Have you ever run out of gas?

[kps]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

I ran out of gas once but managed to coast into a gas station and right up to the pump .

I did that -- not more than a minute after they closed.

[slurp812]

Well mine was my fault, I parked on a hill! and down wasn't a way out. I was about 3 blocks from a gas station...

[DracoFelis]

It hasn't happened often, but it did happen within the last few months. And I had to pick one of the answers, as they both applied!

I was driving to work, and also very close to getting a 500 mile tank. And I knew the tank was low. So I was trying to push the car a bit, that got me into trouble. Which is why I picked the first answer on the poll.

However, the other answer also applies, as I really didn't know how low my fuel tank was. Not only was the gas gauge a little misleading toward the lower end (now that I've run out of gas once in that car, I now know how to read it), but my estimates based upon the trip odometer were also off (because I got a little less MPG for that tank than I was thinking I was getting). But the real clincher was that my car is supposed to have a "gas low" light, and that light never came on (so that final "get to a station" warning never occurred). Instead I just lost power on the highway, and I had to pull over the side if the road (and have AAA bring me a little gas).

I guess I'll just have to be "cautious" about how far I push things in the future, as the gas gauge makes it almost impossible to tell the difference between 2 gallons left and nothing left. And without a "low fuel" light, I'm guessing (mostly based upon the trip odometer) as to how much fuel left I have when I'm "empty" (in the can't tell the difference portion of the gas gauge).

[Sludgy]

Reminds me of a trip I took from Boston to Saulte Ste. Marie one cold winter night. I was out in the middle of Nowhere, Ontario on RT17, when gas tank got near empty. I thought I could make it to Sudbury when I gassed up.

I was driving an old Fiat 128 with a 2 barrel carb. Normally it would get me about 25 mpg, but the engine kept bucking and wheezing. The only way I could keep going was to floor the throttle, which given the secondary barrel's rich mixture, caused the engine to suck gas like crazy. It was about midnight and the tank was almost empty when I decided to pull into a closed gas station to wait until morning and then gas up.

To make a long story short, the gas ran out about 2:00 a.m. It was a clear night, and the air was cold. The car was even colder due to radiational cooling. Although I had brought warm clothes, that's about the coldest I've ever been in my life.

It was much later that I found out that the air preheater tube had fallen off allowing the primary carb barrel to ice up. Thank God we don't have to deal with carburetors now!

[96hb]

Almost! Had to coast it into the gas station (was trying to see how many miles I could go after the fuel light comes on)!

[Hockey4mnhs]

two times one was in my driveway and anouther was 50 feet out of my driveway.

[SVOboy]

Originally Posted by DracoFelis

It hasn't happened often, but it did happen within the last few months. And I had to pick one of the answers, as they both applied!

I was driving to work, and also very close to getting a 500 mile tank. And I knew the tank was low. So I was trying to push the car a bit, that got me into trouble. Which is why I picked the first answer on the poll.

However, the other answer also applies, as I really didn't know how low my fuel tank was. Not only was the gas gauge a little misleading toward the lower end (now that I've run out of gas once in that car, I now know how to read it), but my estimates based upon the trip odometer were also off (because I got a little less MPG for that tank than I was thinking I was getting). But the real clincher was that my car is supposed to have a "gas low" light, and that light never came on (so that final "get to a station" warning never occurred). Instead I just lost power on the highway, and I had to pull over the side if the road (and have AAA bring me a little gas).

I guess I'll just have to be "cautious" about how far I push things in the future, as the gas gauge makes it almost impossible to tell the difference between 2 gallons left and nothing left. And without a "low fuel" light, I'm guessing (mostly based upon the trip odometer) as to how much fuel left I have when I'm "empty" (in the can't tell the difference portion of the gas gauge).

Only the crazy special edition crxes in europe have low gas lights!

[Raccoonjoe]

I haven't run Julie dry yet...but I have a feeling I'm gonna one of these days. Filled up last night, put 20.02 gallons into a 20 gal tank...and the gauge still said 1/4!

<--runs off to find gas can to carry.....

[96hb]

Originally Posted by Raccoonjoe

I haven't run Julie dry yet...but I have a feeling I'm gonna one of these days. Filled up last night, put 20.02 gallons into a 20 gal tank...and the gauge still said 1/4!

<--runs off to find gas can to carry.....

You probably just got extra in the filler neck. That happened when I ran out. 11.9 gal tank and I put about 12.5 back in. I think the filler neck can hold almost a gallon on my car. Takes forever for the needle to move off the F. I can drive over a hundred miles before it does.

[DRW]

I ran out of gas twice. The first time was on a Yamaha DT125 that had a tiny gas tank, I can't remember exactly how much it held, but it was around 1.3 gallons. I used to live in the mountains where there were few gas stations. I got into the habit of riding with the bike tilted to the left so the remaining fuel would pool around the petcock. The one time I ran out of gas I had to push it about 50 yards uphill to the gas pump.

Second time was when I was in college working late and getting up early. I just forgot. Luckily I was only 1/4 mile away from the station.