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Sooo close to running out of petrol!!

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:21 pm
by djcevo
Just for your information chaps, but i'm sure some of you already know. I was stuck in the middle of knowhere earlier looking for a station and run the car virtually out, the needle was on the undreside of the last/bottom bar on the fuel gauge, so you do have an element of play when the fuel computer says you have 0 miles left. I then filled her up.... 64.79 litres (63 litre tank I believe).

I was crapping myself, sitting upright and driving like Miss Daisy lol. She didnt let me down though.

RE: Sooo close to running out of petrol!!

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:55 pm
by sonny
haha i came so close too, was driving back from Berkshire one night on route to Kent, man my needle was low, i was the same, driving like miss Daisy, in 6th gear in the slow lane lol

RE: Sooo close to running out of petrol!!

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:25 pm
by pippyrips
Yep - i've been there once before.

Come to think of it the diesel A8 Clarkson took to Edinburgh and back on one tank ran on 0 for ages.

RE: Sooo close to running out of petrol!!

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:01 pm
by jbtco
I recall on a BMW fahrer trining course driving an M3 for several fairly hot laps of the Nurburgring Grand Prix circuit with the computer showing the range as zero. Sweating a bit as didn't want to have to walk back to the pits.

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:06 am
by P_G
IIRC I read somewhere that when the DIS gets to zero and the guage is below bottom there is still a 2 or 3 litre reserve, hence why when you fill up the tank is anywhere between 63 and 65 litres. Always though it odd that the tank had a 63 litre capacity, who decided on that random number?

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:42 pm
by pippyrips
One thing we haven't mentioned is its not recommended getting that low on petrol as you risk the pump sucking up debris from the bottom of the tank!!

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:18 pm
by djcevo
P_G wrote:IIRC I read somewhere that when the DIS gets to zero and the guage is below bottom there is still a 2 or 3 litre reserve, hence why when you fill up the tank is anywhere between 63 and 65 litres. Always though it odd that the tank had a 63 litre capacity, who decided on that random number?
So getting 64.79 litres in would suggest that I had a few hundred yards to go..... Bloody close.

I don't normally let it get that low because of the crap in the bottom of the tank, but I was in a rush blah, blah blah!!

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:55 pm
by P_G
There is that train of thought, however I would have thought that to do it occasionally to partially get rid of a small percantage of that gunk would be ideal rather than continued accumulation. Having a full tank flush isn't cheap either.

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:59 pm
by binder
On mine I am comfortable that when it shows 0 I can get another 15miles

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:15 pm
by sonny
pippyrips wrote:One thing we haven't mentioned is its not recommended getting that low on petrol as you risk the pump sucking up debris from the bottom of the tank!!
Hmm i thought this was old school from the days of metal tanks!

I have heard that some fuel pumps require the fuel as part of the cooling process, so if you run out it can over heat and burn out!..not sure how true this it, remember reading it on a VW mag!

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:38 pm
by pippyrips
SJ-RS4 wrote:
pippyrips wrote:One thing we haven't mentioned is its not recommended getting that low on petrol as you risk the pump sucking up debris from the bottom of the tank!!
Hmm i thought this was old school from the days of metal tanks!

I have heard that some fuel pumps require the fuel as part of the cooling process, so if you run out it can over heat and burn out!..not sure how true this it, remember reading it on a VW mag!
The burning out issue sounds entirely possilbe though the debris issue still exists, even if its to a lesser extent.

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:08 pm
by Nickm
I can get about 68 litres in mine! I use the button inside the filler entrance to release the air and allow more petrol! You can get about another 5 litres after the pump has stopped!

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:09 pm
by Nickm
...and obviously this is pretty useful because it extends mileage - in my case to around 300miles per tank.

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:20 pm
by richardofthesun
Best to date is 65.4 litres, will need to try the air release. For info guys, I regulary run 20 -25 miles after zero on fuel computer and no hiccups yet

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:50 pm
by Dom81
This whole button thing is news to me - can someone elaborate?