I was recently watching an episode of Seinfeld where Kramer test drives a Saab 900 convertible and tries to see how far he can go once the fuel needle reaches “empty”. While watching, I tried to recall how low I’ve ever let the needle go.
I’m certain I’ve never gone into the red, nor have I activated the low fuel warning light. As a rule of thumb, I never let it drop below a quarter of a tank. Running on empty is bad for the fuel injection system, among other things, but it’s more for peace of mind. I generally fill up when my car drops to under half a tank. This is mainly because I’d rather pay $30-$40 dollars than $60-$70 all at once. Despite my TSX’s required premium fuel, the mpg savings over the Highlander are enough that I’m making fewer trips to the pump.
One time while riding with a friend, we did go into the empty enough for the low fuel warning light to come on. Of course, this was the one time there was no gas station in sight. Quickly reading through the owner’s manual, I found that the warning light comes on with approximately 15 miles of driving range left. After about ten miles we did finally reach a gas station. That’s the lowest I’ve personally come, though it wasn’t in my own car.
So how about you? When do you normally fill up, and what’s the lowest you’ve let your tank go?
How close? Minus 350 feet.
I was 18 and in the 1960 New Yorker I had inherited and ignored the gas gauge (and the dipstick and other things I should have known to keep an eye on). Ran out close enough to smell the gas at the Shell station — alas, the 350 feet was somewhat uphill, and the three of us guys got a workout pushing the car to the pumps. Paid attention after that, as you might expect.
I’ve run out of gas several times but the closest I ever came without being stranded was in a ’77 El Camino (350-4) I used to own. The gauge showed ’empty’ as I was driving through the old part of Jasper, AL but I pulled a “Kramer” and kept driving anyway.
Due to the strategic timing of the traffic lights, top speed was in the 20mph range as there was a signal at every block. I was approaching an intersection and had just gotten the green light when the carb bowl finally emptied. I coasted diagonally through the intersection, up the gas station parking lot incline and into the pump area.
To give you an idea how perfect it was, I never applied the brake pedal after the car died and when I placed the car in Park, it was sitting directly beside the gas pump. It literally stopped rolling AT the pump and the fuel filler door was right beside the nozzle.
Well done, impressive piece of fuel optimization. I once did a similar thing, coasting my sputtering, empty MGB into a filling station. Later in life, I coasted our empty Camry Wagon downhill into a Border Patrol checkpoint while driving on a remote segment of I-8 towards San Diego. My family still chuckles over Dad playing chicken with the gas tank, & losing.
It’s a Guy Thing women don’t understand. We have to take *some* kind of risks in life, even if they’re pointless.
Twice in college (once deliberately). I was coming up on a tuneup on my MGB and it wouldn’t start one night (doing a lab report at my friend’s place). He had to drive me home (his wife forgave me….), and I got it running (gas and plugs) the next day.
When I was moving out to California from Illinois, the moving company would take the bike, but it had to be empty. Drove around the block a lot, then went 1/2 mile away, where I ran out. Only a 350, but the push home was annoying.
Most recently, I finally took the Silverado into town to get non-oxy gas for the small engines. The tank was low (gas is available locally, but really expensive, maybe 30 to 50 cents a gallon more than in the city), so I put two gallons of left-over non-oxy in the tank. I got my fuel, then finally filled the Chev. I had 24 gallons to fill, with a 26 gallon capacity, so those two gallons at home made the difference. I did have 50 gallons of fuel in the bed, so if I ran out, it would be more an annoyance than a disaster.
We normally refill at 1/2 tank. If we go over the Cascades to Medford, we’ll fill at Klamath Falls, then refill at Costco. It’s only 105 miles to home, but with National Forest most of the way, not too many gas stations on the way, none close enough to the route to be any fun to carry a gas can.
In the 90s, I had a BMW 750, which I ran out of gas while drifting into a station. No problem until next service (which seemed to occur weekly). Both fuel pumps gave an “intermittent error” message and were replaced under warranty. The erratic fuel feed triggered the message. Apparently, the Germans couldn’t imagine anyone being so irresponsible as to run low on benzine!
I did run out recently in my Hillman, no fuel warning lights in 59 people, when it says empty it stops. You walk.
Oh, I forgot the ’74 Econoline. I ran out twice. It went dry when the gauge still was just touching the “E” line.
I’ve never run out of gas, either (luck/careful), but my ’65 Barracuda had a gas gauge that was pure evil: it would go from “F” to almost “E” & then back up to 1/4 full (“the imaginary quarter tank”). Learned to always check the odometer & ignore the gas gauge!
My wife got used to me always filling up our cars. She ran a rental car dry because she actually forgot she needed to add fuel.
Ran out of gas once in my ’83 Ford Ranger. Truck has dual tanks, and Ford wired the selector switch wrong so when you are on the front tank, gauge was reading front tank but it was drawing off the rear tank and vice-versa!
Last month I was lucky enough to see a CL ad for a Buick Mark VIII. Yes, that was the heading. A Toreador red one owner car that had only gone 4000 miles in the last 10 years. I found out later that the 80 year old owner had his 20-something neighbor post the ad for him. Well, anyone who has driven a Ford product with the info center that reads out the miles to empty is familiar with my circumstance. I literally gave the man every dollar I could extract from the bank machine as well as my and my wife’s last cash – including 87 cents – to close the deal before every Mark nut recognized the misprint and actually came to see the car. Of course I sent Shannon home without thinking of where my wallet was – in her glovebox – or if the car had any gas at all (it didn’t). That great old rumbling true-dual exhausted mod motor went 28 miles while reading “empty fuel tank”. I was also ten days past AAA renewal, so I’m assuming the car knew that and graciously brought me home with fumes. This bodes well for my newest project. It already has its own character. This is a great hobby, yes?
My brother in law ran out of gas on the Bay Bridge between SF and Oakland, one of the top ten places you do not want to break down. His 1st-gen Prius kept going slowly on electric power. He just made it to a gas station. I can’t tell if he really didn’t notice it was on E, or was secretly pulling a Kramer to see what would happen. Anyway it’s over ten years old now with about 170K miles, and the battery’s fine.
Yep pulling up 1 in 8 graqdes fully laden it sounds great but these are being replaced on this fleet with tractor trailer rigs with more capacity.
Ran out of gas in my old ’05 Mazda 6. I was halfway between my grandparents’ farm and my parents home in a nearby town. No cell phone signal, but it was a beautiful day so I just waited, figuring someone in my family would drive by at some stage in the next hour or two and give me a lift. Sure enough, my parents wandered by about 30 minutes later and gave me a lift to their place for a gas container. Unfortunately the Mazda ran out on the downside of a steeply cambered bit of road, so it took 10 litres in the tank before it reached the pick up. Never let that happen again! Although one time I got 64 litres in its 65 litre tank…