This morning I'm driving to work on the NJ Turnpike when the low fuel light comes on. Since I was running late, I decided to continue driving in order to make my bus figuring that it'll cost me at least 7-10 minutes to get off the turnpike, get gas, and get back on the turnpike. By the time I got to the park & ride, the needle was fully on "E". I hate doing that fearing that any particles and debris that may be at the bottom of the tank may get into my fuel system. So with that I ask, are you really out of gas when the needle is exactly pointing on "E". Think about it, when you have your ignition off, that needle is actually below the "E".

 

There is no resistance being read when the key is off and most all gauges fall to that position with no juice. It's the float in the tank that tells the story. The slightlest little bend can make the difference between running out gas just before the "E" or just after. I have driven my GS about 16 miles to a gas station when it was on the "E". Like you I hate doing that, but this was a no choice situation.

 

There is typically at least 2 gallons of gas in the tank of my GS when the light comes on, the engineers are overly cautious.

ps - we allow a max of 8 lines of text (including blank lines in sigs on CL, can you shorten yours up a bit, thank you )

 

You usually have a 30-50 mile reserve after pointing at E. Thats why the needle will go below E.

 

thats good to know ive recently purchased my car and the low gas light came on and i didnt know how far i had before it would run dry so i quickly filled up again.. so since the GS tank is supposed to be like 19 gallons when trying to figure out the gas mileage would you try to divide your total trip miles by 17 then? if i fill up right when my low gas light comes on?

 

Im one of the guys who is eventually going to run out of gas in my GS because I push it way past the "E" Its funny because the most gas I've had to put in it was 17.5 gallons but in the manual it says its a 19.5 gallon tank! My gas needle was resting on the pin below the E so it must have a huge amount of reserve!

 

the way you determine gas mileage is to fill up at the same pump using the handle catch. When it stops take note of the mileage and gallons used to fill up. When your ready for another fill up, use the same pump and fill up again. Divide the miles you drove by the amount of gallons it takes to fill up and you have your mpg.

 

Well this is good then. That means I don't have to stop for gas at the first station on my
way home (Shell). I can now drive about the five miles or so to my preffered gas station. Still, I won't make it a habit of allowing my needle to get to "E".

 

I was on a trip thru southern Oregon, northern Nevada (there is absolutely NOTHING out there) and got into a situation where I had a lot of road ahead with the low fuel light on. I was expecting to run out of gas at any moment when I finally pulled into a station. I had driven 75 miles at 60 MPH, since the low fuel light went on. Tthe car took 18.5 gallons. I would say there is quite a reserve.

 

i have a related thing to post... i was gonna do a new thread... but this should suffice...

ok here's the friggin stupid *** story... last night, fuel light comes on... ok, so i put $5 in and drove a bit... the needle didn't move.

needle went down, then put $10 in... needle STILL didn't move... drove around... needle went down to E.. a little past E actually

this morning, put $6 gas in... then BAMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!

half a tank full!!!!!! i was like WTFFFFFFFFF, cuz i gotta head into jersey today from NYC... and i usually fill up there. i'm a bit ticked off actually.

i'll post the pics later to prove it.

any idea why it does this?

 

Your floatation device in your gas tank must have been stuck...when you put gas in the last time, this event probably set it free and it finally measured your gas correctly....

 

Nope. The guage is just crazy conservative.

I let it fall way below E once, just to see how close to empty I could actually get.

I still was only able to put 18.4 gallons in.

(That leaves 1.4 gallons in the tank, for those of you bad at maths.)

 

Reasons why one should not drive with low fuel

1. Junk/gallon is more with low gas.
2. Fuel pump gets hot (operating in air as opposed to being submerged).=> shorter life
3. Voporization loss of fuel.
4. Poor rear wheel traction.

Only advantage is less un-laden weight.

Salim

 

When my low fuel light comes on there is 5 gallons in the tank.

When the light comes on I reset trip 2. If I go 20 miles after the light goes on and then fill it up. I will put in ~15.8 gallons.

 

my light came on today and the needle is just a little less than an eighth of an inch above the line.