Hey gang, my Gen 6 2001 Honda Accord and my Gen 3 2006 Acura TL (which is basically a tarted up North American Gen 7 Accord) have fuel tanks which are virtually identical in size; 17.1 gallons in both cases.

• When I'm driving the Accord, the low fuel light comes on when there is roughly an eighth of a tank still showing on the fuel gauge, and when I fill the tank with the needle is pointing directly at "E", the tank typically takes 15 to 16 gallons.
• When I'm driving the TL, the low fuel light doesn't come on until the needle is just a hair above "E"; when I fill it, even with the needle pointing directly at "E", I am only able to put in a bit over 13 gallons. I've waited a bit longer a few times and even then I have yet to get more than 14 gallons into the tank before the pump shuts off.

Any opinions out there as to whether this is typical for the Gen 7 Accords?

 

That warning light has to turn on when the float in the car gets to a certain level. It may be as simple as the 06 TL has an earlier warning light to when you need to refill?

I'm guessing the TL has a different part number for the sending unit.

The only way that you can find out when the low fuel light should turn on is in the shop manual for each car. Maybe the owner's manual tells you this information too?

 

The thing about the TL is the folks over on the TL forum I have been tracking almost universally say the light comes on way early (relative to the amount of fuel in the tank), and when the gauge needle is sitting hard on "E", they rarely can put more than 14 gallons in the tank.

The above is very different than how my Gen 6 Accord behaves, so I was wondering how the Gen 7 Accords indicate; like my Accord, or like my TL (which as I wrote before, is just a tarted up Gen 7 Accord).