We've had a similar thing happen us. On a trip, we had just dropped to 1/4 tank and where heading for a truck stop that we knew about only 20 miles ahead. Suddenly, the guage when it went to empty and the alarm sounded. Fearing a problem, we exited immediately and I put 20 gallons of VERY EXPENSIVE fuel in at a regular station. When I restarted the engine, the guage on our 90 gallon tank showed almost half full. Here is what I believe.
1. The fuel gauge indication is not linear. We have VMSpc which has a fuel tank minder in it and, with adjustment, proves to be accurate with our fillups within a gallon. When we compare the VMSpc minder, the gauge significantly under reports usage from a full tank (meaning that more fuel is used than registered by the gauge) and significantly over-reports change under 1/2. On ours, the drop from about 3/8 tank to a 1/4 of a tank is very rapid while VMSpc is shows fuel usage in line with our expected mileage.
2. There are baffles in the fuel tank to keep fuel from shifting significantly while cornering and stopping. It can take a period of time for the actual level of the fuel to equalize itself among the baffles and register on the fuel tank sensor. If, for example, you came down a freeway exit ramp which loaded up fuel into the front baffle, equalizing the fuel back to a flat level and then have the sensor respond might take a few seconds. It is possible that your sensor is a bit more delayed than others in doing this.
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2000 Georgie Boy Landau 36' DP
2018 Equinox toad
KF5-NJY
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