This topic is really a risk versus reward discussion. Each of us can keep records, short term , about how much fuel we take on and how many miles we traveled for 5000 or 10,000 miles. That will provide accurate information on AVERAGE MPG. Then when planning a fuel stop it is fairly easy to determine approxi\mately how far we can go before we need to refuel. We don’t have to rely on the light or gauge.
However, we have a lot of factors that influence our mileage such as speed, winds, hills, what we tow, etc. They can make a difference of 20% in some cases so we really have to treat all three pieces of information (gauge, light, or estimated distance from mileage) as approximate. I lack the guts to trust any one explicitly so when I calculate my distance to a planned fuel stop using past performance, it is only a tentative plan that I will deviate from if the fuel gauge shows empty. We just have to decide our tolerance for risk.
Running out of fuel is not the wisest thing to do, and the term running out of fuel is not limited to what is in the tank. You can run an engine out of fuel with a plugged fuel filter so as the operator of the bus it is in all of our best interests to not put ourselves in the position of ignoring the signals we might not be going much further.
Jon and Di 2006 Liberty Elegant Lady, 2021
Jeep Grand Cherokee, 1950 Ford
Knoxville, TN
Owner of three Liberty Coaches since 1990