so i was on the freeway cruising and the fuel light came on. it's cool and for whatever reason, within 3 miles after the light was on, the car stalled coz' it really ran out of fuel.... (darn.... it can't be this fast....)

anyway, immediately pull to the side of the road, AAA, guy came with gas, started the car....

SOMEHOW my check engine light was ON!!!!!!!! so i pulled off the exit and entered the gas station, pumped the gas, started the car again, still on.... weird, back home, make sure everything is correct, started the car another 3 times, still ON!!!!!!

now that's not cool.... what's wrong? the engine runs fine, not slower or choking, smooth and same speed, rpm, etc... something to do with my gas running out? can i turn off the light or i have to bring it to dealer? sigh.....

please keep laughter to minimal.... it's sad enough for me to wait on the freeway for 30 mins at around 1am.... after driving 4 hrs straight.... i need to check on the fuel guage too

please help

 

The first thing you want to check is the gas cap. If there is not a good seal, the light will come on. Also check to make sure the seal is still good and not damaged or anything.

 

I had a similar issue until I went to the shop and just asked them to clear it out, they did and it never came back on.

 

you mean the gas tank cap? i thought about that too, checked it couple of times at the gas station, make sure it's clean and close it tight, still there

or you mean something else?

 

you mean asked the shop to turn off the light?

 

Step 1.) Do what broke_gs said.
Step 2.) Do what Phluid said.

Seriously, a loose gas cap will throw an error code, but it looks like you've already covered that. Since our cars are electronically fuel injected, running one out of gas can potentially be a very bad thing. Since the car seems to be running, you're probably OK, but the error code is a double check so you will take the car to the dealer and have them check it out. The code will probably indicate several items for the service tech to check...

 

Romini:

Some cars will keep the engine light on for a certain number of "trips" even if the problem has gone away. A trip is when you start the car and run it for some period of time. So, if you got a fault with the gas runout, the light may be on even though the problem is gone. If so, the light will go out on its own soon.

Or, you can have it diagnosed to know exactly what happened (it will store the code even if the prob is gone).

 

Sometimes it takes about 3 days to reset if it happened because of the gas cap. The werid thing to me is about how you ran out I mean I have gone at least 40 miles after the light has gone on. My dealer told me you have 4 gallons when the light goes on. Then again that was Bay Ridge Lexus.

 

Check the fuel cap seal. Pull the EFI fuse, it will reset the check engine light. If it comes back on, take to the shop to read the code.

 

wow these are some cool info! thanks guys good news is today after another 20 miles of driving the light went off by itself!!!!! i was so happy. so yup, everything is back to normal now, guess cyclemax was right.

but yeah, i feel so weird about the gas running short so fast.... i have an appointment with the dealer this week so i will ask them about it