Did I just run out of gas?
 

Stupid question I know, but.

Heading into work just now, a high pitched whine started, I was at the gate so pulled in. Made it about 100 yards and the engine just died.

Turns over but wont fire. I've got nothing with me to check for spark, I did swap out the fuel pump relay to no avail.

Fuel gauge shows 1/4 tank left, no reserve light but I have gone 310 miles on the last fill up and was intending to hit the gas station.......

Hopefully haven't damaged the fuel pump?

Lucky that there was an empty parking spot down hill from where it stopped. But it is starting to thunder storm :(

I now have a case of the Mondays.

Jay

When the fuel gauge sender fails, the low fuel light almost always still works (I can't remember the last time that I replaced a sender that did not have a working light). Has your reserve light worked recently, or is it possible that its bulb has failed?

It certainly seems like you have run out of gas...

Sounds exactly like what happened to me when the fuel pump went bad.

On a recent trip down the Cal. coast in my 3.2, I ran out of gas at the 527 mile mark....I was not aware that my car doesn't display under 1/4 tank. Obviously, had I looked at the trip meter, I would've known that fuel outage was imminent. Your outage seems a might bit early but if you've been driving city or hard miles, yeah, you could be out of gas. Good luck

Yes, I bet you just ran out of gas. To restart, you might need to insert some gas, jump the fuel pump relay, and take the air cleaner off and lift the sensor plate a bit to get some fuel back in the system.

Interesting! I need to llok at the circuits for this on my 89,..as I had assumed this to be tied to the level detection (directly, in some way)......which, of course could fail. Sounds like it's completely independent.......THANKS!!!!!!

Doyle

Hope it's not your pump. It will still wine even if it's not working. Mine did. Twice
Steve

Your car holds 85 liters (about 22.5 gallons), the OP's car holds 80 liters (about 21 gallons). Your car achieved about 23 mpg on a leisurely (I assume) drive, while the OP achieved (if he is truly out of gas) about 14.8 mpg commuting. That all seems about right.

Thanks guys, I' going with the out of gas scenario :) About right on the mileage Pete (and it wasn't completely full). I was intending to get to the gas station, but at least it didn't die in the middle of the street.

I found an old post from Gogar about the whine at near empty, so that jives.

I've not done this in about 30 years... my VW at that time had a non working gauge I ran out on the Mississippi bridge at 3AM.

Jay

Its amazing what a little gas will do.

Yep just plain ran out of gas, put in a couple of gallons it fired right up.

On the upside I guess it confirms that the fuel level sender is not operating at 100%.

Thanks for the input guys.

Jay

You can take it out and mess with it if you like; watch out for the little copper wires; very delicate.

My 3.2 does this too, it used to show less than a quarter tank with the light, but now, a quarter tank means I should be getting fuel really quick...took me twice to figure that out.

On another note, my mileage is much worse, but I guess that is because I have my foot in it going over 17 all the time....

-Jack

I wouldn't call the drive exactly leisurely,(ask my wife) but as you probably know on the coast road, even though I was passing everything, I was not cruising at high interstate speeds (except during passing) but my car is a freshly tuned up Euro.... perhaps with the higher compression and lack of smog equipment, it naturally gets better fuel economy? No light came on for me, as Pete says, maybe it's simply a burnt bulb. Cheers