When the fuel level light comes on...

[UncleS2]

Do I feel neglectful?

Nope, not a bit.

I almost always wait until after the little idiot light(& chime: ting!) comes on to fill up. In my car, I usually have a minimum of 2.5 gallons left in the 12.5 gal tank, aometimes near 3 1/2 gal remaining. Figure 2.5 gal as 75 miles minumum. I used to drive over 400 miles per tank routinely, & fill with over 11 gallons. A few times it's held more than 12 gallons. 8 1/2 yrs old now, over 187,000 miles on the factory fuel pump & fuel filter, no problems. Fuel pump overheating due to low fuel level may be a real problem in some cars- but it's never seemed to bother the Neon one bit!

 

[DaveInLA]

The fuel light in my 2002 Altima 2.5SL will light up when there's about 4 gallons left in the tank. In this car, I don't fill up until that light comes on, and even then I'll drive around for several more miles. I usually put in 17-18 gallons per fill-up. The car has a 20+ gallon tank.

My 1989 BMW 325is will indicate that it's low on fuel when there's 1.2 (or 1.6) gallons left, per the car's manual. It's only lit up once since I've had it. The gas tank holds 16.2 gallons, and I usually put in 12-13 gallons each fillup.

 

[Gary Allan]

It doesn't matter what level the "little man" (as my wife refers to it) comes on ..if she's driving ..it's a panic situation. The low light came on in my Caravan ..and I figured the mileage I had left in the tank by the trip odo ...ran over 75 miles and still had a decent reserve of a couple of gallons (the needle had long gone below E).

I wonder if child bearing/rearing makes them so neurotic

 

[Pablo]

JohnK - I wrote:

"My gas light came on in the 850 the other day. 2.5 or so gallons on reserve."

then you wrote:

"Pablo - the Odyssey light comes on w/5 gallons left unless they changed it."

Thanks for the tip. I was only speaking about my Volvo 850.

 

[DaveInLA]

Afraid of pumping gas? What is your wife afraid of, exactly?

Methinks she's pulling the wool over your eyes to get you to fill her gas for her!

 

[slugsgomoo]

both of my cars have 14.8 gallon tanks, though i'm not sure how much is usable. Never run them out, and the most i've ever put in is about 12.8, but it was a long highway trip and I was getting great economy.

gas light normally comes on with about 10.5 used.

 

[tdpark]

My wife is afraid of pumping gas so I make sure the tank is at least half full for her. Let's say she is not mechanically inclined despite having an engineering degree from MIT.

 

[tdpark]

Nice!

 

[kkreit01]

For city driving, I often run it until the light comes on. The light typically means you have 1/8 tank or less.

For long highway trips, I fill sooner -- especially while driving through ND. On my first '97 Explorer, I almost ran out in the middle of ND winter -- with kids in the car. However, it wasn't completely my fault. When I finally reached a gas station to fill, I only had about 1 PINT left according to the manufacturer capacity vs. gallons added. HOWEVER, shortly after this incident, I received a recall letter stating "when the guage reads 1/4 tank, you're closer to empty." From now on, I plan my stops -- or just fill on every "potty break".

 

[DaveInLA]

Wow, kkreit, you must've lucked out.

On my Altima (again, listed capacity = 20 gallons), I once put in 19.94 gallons. I kid you not. I kind of freaked when I saw that, but on the altimas.net message board, I've learned that other owners had put in up to 21+ gallons in their cars.

 

[John K]

Pablo - yeah, I knew that.

Funny story, when I owned a 64 MG Midget I was curious to see how accurate the gauge was on the 8 gallon tank. I pulled into the garage when it was on empty. The next morning I didn't make it out of the driveway!!! At least it was accurate!!

 

[Racerjk]

My wife's GTP has a low fuel light that comes on way before you are out of gas. You actually have almost 4 gallons of gas left when the light comes on. It's done that way for "insurance" to keep people from running out of gas.

My wife's car has the DIC that tells you how much gas you have actually used. Her car has a 17 gallon tank, and I never let it get past 15 gallons used.