[sethv]

Well, after dropping my friend off at her house, I had to take her friend back to the school. I figured the highway would be the best way, since it's faster. So, when I got on, and accelerated, my car had NO power and the Check Engine light was on. When I got to the exit ramp, my car started sputtering. When I stopped, my car shut off. And there was traffic behind me

So I got it started, and tried to drive it across the road to a safe spot to park, and I was real nervous I was gonna stall again when I was in the middle of the road, lol.

Not bad though, considering my needle was at the "E" in the red zone for more than 50ish miles. I guess I learned a lesson, and I'm not going to drive with anything less than a quarter tank!

Just thought I'd share my story. What a way to remember my last day of school.

 

[ommegga]

You probably sucked some dirt from the bottom too. Not to good for the engine or the fuel pump. I used to run out of gas all the time when I was young and stupid. Now, I usually get gas as soon as low gas light comes on.

 

[zenigata]

Oh that is fun... remember being on I90 with my E light coming on with 30 miles between me and oasis... Always a good thing to have it at least some what filled just in case. >.> then again during winters I have a 50 pound bag of cat litter in my boot.

QUOTE (OmMEGGA @ Jun 3 2010, 05:50 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=809062

You probably sucked some dirt from the bottom too. Not to good for the engine or the fuel pump. I used to run out of gas all the time when I was young and stupid. Now, I usually get gas as soon as low gas light comes on.[/b]

Wait, what dirt in gas tank? o.o eek, I already found rocks in my air filter when I bought it... Ok, now I will freak out and take the engine apart for cleaning next time I get to use the garage...

 

[rockysocs271]

ha priceless. My 95 sable gas light comes on and i have about 100 miles to go before its completely empty..but then again im at half a tank at only 100 miles. lol still waiting to run out anytime soon!

 

[Rock strongo]

QUOTE (Zenigata @ Jun 3 2010, 07:38 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=809075

Wait, what dirt in gas tank? o.o eek, I already found rocks in my air filter when I bought it... Ok, now I will freak out and take the engine apart for cleaning next time I get to use the garage...[/b]

I wouldn't worry too much if I were you. I'm not sure how this myth got started, but it really makes no sense. The fuel pickup is located close to the bottom of the tank and does not move. Whether the tank is full or near empty, it draws fuel from the bottom of the tank. Any debris or "dirt" in the vicinity of the pickup tube will be drawn into the in-tank strainer/filter regardless of the fuel level.

A more sensible reason not to run the level so low is that the in-tank electric pump is cooled by the fuel itself. When you run the level too low, the pump runs hotter and its life can be shortened.

 

[RichmondParkway]

haha all I gotta say is thanks, you've provided me with a real life example of just how far I can stretch that last thing of gas lol. i've driven mine for 20 or so miles with the light on, only because I was on my way to new jersey so I could buy the much cheaper gas there rather than here in staten island. given what I was told here, how much the gas tank holds, my average MPG and how much gas fills up the car as soon as the light comes on.....i've also figured that light to come on and still give you approximatlet 60-90 miles...because everytime it comes right on, if I fill it up it stops around 12ish gallons. its a 16 gallon tank, so that means theres around 4 gallons still in the tank when the light usually first appears, no? and at my average city 16mpg and highway 24mpg, thats the estimated range. i guess it was less for you though....

 

[sethv]

well, I am a leadfoot, so that could have something to do with my lower mpg

 

[FL_Gal]

i consider my "red zone" at 1/4 tank

I did the ride on E thing back in the day, this was before owning a cell phone was normal (owning one back then and you were doing illicit things lol), I couldnt just call someone to help, and I got sick of looking for payphones.

 

[fdogg96]

You know, if you drove a Electric Taurus, this wouldn't had happened. Oh wait, there's no such thing of an Electric Taurus.

 

[03FordTaurus]

Is it weird that I want to see how far I can get on the low light though? I've only been, maybe 3 miles on the low light.

 

[jato]

How does one run out of gas? That never happened to me even when I was younger. There was this time in high school, though, when I put the fuel sending unit in my truck's tank backwards and it got starved of fuel when I went up hills with less than 4 gallons of gas in the tank.

 

[qwertz9586]

How do you run out of gas? It's a user problem, not the car's problem. People are too lazy or too poor to buy gas.

 

[sethv]

It's a mix of laziness/curiosity on how far you can go on "E".

lol.

 

[mh488]

LOL I have a friend who had just gotten a new Jeep Grand Cherokee. He wanted to see how far he could go on E. Well he ran out of gas less than a mile from a gas station. He pulled over and put his hazards on. Just then a police officer pulled up and approached his window with this quote "Stay in your vehicle, there is a fugitive on the loose in the area we are trying to apprehend." He got back in the cruizer and sped off. :blink:

Needless to say, my friend was afraid for his safety and decided to never again drive on E.

 

[mediarocker]

I ran my Taurus out of gas once... I pushed it a good 50-60 miles driving around WOT on 3-4 gallons that was left.

And then I ran my Jeep on fumes one day.. partially because the TPS had me wasting fuel.

 

[millermagic]

I can remember dad had my car on E once, the light was on and we were going perpendicular to a funnel cloud. Fun ....

Now that the gas gauge is less than accurate I fill up aroudn 200 miles

 

[fdogg96]

People are lazy, somehow forget or they enjoy taking risk. How many times have you driven the car on "E" and wonder if you can make it from point A to point B without the car from dying with no gas?

 

[fct]

Here is a tip. The first time the low fuel light comes up, if the car is in a straight position, you have exactly a quarter of gas tank (so, 4 gallons). If the car was driving on hills when the low fuel light comes, then you can't trust it because the gauge changes the position with car's vertical direction (it has downward bias when the car is going up, and upward bias when the car is going down).

Once you know you have exactly 4 gallons, it's a good idea to reset the trip odometer back to zero. After that point, you should be able to give a good estimate of how much more the car will drive without refueling (some of that will be based on experiences). For example, my car gets 15mpg in town (35mph or less, lots of stops) when I drive it, 25 mpg on interstate, 27.5 on interstate at 80mph with cruise on. These numbers may depend on your driving habits and engine, so you have to do calculate those for your car. Multiply that estimate by four, and you will have a good idea when the car will stop dead without gas. For example, I know that even in strict city driving, even if I floor my gas pedal all the time, the car should get way more than 40 miles from the point when the light came up, but it could get a lot more on interstate (at least 80 miles). Certainly, it's best to just buy fuel as soon as the light comes up.

 

[Stocker]

QUOTE (Jacob @ Jun 6 2010, 07:51 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=809936

Here is a tip. The first time the low fuel light comes up, if the car is in a straight position, you have exactly a quarter of gas tank (so, 4 gallons).[/b]

That assumes the gas gauge is accurate. Not a good bet with Tauruses.

 

[fct]

QUOTE (Stocker @ Jun 6 2010, 10:03 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=809965

QUOTE (Jacob @ Jun 6 2010, 07:51 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=809936

Here is a tip. The first time the low fuel light comes up, if the car is in a straight position, you have exactly a quarter of gas tank (so, 4 gallons).[/b]

That assumes the gas gauge is accurate. Not a good bet with Tauruses.
[/b][/quote]

Well, the manual says the light should come up when you have only a quarter of tank left. In my experience, this prediction is indeed correct (well, up to say an error of half gallon because I never actually run my car out of fuel). However, the gauge is indeed inaccurate on the hills. On the hills you can't trust it at all, but the fuel light tracks that gauge. So the key is to pay attention to vertical direction of the car when the light first come up.