me.

But I did have a thought on this. This was a long trip and my average was constant. I'm wondering if the evic figures the miles till empty from a shorter time sample current/immediate mpg not a longer one.

 

[PaleFlyer]

AlfaOBD can fix the tank size issue. But my '18 with a 26 gallon, light comes on ~23 gallons, and I fill up 24-25 gallons.

Found this thread as I started a search for a 32 gallon tank for my ram. Sorry if it's an old thread...