Have you ever ignored your low fuel light

[obi_waynne]

Most cars are fitted with a low fuel warning light nowadays, at least you have a red zone in the guage.

Have you ever ignored this to your peril?

I remember thinking I had another 30 miles left and then conking out just 10 miles later! :embarrest: (It was on a hill so I'm claiming that the fuel rolled to the back of the tank!)

 

[pgarner]

most ive went on with the fuel light on was 8 miles, dont do it as a rule as i was told that the crap of the bottom of the tank can be picked up

 

[Chris Green]

I'm old enough to have had a Triumph Herald with a reserve tank - this was a 4 pint shelf inside the main tank which you switched over to, when out of fuel (or preferably just before). I came unstuck once though, having previously bounced across the ploughed field that claimed to be the overflow car-park for a rock concert (yes I really am that old). This had slopped so much of the reserve into the main, that it only lasted 5 miles instead of about 20. I seem to recall that my passenger wasn't too impressed.

 

[wezzel98765]

I usually drive round on the red light now. I get around 40 miles out of my red light, and I usually just put fuel in as my fuel indicator almosts hits the deck

 

[steve09]

Never!?!?

but then again, dont have a car lol.


My bike has a reserve section on the tank that, if it conks out, turn the fuel tap to reserve and you have 25 miles to get to a petrol station.

only been on it once as I dont have a fuel gauge OR fuel light :/

basically, I have got used to how many miles I have done to when I need to fill up, usually fill up just before it gets to the reserve.

in a while I will make it run out of reserve fuel when sitting in a petrol station so the reserve fuel is not full of rubbish bits when I need it.

(fuel tank is sort of 2 tier, top tier 12.5L main fuel, bottom 2.5L reserve)

 

[benh]

I never ignore the light, except one time in a Ford that told me the estimated range left.

It ran out of juice with 18 miles still showing. :-(

Cheers,

Ben.

 

[HDi fun]

I rarely go below 1/4 - 1/3 of a tank.

Keeping the tank relatively full is good practice.
s
If the tank is full of fuel then there is very little internal suface area exposed to air, therefore rust and moulding cannot occur.

I'm sure that there's a biochemist out there somewhere who will advise me of the existence of some kind of anaerobic fungus that can deveop in a full tank of petrol or diesel. As yet, I have not been affected.

 

[obi_waynne]

Do you mean empty tank? Rust and debris at the bottom is my biggest worry. You don't what that sucked into your fuel filter.

As you say a full tank has no air therefore little chance for rust to form. (Newer tanks are made of plastic so this is not so much of an issue but you still risk getting debris from the petrol station when you fill up so there is still a risk.) Plus I would have thought petrol and air would encourage Waxing.

 

[Tex]

I never go below 1/4 of a tank either, when i took my Escort Cossie apart and had the fuel tank off and drained it, i could not believe the amount of crap left in there, hence why i never go below 1/4 tank!

 

[prevtec]

ive done it a few times alright
but i then ended up with clogged injectors and the car was down on bhp

as waynne said, its bad for fuel filters, and yes, ye are all right, its bad for the car
so i now have a theory

your going to have to fill up anyway, so do it before it gets to the reserve light

speaking of fuel and that,
who here notice when you put $20 of petrol into your car, you get a lot
but $10 dosent even register on the needle???
my gauge is digital and last night i put in 20,and it lasted 3 hours of mixed driving (vtec included) and i got 8 fuel cells, and i still have 3 fuel cells left this morning

but if i put 10 in, id have got maybe an hour, if not less, for a 10, i get 4 fuel cells
and it dosent last at all
so is there an explaination to this ????????

 

[HDi fun]

I think the Pug has a plastic tank (that would match the rest of the car, then )so the only way for dirt to get in is through the filler cap.

 

[obi_waynne]

Doesn't waste fuel come back to the tank from the engine as well?

 

[HDi fun]

Yes, surplus fuel is returned to the tank but if it's a sealed system then the only way for dirt to get in is through the filler aperture. I can't see little bits of carbon making their way back through the injectors against the fuel flow. Especially not in a diesel with a rail pressure of about 1300bar

 

[obi_waynne]

Fair enough. Wasn't sure if diesels were much different to petrol.

 

[HDi fun]

Apart from the extreme pressures involved diesel fuel delivery systems are broadly similar to petrol engines. The injectors themselves are very different beasts though. Also, diesel injection timing is critical as it controls combustion startup directly.

Most petrol EFi systems inject fuel into the intake ports (ie. on the back of the inlet valve(s)). Some are sequential, others, notably Bosch's early K-Jetronic system was simply a continuous spray from all the injectors. This was popular with Vauxhall for all its 1980's 'i' models.

 

[turbonutter69]

My car runs absolutely terrible when it's below a 1/4 of a tank so I tend to keep it above that. Also just after i've filled up when i'm leaving the petrol station my car acts like it's running out of petrol?????