Running On Empty

[markleigh]

Due to a miscalculation on my part and a lack of petrol stations in the area I found myself driving the car with '0' miles range showing, desperately looking for somewhere to fill up.

I'd exhausted the Battery by then in an effort to conserve fuel - and must have gone 5 miles with '0' showing before I went around a bend and saw a Shell garage like some sort of oasis...

How far have you gone on 'zero range'.

M

[Jan&tone]

I NEVER get into that state! For personal reasons I always fill up at either half tank or just under, or just before a long journey. The last thing I want is to be the first Toyota to break down on the M25 especially due to a lack of gogo juice!

[Daveyonthemove]

I've done 30 miles on zero miles in my Auris, and there was still a couple of litres in it when i filled up!

I don't make a habbit of this, but i don't panic too much if it happens as i can easily find a nearby filling station using my phone.

The fuel gauge is good, but the low level warning is very pessimistic.

[Dave R.]

Once my Gen 3 T-Spirit shows 0 miles to empty, I know I've got about 50 miles range (worked out by seeing how much petrol I could put in when at 0 miles and working backwards!) I've driven for 30-40 miles on 0 a few times now. (though generally try to fill up much sooner)

[monya]

When I fill up within a few miles of dropping to 1 bar I can usually squeeze in around 35 litres. As the tank holds 49 litres I guess the gauge errs more than a tad on the side of caution. :)

[FourFourTwo]

When I fill up within a few miles of dropping to 1 bar I can usually squeeze in around 35 litres. As the tank holds 49 litres I guess the gauge errs more than a tad on the side of caution. :)

As I have mentioned here before, my Auris HSD cruising range seems to point to how many km of driving I have left before the "Low Fuel" warning comes on, not how many km I have until the tank is empty. I have watched it count down to 0, at which time the Low fuel warning appeared. When I filled up I could only get 36 litres in the tank and the tank holds 45 litres. I could have driven for another 150km or so.

[kithmo]

When I fill up within a few miles of dropping to 1 bar I can usually squeeze in around 35 litres. As the tank holds 49 litres I guess the gauge errs more than a tad on the side of caution. :)

The Prius tank holds 45 litres, I managed to squeeze 37 litres in mine from a flashing last bar on the gauge, so 8 litres to spare, at 60 mpg that would give me over a 100 more miles.

[zetor]

When I fill up within a few miles of dropping to 1 bar I can usually squeeze in around 35 litres. As the tank holds 49 litres I guess the gauge errs more than a tad on the side of caution. :)

As I have mentioned here before, my Auris HSD cruising range seems to point to how many km of driving I have left before the "Low Fuel" warning comes on, not how many km I have until the tank is empty. I have watched it count down to 0, at which time the Low fuel warning appeared. When I filled up I could only get 36 litres in the tank and the tank holds 45 litres. I could have driven for another 150km or so.

This exact same thing happened to me this week, I was trying to be clever and thought I could drive home on a full tank from a visit to the UK, total distance would be about 700km and I could have easily done that in my Corolla 1.4 D4D, I then set my Trip A to zero to compare, when I started off my Cruise Range told me I had 750km, now I was driving at night and was taking it very easy, my max speed never once went over 120km/h, I could soon see after 400km that according to the Cruise Range I wasn't going to get 750km! I was about 60km from home when the fuel indicated 2 bars so I dropped my speed to 110km/h but it wasn't long before it changed to just one flashing bar and Cruise Range said Zero and then Low Fuel, you could say I panicked as I also had never had it this low, I think I did maybe 40km before I could fill up but could only get 38 litres in the tank, it is a bit worrying when it is telling you Low Fuel but there could still be 7 litres left in the tank.

[Seamaster73]

Every car I've ever driven with a range indicator has been over-cautious, and understandably so.

[johalareewi]

Same as DaveR. When the final pip flashes and the miles left is zero I have a good 50 miles left in the tank of my gen3 T3. YMMV

[markleigh]

If I'd known that I wouldn't have gone into SHEER PANIC mode. Thanks!

[Glyyde]

When it started flashing, I normally gets about 37L petrol into the tank.

[AEO]

My Auris showed me a cruise range of 828 km at my last fill up.

[Doesn'tExist]

Haven't had to do that with the Prius yet, but have done about 20 miles at 0 miles left indicated in my audi 3.0v6 quattro. Or scarier 0.8 nautical miles on empty in a twin engined 5.7v8 powerboat when I did my noticed a sticky dial That really focuses the mind to use optimum load on the engines and a way to safety.

[posing]

I had 1 bar non flashing on my Gen 2 Prius and filled 40 litres.

I had flashing 1 bar and filled 42 litres......

It varies on time of yr etc.

[korat102]

I fill mine up religiously when it gets down to two bars or before that if I'm going on a long journey. Not only do I not like the idea of running out of fuel, I also don't fancy a bill for cleaning out any gunk that got sucked up from the murky depths of the fuel tank...don't know if that actually happens these days but I've had it happen in the dim and distant past and I'm not taking chances :)

[Daveyonthemove]

If there is gunk at the bottom of your tank, you would suck it up even if your tank was full, because gunk sinks to the bottom, and your car does not suck from the top (otherwise it would run out after very few miles).

[Jan&tone]

If there is gunk at the bottom of your tank, you would suck it up even if your tank was full, because gunk sinks to the bottom, and your car does not suck from the top (otherwise it would run out after very few miles).

I know what korat means... The feed is actually is not at the bottom of the tank, it's just above the bottom afaik and should not have any gunk at all, but common sense says that you NEVER run a tank out... Have you never laughed at fools carrying small petrol cans by the side of the road? Imo there is no excuse at all for running out of fuel.