Originally Posted by Astro14
First thing I do with a new (or new to me) car is drive it until it's on E and measure the fill. Then I know exactly what I'm dealing with. I don't have to worry after that, because I know, I'm not guessing at, the remaining fuel.
For example:
1981 Mercedes 240D. Capacity, stated in manual 17.2 gallons.
Stated in the manual that the fuel low warning (yellow triangle on gauge) comes on at 2.5 gallons.
Drove it until the warning came on, found a station within a mile.
It took 14.7 gallons of diesel.
Dead on accurate gauge. 2.5 gallons, precisely, remains when that triangle illuminates.
Remove the guessing.
And then you remove the worry.
This^^^
Know what "E" on the gauge really means as well as what the low fuel warning really means and you'll have no further worries.
Bear in mind as well that is that if you give the tank a real fill and don't just stop at the first auto shutoff of the dispenser, it'll take a gallon or two more than rated capacity.
Put a max of 19.7 gallons in our 18.5 gallon Gen 8 Accord and as much as 13.1 gallons in our 12.9 gallon Accord Hybrid.
In both cases the low fuel warnings were on and in both cases I had a plan of when we'd be low and where we'd stop. Anyway, as wifey said, you could always select EV mode and drive a few more miles in the hybrid.
Doesn't this damage the car's evaporative system?
It hasn't in the four decades I've been doing this.
To Astro, I would swear that our '78 123 240D held more like 21 gallons.
Ours was a US car imported by MBNA.
Did you maybe have a grey market Euro car, or is my memory just fading?