How close have you been to running out of gas?

I was on vacation this week towing our 23' trailer with a 2007EB 4.6L. I had just under half a tank left and it was only 60km to the next town. Well towing at 8.5mpg quickly moved that fuel gauge! The gauge was on E and I was watching the driving computer in the dash telling me the distance to empty. 10 miles (Okay, should be close), 5 miles (hmm, where is that station?), 3 miles (how am I going to explain this to the wife?), we crest a hill and there is the station!! As I am slowing to make the turn the computer switches to 0 miles left. I make it the pumps and start pumping.

The manual states the capacity is 85.2 Liters. I pumped in 83.9 Liters!!! I must have been seconds away from stalling. After that I filled up at 1/2 tank on the guage for the rest of the trip!

 

[Currency]

I really don't understand why some of you guys insist on trying to squeeze every last mile out of a tank of gas.

I do it now because my unemployment ended in August and my only income is student loan checks that come every two to three months. Otherwise I live below poverty most days and may make in a month what most make in a day. But I do now carry a five gallon gas jug instead of the old two gallon one.

 

[alexk]

well I just wanna weigh in...try driving 125 miles a day and filling up before you get to a quarter tank...its a lot less fill ups if you let it run lower...just my .02

yeah I only have to drive an average of 15 miles a day. Everything is close to where I live so 1/4 tank can last me 4 or 5 days. For example I just filled up on monday and its now thursday and Im just approaching the 3/4 tank mark.

 

[C5 Pewter Coupe]

hmmm, last time I "ran out of gas" was planned.. I was driving with my son from Elko Nevada to Cascadia Oregon (about 600 miles) I filled my 03 Cobra up with as much fuel as I could get into it, it was all the way up the filler tube, then filled up a 5 gallon can that I stuck behind the drivers seat.. I made it 349 miles before it started coughing saying that it was empty.. dumped the 5 gallons into it, and finished the drive to the Chevron station that was a couple miles away in Burns Oregon..

but normally, I don't like running out of fuel, since electronic fuel injection fuel pumps use gasoline to keep themselves cool, and you have a better chance of burning them up if they aren't cool..

 

[loaderopp]

I was on vacation this week towing our 23' trailer with a 2007EB 4.6L. I had just under half a tank left and it was only 60km to the next town. Well towing at 8.5mpg quickly moved that fuel gauge! The gauge was on E and I was watching the driving computer in the dash telling me the distance to empty. 10 miles (Okay, should be close), 5 miles (hmm, where is that station?), 3 miles (how am I going to explain this to the wife?), we crest a hill and there is the station!! As I am slowing to make the turn the computer switches to 0 miles left. I make it the pumps and start pumping.

The manual states the capacity is 85.2 Liters. I pumped in 83.9 Liters!!! I must have been seconds away from stalling. After that I filled up at 1/2 tank on the guage for the rest of the trip!

lol close call, last summer i was heading back home, on the hwy, well my gauge after is gets down to a quarter tank, it does read well, so i stopped at the first station i came to, took on 69.45 liters out of a 70 liter tank.

 

[rkalb]

Ran out of gas TWICE At the top of my street. and one time in the driveway idling. luckily i had a 5 gallon can in the garage all 3 times. Since then i've decided to fill up when the check gauge light comes on.

 

[dfisher8871]

i ran out making the turn in to the gas station and costed to the pump.had to push it about 3 feet for the nosel to reach

 

[BradR]

^^ what he said, haha.

 

[Khaelbee]

i put 18.5 gallons in my 17.9 gallon tank once. i swear if i drove 3 feet farther it would have died...

 

[Explorerdude13]

I had a plymouth turismo about 14 years ago and i went on a 200 mile trip to see some old friends in the town im from . on the way back i got to a point where it was just open road. i passed a gas station but i thought i could make it to the next one? Well 5 miles from the station it dies on a sharp curve to the right. ditches on both sides. so i pull off the side of the road and it seemed like the car was about to flip over and the passenger side was leaning down the hill and the gas cap was on the drivers side. I walk the whole F&$KING way there and i had to buy a 2 gallon gas can and put gas in it. Walk back put the gas in and it won't start. FU&K. not enough gas in it. I walk back to the gas station get 2 more gallons of gas and about 1 mile from the car my parents drive by. they are going back home also and happen to go the same way i did. THANK GOD. they give me a ride to my car we barely get it started. follow me to the gas station where i fill up.

 

[KENWIL138]

I remember one time I ran out as I was turning into the gas station. I coasted to the pump haha.

 

[specialized7]

a week ago went up to the lake wheelin, gas light comes on so i go to pull into the gas station and find out there not even open yet for the season. proceed to the other 2 which also arent open. only to realze i have to take the highway back to Northside( closest town to the lake) which is 15kms. Made it there but i must have been right on fumes.

 

[KPSquared]

I ran my car out several times in high school when I had no money. Also the fuel gage sucked (loved my Escort...) but I kept my eye on the odometer and knew when to fill.

On my '08 Mazda 3, I have run 20 miles past the "0 left" on the computer and still was a couple litres from right empty.

 

[little x]

Only time I've ever run out was back in high school. My car was in the shop and my dad let me borrow his 94 X. Gas gauge was broken, he didn't tell me it was near empty (wasn't my truck so I didn't know how many miles it got to a tank), 20 miles later I was calling him, a bit annoyed, to bring my mom's car and a can of gas.

 

[Car-Dog]

I put 6 gallons into a 5 gallon tank on my jetski. the whole back to the marina it was beeping telling me low fuel, and i was going o **** o **** pleasee make it back, you can't push a jetski. I also havean old ski boat with a messed up fuel gauge that just flicks back and forth constantly. well I thought my dad had fueled it up and he thought I had so after we get about three miles away from the marina it runs out, mean while the gauge is just bouncing back and forth. Does AAA work when your stuck in the middle of a lake? We had to get a tow back to the dock. :frustrate:frustrate
My truck i always try to keep around half a tank.

 

[joedirt12345]

wow does everyone have 4 wheel drive? my 92 2x4 gets 20mpg if i watch my foot and it has the 4.0 v6. ok my gasless story: my fuel gauge is busted so i put 20 bucks in, drove to my friends house to take his girlfriend home and then dropped him off at his house about 10 miles round trip. I was on the way back to my house and the ex sputtered to a halt a quarter mile from the next gas station I was lucky enough to have a towtruck roll up behind me and push it to the station.

 

[petzl90]

My gauge will change depending on how my truck is sitting. So I leave my house with what I think is enough to get where im going. Back on level ground it drops to E, and I just passed the last gas station for awhile. I thought "oh, ill make it"; right then the light comes on. So I figure light means about a gallon, I get about 15 MPG. I had no idea when the next gas station was, and to make it worse I entered a 65 zone.So I drive for what had to be 10-13 miles till I made it to a gas station. I look in my wallet and.... 1 dollar. Thats thats nothing when gas is $2.80. I dig around in my console and find 5 bucks... in quarters and dimes. Wow, just wow. So I go in the gas station and pay using the only dollar and quarters to my name. Of course the lady gives me this odd look. So I fill up and make it to where I need to go, which just happends to be in the middle of no where. I get some friends to lend me a few bucks and head back to the same gas station. Fill up with another 5 bucks, luckily this was a different person so I didnt have to look like an idiot again.

So thats my gas story, any questions?

 

[bsu541]

In my old Ranger the owners manual listed the fuel capacity as 19.6 gallons... I once put in 21 Gallons.... the needle was well below E.

 

[Mustangman66]

Just went out and Idled my car while i smoked a ciggarete, halfway through my light came on... ive driven 42 miles with a light foot with my gas gauge light on... then i ran out... had a can of fuel i needed to get rid of.

 

[2TimingTom]

Not an Explorer story- but while at my parents house for a funeral, my mom and I went to dinner in my dad's Miata. The gas light was on the whole way. We made it there and back with no problem. Next day, I drive the Miata out of the garage so I can take some pictures of it with my car (with my car and my parent's 3 cars- all Mazdas). After I was done, I drove it back into the garage. The next day when my dad tried to start it..... nothing. He had to splash in a gallon from the mower gas cans.

 

[Baddecision93]

I've ran out once....my dad was none too pleased bringing me out gas.
This does remind me of a story though...
We were taking a trip about 5 hours from home as a convoy of broke high school students and I told my buddy that if he needed gas he might as well wait and have the group pick up the tab (we were splitting gas costs between everybody).
Evidently he needed a little more gas than I thought...We live in the country and the way we were going meant it was about 20 miles to the nearest gas station. We made it about 8 miles and he ran out of fuel.
Lucky me I had convinced everybody to leave at 5AM and we were in the middle of conservative/amish country so of course no gas stations opened until 7 in the morning. We took off towards the nearest gas station in another truck, passed 2 that weren't open and ended up at 6:45 waiting in the parking lot of one that didn't open till 7.
The icing on the cake is that there was a lady working inside the store and when we walked up to check the store hours she came up to the door and locked it...not a word said. Wouldn't sell us a fuel can or even turn the dang pumps on till 7.
And they only sold 2 gallon tanks...once we finally got back and put it in my buddy's truck we were all sweating hoping it would get him to the next gas station.
Two other friends left later (8:30) got breakfast out and still beat us down to the cabin....(we had a couple other mishaps)...
Ah, high school memories.