2007 Acura RDX Turbo ran out of fuel

[dernp]

Hi all. Looking for some direction here. My neighbour owns this vehicle. She was driving home on the freeway and ran out of gas. Long story there but she was able to call for help, get fuel and get the car home. Now when the car is idling, it is making a very loud ticking sound. Almost sounds as if the engine is ready to seize. Obviously this noise is related to running out of fuel. Any ideas as to what she has damaged by running out of fuel.
I hope I explained this well enough and the vehicle is a 2007 Acura RDX Turbo 4 cyl.
Thanks in advance.

 

[CharBaby]

Coincidently, check the oil too!

 

[Donald]

I would change the fuel filter to start.

In most vehicles you add fuel and good to go. Some early 1990s GM vehicles would trash their fuel pump if they ran out of fuel.

If the fuel filter does not do the trick, then measure fuel pressure.

 

[dernp]

Originally Posted By: Char Baby
Coincidently, check the oil too!


It's not the oil.

 

[fdcg27]

The only thing that comes to mind coincident with a ticking noise after fuel starvation would be the injectors, which are loud to begin with on Hondas.
You might have her try a tank with a high PEA cleaner, like Red Line SI-1 just to see what happens.
Are there any stored codes?

 

[irekm]

If engine was under heavy boost condition when she run out of fuel it is possible that something got damaged inside . Valve ,rod ?

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: irekm
If engine was under heavy boost condition when she run out of fuel it is possible that something got damaged inside . Valve ,rod ?


I considered this but I can't think of any mechanism by which starving the engine of fuel, as opposed to running it too lean all of the time, would cause internal damage.

 

[irekm]

under heavy boost and fuel starvation situation you get extremely lean condition that can, and will sometimes , detonate so bad that bent valve bent rod will happen . On any turboed , supercharged car/truck one has to make sure that thy dont run out of fuel when boosting , unless something changed recently, and engineers can write some kind of safety program into new ecu's that prevents ignition with last drop of fuel . Not sure how would they do that

 

[SrDriver]

Sounds like a visit to the local Acura Dealer would be good advice for her.

I have learned the hard way over the years that often trying to help a neighbor many times was not a good idea!

 

[dernp]

Thanks for all the replies. It will be a trip to the dealer for this. I was just trying to diagnose to let her and her husband get prepared. It would make sense to me that the vehicle would be under heavy boost because as she was running out of fuel, she hammered on the gas.
Expensive lesson to learn for them.

 

[irekm]

Hopefully this is not the case ,it would be expensive to fix unless they have very friendly service advisor that would write the repairs as some kind of mulfunction of fuel delivery system . Unfortunately , I think that I'm right

 

[dishdude]

Turbo or non turbo, I don't think I have ever heard of running out of fuel causing internal engine damage. Fuel pump damage, but nothing more than that.

I am very curious to hear how this plays out.

 

[mcrn]

Was the fuel that was brought to her clean? Was it in a dirty container? Just thinking...or water in the fuel?

 

[Tegger]

Originally Posted By: dernp
Any ideas as to what she has damaged by running out of fuel.

Running out of fuel will cause lean misfires that can overheat and damage cats, and can crack exhaust manifolds. Cracked manifolds can cause a loud ticking noise.

Please update this thread once your neighbor knows the solution.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: mcrn
Was the fuel that was brought to her clean? Was it in a dirty container? Just thinking...or water in the fuel?


Hmm... Turbo motor, any chance it needs premium, and the freebie fill was cheapo 87? The ECU should adjust and all, but it's a shot.

I can't imagine it being E85 but perhaps it's more than E10.

 

[artificialist]

It is a GDI engine so I would wonder what happens to the HPFP when you run out of fuel.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: artificialist
It is a GDI engine...


I do not think this is accurate. I believe that K23A1 engine has a typical port injection setup.

I don't think any of Honda's K-series engines have direct injection until the (naturally aspirated) K24W engines, which are installed in the 2013+ Accord only so far.

 

[CharBaby]

Originally Posted By: dernp
Originally Posted By: Char Baby
Coincidently, check the oil too!


It's not the oil.


Very good!

I just wanted to bring up the oil due to...knowing too many folks that experience a trouble spot and, another comes up "coincidently" and they blame the 1st problem when it's another.