4 Miles Till Empty

[shadowjack1]

Driving back for Fla. in my blazer, the light comes on, wife all over me to get gas. Make it all the way to my home and coast into the station. Wife was some upset.. Oh well

[GH85Carrera]

Back when I was 16 and my dad gave me an interest free load to buy my first car. When I came home with my driver's license he shook my hand and gave me a quarter. He told me to put that in the glove box and to call him if I have any problems on the road. It was the olden days when pay phones were everywhere and cell phones were decades in the future.

Anyway he said to call him if I have issues except if I run out of gas. He went on to say if you are stupid enough to run out of gas you can figure out how get yourself out of that issue and you will learn how stupid it is to run out of gas. I was driving a 1960 VW bug and it did not have a gas gauge at all! That was an option in 1960 and my car did not get that option.

Many many miles later I have never run out of gas. I have been lower on fuel than I wanted on some occasions. I have had the fuel pump quit on the El Camino twice over the 355,000 miles and 27 year I have owned it. Get it towed home and R&R the pump out of the tank is no fun.

[kach22i]

The 1966 Mustang I owned in the early 1980's "E" meant empty on the mark. My sister found this out while driving my car, I told her before I handed her the keys that the first stop would be the gas station as it was on empty. I had been yelling at her to get gas as she passed station after station but she kept arguing with me. We ran out of gas in front of a gas station five minutes later and we all piled out to push the car into the gas station. She still would not admit that I was right, just like a woman, hey?

The Diesel Golf I owned in the mid/late 1980's "E" meant get fuel in the next day or two.

Low gas is a bad idea on my S-10, those $600 Delphi fuel pumps need a lot of gas to keep cool and to stay lubricated.

Originally Posted by look 171

.........Passed by gas stations one after an other but not one of them carried diesel. .

That was the one thing I hated dealing with as a Diesel owner. It was like driving an electric car and having range anxiety.

[jyl]

I ran out of gas a couple times in my youth. Learned about the dirty crud at the bottom of the tank.

[JavaBrewer]

Infinity G37 on a road trip to I-8 East to PHX. I had planned to stop for gas somewhere East of Yuma. I took a conference call and forgot about the gas. Low fuel warning came on with range of 30 miles, I was ~ 37 miles from next gas at Gila Bend. Took it off cruise and reduced speed to 50 mph, drafted some big rigs when I could. About 5 miles out computer says "Range --- " and I'm stressing. It was 100F+ outside so walking a couple miles would totally suck. We rolled into town holding our breath but we made it.

[RF5BPilot]

Originally Posted by GothingNC

I ran out of gas across the street from a gas station in my old 72 Beetle. Had just enough momentum to coast up to the pumps.

Phew...

Similar. Back in the 60's -- was glad there was a gas station at the bottom of a hill. Coasted in, in my '63 bug.

(Back when you could restart a car that had run out and not have to bleed the injection system...)

[wilke3169]

In the '70s I drove a Ford F-150 pickup. 289 got about 10 mpg. I ran out on the way to work. I called my sister who brought a gallon of gas. I got it started and headed on to work. I still had 13 miles to go and ran out again before I got there. I walked the rest of the way.

[scottmandue]

My friggin 2015 Nissan Versa mile-o-meter starts blinking at 40 miles to go... and just goes to blinking dash marks at around 20 (this in a car that is rated 40mpg highway and I get 33mpg real world).

Because of that I have learned to ignore the meter once it starts blinking and have run the gas gauge down to zero once or twice.

[MBAtarga]

In September while on vacation in Italy we had reservations at a Michelin restaurant. The wife had been looking forward to that evening for months leading up to the trip. Long story - but a serious accident caused a traffic backup/delay that lasted for hours. Only way to the restaurant was back roads over the mountain instead of the normal, shorter coast-line road due to the accident. We had a Fiat Panda subcompact stick shift so was easy on fuel, but doesn't hold a lot either. Even before we got near the top of the mountain, the fuel light came on. So as not to get her more stressed over the situation, I didn't mention anything about it. Once we got to the top - I figured at worst case, we would be able to roll downhill. That was not the case - as the road continued to have ascents and descents along the way. We finally got closer to the restaurant - although still miles away - and there was a very small fuel station - with 2 pumps. I gladly paid the much higher charge for the fuel and added about 10 Euro or so of fuel to be on our way. Enjoyed the dinner immensely as well.

[nota]

Originally Posted by kach22i

Low gas is a bad idea on my S-10, those $600 Delphi fuel pumps need a lot of gas to keep cool and to stay lubricated.

many GM cars with intank pumps died if run dry
but the one I replaced was about 60 not 600
of course I used an aftermarket not a dealer unit

the volvo 240 turbo had an odd bit of rubber tube joining the tank pump
to the steel fuel line that had to be replaced about every 5 years as the gas ate it
at leased the volvo had a removeable plate to allow the pump to come out
without dropping the tank like the GM cars needed

[SkunkWorks]

Zero.

Went for a late night drive, and had to call a buddy at 4am for a rescue... Lesson learnt, always check whether your gas light works in a newly acquired car.

[svandamme]

I've run dry on the gas station off ramp 3 times, coasted to the pump.
I used to play the game of how far can I push it, But on modern cars you just wreck the injectors if you do that.

Ran dry only twice by the side of the road, replacement car from body shop they had not even filled it enough to make it to the pump 5 miles out.
Other time was in the 73S Targa, when i just had it, had gone to a festival parked in the grass.
The bond between undercoating and the rust had failed and basically my gas tank was busted dumping fuel as i went.

[pwd72s]

I have it on good authority that if my Mustang's fuel level gets to 20 miles left, the fuel gauge will turn red. I have no desire to see if that's true.

[DanielDudley]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

When I was a kid there was a gas station at the end of a two mile down hill. they said over the years they have had a number of drivers coasting in completely empty.

I have done this. The gas gauge in my truck is notoriously inaccurate below 1/4.