I don't get nervous at all, but it drives my wife nuts... My truck has an audible "ding ding" when the low fuel indicator comes on, and she instantly flashes me the "look". I keep telling her that "E" means enough and "F" means enough to go far, but she doesn't believe me!
How nervous do you get when the gas gauge is at E?
- Thread starter atikovi
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Let me tell you the story of my 2007 Suzuki VStrom 650, when I was cruising on the A6 toll road in France. Back in time, I never filled up if the fuel light wasn't on.
I went near a gas station, like 1 kilometer before, the fuel light went on. It wasn't my preferred brand station, so I was like "I'll wait for the next stop", it was like 40km away.
IT WAS CLOSED.
So, I slowed down from 80mph to 50, hiding behind the wind deflector and hoping to reach the station, approx again 40km away.
I went out of fuel like 2km before the station, and pushed the bike to reach it.
From this, I try to fill up when I can (if I need range soon) because we never know when we wouldn't be able to fill up due to external factors.
I went near a gas station, like 1 kilometer before, the fuel light went on. It wasn't my preferred brand station, so I was like "I'll wait for the next stop", it was like 40km away.
IT WAS CLOSED.
So, I slowed down from 80mph to 50, hiding behind the wind deflector and hoping to reach the station, approx again 40km away.
I went out of fuel like 2km before the station, and pushed the bike to reach it.
From this, I try to fill up when I can (if I need range soon) because we never know when we wouldn't be able to fill up due to external factors.
About at the half full point, which is about 150-175 miles in the Olds or the ION. 13 gallon tanks in both. The gauge in the Valiant is broken but I get the same midway 150-175 miles, about 1/2 a tank. 18 gallon capacity.
Always remembered the warning about running out of gas from my Dad that it will eff you up because of all the debris in the bottom of the tank. He was convinced after it had happened to him in the 78 Fury II he and my Mother owned that a car would never be right after that.
He'd done the same with a 78 Subaru. Neither one ran right after that. I'm not sure how true it is, but I've rarely gone to a quarter of a tank on any car I've owned.
Oh and: wayyyyyy nervous.
Always remembered the warning about running out of gas from my Dad that it will eff you up because of all the debris in the bottom of the tank. He was convinced after it had happened to him in the 78 Fury II he and my Mother owned that a car would never be right after that.
He'd done the same with a 78 Subaru. Neither one ran right after that. I'm not sure how true it is, but I've rarely gone to a quarter of a tank on any car I've owned.
Oh and: wayyyyyy nervous.
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I wish vehicles had bigger gas tanks.
20 gallon minimum for a 4 cylinder vehicle.
20 gallon minimum for a 4 cylinder vehicle.
Originally Posted by atikovi
Before you say, I never let the gauge get that low, I don't usually either, but just picked up this car I bought a few weeks ago. And it's not as if it was a gas or even diesel vehicle where there are a dozen stations within 2 miles. This car takes CNG, of which, stations are few and far between around here. Luckily there was a station 10 miles away, so I crossed my fingers and made a run for it. Got there ok and stuffed 11.349 gallons in the tank. Capacity is supposed to be 13 gallons.
I Try as best I can to ever let it get that low .
Before you say, I never let the gauge get that low, I don't usually either, but just picked up this car I bought a few weeks ago. And it's not as if it was a gas or even diesel vehicle where there are a dozen stations within 2 miles. This car takes CNG, of which, stations are few and far between around here. Luckily there was a station 10 miles away, so I crossed my fingers and made a run for it. Got there ok and stuffed 11.349 gallons in the tank. Capacity is supposed to be 13 gallons.
I Try as best I can to ever let it get that low .
Depends on the vehicle... The Focus NOPE! It has at least 5 gallons left. The Escape oh yeah since there's only a 1/2 gallon left. Never let the RV get that low. The Dakota think there's a couple gallons left but never got it that low.
Unless im running Techron for a maintenance dose every 3000 miles on any of my vehicles -- I normally do not let it go below 1/4 tank.
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.
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.
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I'm hoping you are better at watching fuel levels than most
quarter tank, I'm filling up. The wife...she constantly rides to E...her car tells her how many miles she has left and she believes that. Many times I'd back her car out to clean it or something.....and many times the miles to empty would be below 10...I just don't understand it.
Okay, I'll ask: If you're car runs on compressed natural gas, then how do you quote fuel in gallons? Even at 3000 psi, natural gas does not liquify. Are you somehow talking gasoline equivalent? I assume you are buying and filling in standard cubic feet or MMBtu's?
Originally Posted by Burt
Okay, I'll ask: If you're car runs on compressed natural gas, then how do you quote fuel in gallons? Even at 3000 psi, natural gas does not liquify. Are you somehow talking gasoline equivalent? I assume you are buying and filling in standard cubic feet or MMBtu's?
GGE (gallons of gas equivalent) https://blog.ozinga.com/gge-and-dge-measuring-cng/
Okay, I'll ask: If you're car runs on compressed natural gas, then how do you quote fuel in gallons? Even at 3000 psi, natural gas does not liquify. Are you somehow talking gasoline equivalent? I assume you are buying and filling in standard cubic feet or MMBtu's?
GGE (gallons of gas equivalent) https://blog.ozinga.com/gge-and-dge-measuring-cng/
i try to run out of gas a few times a year this keeps the crud from building up in the bottom of the tank
The Pilot I'm not too worried, but I usually fill it by 1/8 tank. Even if the light comes on it's got at least 2 gallons left. I don't trust the gauge on the MG very much, it didn't work initially. I've repaired it, but I swear I heard the electric fuel pump chattering and the engine sputtered a little when it showed about 1/8 tank. I don't let it get below 1/4 now, and I figure when the trip mileage shows about 120 miles it's getting low. Big difference: The Pilot holds 17 gallons. The MG holds a whopping 7 gallons.
I owned a 1997 Acura Integra years ago and one time on day a trip with my wife and mother in-law we left to start heading back home and the low fuel light came on. Well there weren't any gas stations close, so we got on the interstate and I was going to stop at the first one we could find. Well several miles later, we finally found a station open. I ended up putting 13.5 gallons in the 13.2 gallon tank (I guess there was a reserve tank as well in that model).
I always try to fill up between 1/4 to 1/8 tank now, though my wife loves to play roulette and won't fill up until after the light comes on (she has ran out of gas completely before).
I always try to fill up between 1/4 to 1/8 tank now, though my wife loves to play roulette and won't fill up until after the light comes on (she has ran out of gas completely before).
I don't even slow down when it hits "Empty". I just keep going until the engine quits from lack of gas. I keep an old mayonnaise jar half full with some gasoline that I siphoned out of my neighbor's snow blower that sits behind his shed most of the year. That is enough to get me to the closest discount gasoline station.
Originally Posted by 2015_PSD
. . .
During our annual hunting trip, I rented a Jeep Sahara and can testify the fuel gauge is accurate. On the Kansas turnpike, I could not find a gas station for many miles. I should have filled up in Salina, but assumed like most freeways there would be gas stations sprinkled everywhere, but there were not. We had 6 miles to E before we found a station.
I've noticed that the 2 or 3 times I drove west across Kansas on I-70. The exits are pretty far apart, and not every exit sported a fuel station just off the Interstate.
The other element to driving west across Kansas is that you are actually going uphill. Kansas City is about 1000 ft. above sea level; the Colorado border is about 4000 ft. The state seems like a big flat table, but that table is tilted. If you drive into a westerly wind as well, your gas tank will empty a little faster than you realize.
As for worrying about "E," I don't on a car I've driven long enough to know what its reserve is. On a car that's new to me, I do get nervous. No telling how accurate that gauge or its "miles to empty" figure is. Not long after I bought the LaCrosse, I got stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic after a storm and flood blocked some streets around my evening commute. The car was low on gas, but I didn't know for sure just how low, and the fuel light winked on. During the second hour of the creeping trip (yes; two hours to do a trip that normally takes 35 minutes. I hate this city), I was getting nervous.
Turned out I still had 3 gallons left when I gassed up the next morning. The gauge on this car is not razor-sharp accurate. But I know that now.
. . .
During our annual hunting trip, I rented a Jeep Sahara and can testify the fuel gauge is accurate. On the Kansas turnpike, I could not find a gas station for many miles. I should have filled up in Salina, but assumed like most freeways there would be gas stations sprinkled everywhere, but there were not. We had 6 miles to E before we found a station.
I've noticed that the 2 or 3 times I drove west across Kansas on I-70. The exits are pretty far apart, and not every exit sported a fuel station just off the Interstate.
The other element to driving west across Kansas is that you are actually going uphill. Kansas City is about 1000 ft. above sea level; the Colorado border is about 4000 ft. The state seems like a big flat table, but that table is tilted. If you drive into a westerly wind as well, your gas tank will empty a little faster than you realize.
As for worrying about "E," I don't on a car I've driven long enough to know what its reserve is. On a car that's new to me, I do get nervous. No telling how accurate that gauge or its "miles to empty" figure is. Not long after I bought the LaCrosse, I got stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic after a storm and flood blocked some streets around my evening commute. The car was low on gas, but I didn't know for sure just how low, and the fuel light winked on. During the second hour of the creeping trip (yes; two hours to do a trip that normally takes 35 minutes. I hate this city), I was getting nervous.
Turned out I still had 3 gallons left when I gassed up the next morning. The gauge on this car is not razor-sharp accurate. But I know that now.
In the psat I never got nervous when the gas gauge showed empty. The cars I have owned always had about 2 gallons reserve when the needle hit empty and the miles to empty hit zero. That is until I bought my current car. 2018 Ford Mustang. This car has a gas gauge that is dead balls accurate. When you hit empty, miles to empy hits zero, you better be very very close to a gas station. So I have been filling up with no less than 25 miles to empty.
Don
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