How many miles left?

[binhoker668]

So I cannae find anything online or elsewhere to tell me how many miles there are left when the fuel light comes on on a diesel Xantia.

Seems to differ for every car of course.  Any ideas?

How many on yours?

 

[BorniteIdentity]

About 2 gallons.  1 Gallon from light on to the E marker.  Another from E to the resting point for the needle.

 

I'm not sure I'd play roulette though?

[beko1987]

The manual on mine says 8 litres...

 

I filled mine up to the first line on the fuel guage, it's currently about 2mm from the reserve line and I've done 202 miles. Hoping it gets me to work and back tomorrow.

 

Or, to REALLY find out, pop to Asda and buy 20l of veg, put that in the boot, then when the light comes on reset the trip, and drive until it dies. Quick fill up, squeeze the primer bulb, carry on!

 

I always meant to do that in the ZX but never did. Plus that would mean I'l always play fuel light bingo and I normally just put some fuel in when the light comes on incase I have to go a different way to work due to the M40 being fucked or summat

 

When I picked the Xant up the fuel light flickered on when we went round the block and Bub said it had about 50 easy miles in it

[HMC]

When the light comes on, brim it. Subtract that from the quoted tank capacity and as a close approximation ( minus the filler neck) your there.

[bub2006]

I've done 120 miles with the light on in the xantia before. I just wanted to get home. It did it. Not recommended and only did it once

[HMC]

I know it can suck crap up from the bottom of the tank etc but I do tend to push how far I can keep going for. I had a mk2 golf that I lost the roulette game with, I'd had it registering lower but the pump ran dry on a stretch of the m5 in Somerset. A sprint to the last junction and I'd soon found a fuel station. This was pre highways Wombles so I was left to my own devices and was soon under way again.

[dollywobbler]

Yup, I reckon 100 miles. I wouldn't recommend doing it either.

[derskine]

I lost a game of fuel roulette on Monday in my Volvo 360.

I did manage to limp to a petrol station though with it running horrifically.

[BavarianRetro]

That's winning a game of fuel light roulette, surely?

[sierraman]

A 1-2 gallon from the light usually.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

During my teens, I ran my Morris Minor out of fuel literally a stones throw from a petrol station on a local busy A road. Imagine the scene of getting helpers to stop the oncoming traffic and push the fekker onto the forecourt just as my father approached. He was particularly impressed* with my efforts, I clearly remember. If in doubt, just fill it right up**

 

**I don't know why, but I still don't do this.

[mrbenn]

Morris Minor = no warning light, and the last 1/4 disappears right fast so I don't risk it!

 

Smart City Coupe = 5 litres, so anything up to 75 miles on the motorway or 55-65 miles elsewhere

 

Ford Focus = think its 9 litres/2 gallons so around 65-75 miles.

 

I don't tend to let cars get that low anymore. I was nearly caught out in the fuel protests back in 2000, plus I had to do a late night hospital dash once with the fuel light on. Not a nice experience!

[beko1987]

I always put some fuel in when the light comes on, incase I need to take a detour en route. It also means I havent got to find somewhere in rush hour to fill up.

 

Usually in the ZX (and the xantia is shaping up to be the same) a full tank will do 2 weeks, so I fill up on the weekend it gets low/light on.

 

I messed up this week but doing an extra 50 miles to get some hoovers on Monday, so I've done 200 miles already and it's only thursday

 

With the ZX , £45 would will the tank, not brimmed the xantia yet, and it has a 65l tank, with the tank notches showing litres rather than whatever it did in the zx. So I need to learn it all again, and I imagine a full tank will last me another week

[Lacquer Peel]

I don't trust PSA gauges.

[omegod]

I've had the wife on the phone from the M62 genuinely crying with fear as the fiestas light has come on, it's an 11 mile run that she's half way through. I've done 40 miles easily with the fecker on but she won't be told and bales out at the next junction for fuel.

 

I don't understand diesels so wouldn't fuck with one like that though  

[mercrocker]

Cowley and Merc both have fucked fuel gauges.   I rely on the trip meters and never let them go above 150 miles.  Pain in the arse it most certainly is but keeps the fill-ups cheap.  It also happens to be about Mrs R's distance between loo stops so it isn't even a problem on a run.   We both do less than 150 a week in any case unless going out somewhere.

 

Plus one on the Minor gauge too, no good going much below half full on that and there is no trip counter on that.  I do about the same mileage before I brim the T25, too because it cost me £80 to fill it once and I haven't got over it.... 

 

Having pushed a dry Zodiac three quarters of a mile I no longer piss about with low fuel levels - it was hard enough pushing the bastard, stopping it in the filling station was another tale.  There are a lot less garages about now, too.

[purplebargeken]

In my formative years, E on a fuel gauge always meant 'Enough'. 

[SiC]

I know it can suck crap up from the bottom of the tank etc but I do tend to push how far I can keep going for. I had a mk2 golf that I lost the roulette game with, I'd had it registering lower but the pump ran dry on a stretch of the m5 in Somerset. A sprint to the last junction and I'd soon found a fuel station. This was pre highways Wombles so I was left to my own devices and was soon under way again.

Fuel feeds pull from the bottom of the tank...

 

What can bugger up is the electric fuel pump in the tank. They use the fuel to cool and lubricate the pump. Run it dry and you damage it.

 

It's what turned out with the first scenic we had. Caused intermittent cutout with it restarting after half hour, with no Error Codes. Was a right bugger of a problem to find.

[Chris2cv]

Renaults usually have about a gallon when the light comes on. However, a couple of years ago, my fuel gauge was just above empty, light NOT on, as I cruised into East Grinstead and the car suddenly ran really badly before cutting out. Obvious now what the problem was, but I couldn't understand, I know the fuel l8ight works, and it was (just) above empty. Two hours later, and a very nice man from the AA, I was back on the road. To this day, I never let it go below 1/4 even though I had the sender replaced.

 

 2cv, about 150, don't really trust the gauge, fill it anyway if going a long way.

 

  I know some like to take the chance, but as others have said, there is always the risk of an emergency, petrol station refit/ closure and a lot of inconvenience. That said, I regularly run the moped on fumes, but that it easy to push!

[scdan4]

Did a long trip with a mate once in a hilux.

 

I did the first stint, then had a kip in the passenger seat for a while.

 

A little while after I woke up my mate asks "Whens the fuel light come on on this? The gauge has been off the bottom for ages"

 

It didn't have a fuel light. Twat.

[Pillock]

I've run out of fuel twice. Once at the top of a hill in Sheffield where I knew there was a petrol station near the bottom. Once on the M1 on the long sweeping bend as you go into Tibshelf services. Both times I coasted into the forecourt all lah-de-dah, filled up and spent ages cranking it over before I could leave

[Matt]

On this topic, how inaccurate have you found fuel gauges in different cars to be? The Swift handbook states that 993cc 2WD models have a 40 litre capacity yet here was my gauge when there was supposedly 12.6 litres left (which would equate to about 140 more miles). I found a source online that suggested the tank size is actually 26.8 litres however I put in 27.4 litres just after taking this photo.

 

A couple of people over on the Geo Metro forums suggested that in US models empty is when the needle is half way through the 'E' however the empty line on the gauge is horizontal for them where as ours are past 90°.

 

Do you guys think that there could actually be another 100+ miles in this? That gauge sure doesn't make me keen to find out.

 

[dollywobbler]

What can bugger up is the electric fuel pump in the tank. They use the fuel to cool and lubricate the pump. Run it dry and you damage it.

 

It's what turned out with the first scenic we had. Caused intermittent cutout with it restarting after half hour, with no Error Codes. Was a right bugger of a problem to find.

 

Rover 75s are notorious for this, as they have a saddle tank with a raised centre section. It means that if you don't apply sidewards G force at any point (ie driving up a motorway), you can empty one side of the tank, while you've still got 'plenty' showing on the gauge. Kills the pump tank and, if you're really unlucky, then f*cks up the really expensive engine bay pump too. Rear pump can often fail with no symptoms, but that engine pump then has to do all of the work, and then just gives up.

[Landy Mann]

No idea, I drive an r3 rover, the old one never ran out out just didn't like the bottom third of the fuel tank, I just had to keep on top of full ups after being stranded twice

 

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk

[Ghosty]

The fuel light on the Bini comes on at precisely 80 miles or 2 out of 9 remaining segments (which turn red accompanied with the warning beep). It's sort of redundant considering the 'range' function the car has though.

[chodweaver]

I'm still mystified as to modern fuel gauges. For instance, the Christ! le-Voyager runs on lpg, with the petrol tank there for starting - and when it runs out of lpg. But while running on lpg, the petrol gauge still goes down - until the ignition is turned off, then on the next start, the fuel gauge has returned to the original reading. So the petrol gauge seems to have an initial reading based upon the float sensor in the tank, then this reading is 'adjusted' according to the trip computer's calculations on what it thinks the usage of fuel should be...

 

Meanwhile, a combination of running the '10 year old and never-been-cleaned' diesel tank of the camper very low on the autoroutes in France, followed by a fill of what turned out to be high-percentage-water Gazole at a garage of dubious legitimacy, nearly ruined a holiday a few years ago. I have since cleaned the tank to within an inch of its life (there was the equivalent of a large jellyfish-worth of gloopy shite in it), replaced both water trap and fuel filter twice, and keep a spare of each on board and I still don't let the needle get into the red. Having a maximum speed of 25mph up the steeper motorway hills all the way from Austria back to Cheshire due to clogged filters is one of the scariest things that I've gone through.

[holbeck]

In Thatchers Britain I was running around in an 1971 Austin 1300 gt. The fuel gauge had gone all British Leyland on me, so... I can go 100 miles on £5 can't I?

 

Well yes, I did this many times. However, ignorance is bliss and the tank was getting drier with every fill.

 

The inevitable happened and I ran out of fuel, about 100m from the top of a long hill.

 

With no can, there was no way I could push the car over the brow of the hill, so  I had no option but to use the gradient to turn around and coast the car to the nearest filling station in the other direction. About 4 miles.

 

The route was a long downhill section then flat through a village, mini roundabout then  generally downhill for a couple of miles, finishing off with a flat section for about a mile.

 

The young and stupid me accomplished this by allowing the speed to build to around 60 mph, villageing as fast as I dared then letting the speed rise to 60 again before the level section did it's worst, the speed dropped and dropped until coasting into the filling station at about 10 mph.

 

 

Edit, here's the car in question after a bit of light accident damage.

[Noel Tidybeard]

spaceship goes "bing" and shows orange lights etc @ 25 miles range

renner shows light when gauge starts giving you the finger

[xkjagnz]

Fuel gauge on my Pisshat is "intermittent so generally fill up every 500km or so, but also carry a can of 98 in the back. (along with oil/jump leads/towrope/roof bars/ratchet straps etc etc

[FakeConcern]

XM runs out then the fuel light comes on