Have you ever run out of gas?
 

I just am doing a quick poll to see if anyone has run out of gas by trying to beat their personal best distance per tank. I know I have come close before, but I have never run out.

Edit (I screwed up the poll. So, only vote if you have run out out of gas before)

It was a 'Doh!' moment. When I walked to a gas station to get some assistance, they said "did you make an appointment!?" :eek:

I ran out a few times... mostly just because I was trying to push it too far, but the worst was when I ran out literally 5 feet shy of the gas pump. To make matters worse, I was alone and there was a slight incline so I couldn't push it myself. I had to go inside the station and ask the woman behind the counter if she could offer some assistance. She said she wasn't allowed to come out and help me push, but she did offer me a small gas can. I went out and filled the can then emptied it in my tank, so I could start my truck and pull it forward 5 feet to reach the pump. Of course, by this time there were a few other people pumping gas who got to watch the whole thing.

Brett

Not run out yet, :)

There are two kinds of drivers: those who have run out of gas and those who will. :D

That sounds about right :)

I am in the latter category...for now.

I ran out of gas about a half mile from the dealership while test driving my vehcile. I had to walk back in sleet/snowy mix. Stupid me had on shorts and flip flops. Who knew it would snow in texas? LOL! Anyway, i wasnt too happy with the salesman by the time i got back. heh.


Whats the big deal with single tank miles? Seems like a good way to suck up debris at the bottom of your tank and clog your fuel filter. :(

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

I regularly come close... Not because of this site or anything, it's just sometimes when gas prices are up I try and squeeze every drop out of the tank till I can get a cheaper tank.

I usualy go in when my car starts sputtering on corners.

Never have ran out of gas with 'Old Reliable', owned for 5 years.

Carried 2 gal. can of gas for 170 miles (with low fuel lite on) while going for 800 mile tank in Feb. Didn't have to use the can but had to be real close.

I have ran out in other vehicles many times before. Various reasons but none of them very good. Ran out once in NM, no stations open in the middle of the blackest night I ever saw. I was towing my race car, couldn't even find a flashlight, did find a siphon hose and took gas from the race car.

Most recent vehicles warn of possible damage to in-tank fuel pumps by running out of gas and that has prompted me to be more careful.

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

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...

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! :eek:

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). :rolleyes:

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!

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)! ;)

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

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

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.

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.

If that ever happened to me, I'd just pay a visit to the nearest MacDonalds. :D

This *I've* done ...I call it a perfect tank .

eta : not just any gas station/pump ...*my* gas station and *my* pump .

I've run out of gas three times!

The first time, I wanted to get another day out of the tank to save time, but the light came on, and I only get another 10 miles, then it cut out!. This was because the light came on when starting to return home, and it was a very cold winter, so the engine used loads of fuel. I drove past my house to the nearest gas station and almost made it!

The second time, I was driving at 70mph using Tesco petrol (I never go near the now). I got about 20mpg (and there was no wind, it wasn't cold, etc), and I used to rely on the fuel warning light to say it was getting low. Enough said!

The third time, I was driving with the fuel low, and I was going up a long (several miles) uphill. When I got to the top, the light suddenly came on, and the engine cut out about 2 miles later.

These times were ages ago, and the last two times, I had spare fuel in the car. The first time was interesting - I drove along on WOT, doing about 20mph. Anything less than WOT and it cut out.

After I refilled, the car was very difficult to start the first time (wonder why...) - but it is OK now.

i will contest to this. the reason why it could be fatal to your pump is its cooled by the gasoline, much liek your car is cooled by coolant, run outa either one and your screwed.

i know for a fact that the GM s-series pickups and blazers will burn up the pump after repeated "out of gas" times. it is not a cheap thing to fix either...

I agree that running REALLY low can burn out a pump.

I disagree that running the tank dry will let the pump pick up dirt settled at the bottom of the tank. In fact, the fuel pump always pulls gas from the bottom of the tank.

I came close once while driving through bum**** looking for a BP that didn't seem to exist. I haven't run out yet though.

Not yet...
 

I came close once while on a long-distance trip from Ohio to Kansas. ('97 Civic DX) it started to sputter on the downhills and I had enough "fumes" until the next exit.

The gauge is so innacurate on the Integra (low-fuel light no longer functions either -- like that was even accurate) -- so when it gets close to E, it's time to fill. I'm usually anxious to see what kind of mileage I got on the tank anyway :rolleyes:

RH77