Running out of gas. Tell your story

[scat19]

Originally posted by inline6turbo
I may have a story in a couple mins lol. I'm sputtering but flying J is soo closeee....

I love pushing my luck :p

maybe you are a girl! cell phone and driving! haha!

[Stealth22]

Generally during the summer I'll fill up my car when it gets to the 1/4 mark, but I don't let it go below that much at all. In the winter, I make it a rule to have at least 1/2 a tank of gas at all times, and to never let it reach the 1/4 mark.

This was last year, in September I think. I forgot to fill up the car on my way home from uni (it was a little bit below the 1/4 mark), and I didn't realize it until halfway into my drive the next morning. Immediately shifted into neutral, as I was going downhill, changed to the right lane and went into ultra-hypermiling-mode. Made it to the nearest Co-op, and if I remember correctly, I put somewhere between 48 and 50 litres into my Corolla's 50L tank. So I was pretty much down to ~2-3 litres, plus any reserves.

Learned my lesson after that...always fill up at 1/4, and in the winter, I never let it reach 1/4.

[RickDaTuner]

10+ years of driving and I have never run out of fuel, and I travel the Highway all the time.
I find it a little hard to see how you run out of gas in the city.

There was one time I was travelling cross country in the middle of the night. It was about 300kms to next pump, decided I could make it no prob, but once I arived there the pump was closed.
I attempted to get to the next pump wich was another 150kms away with the tank very close to the E.
I drove 75, set the car on cruise, and made it to the next town.
I think that after driving your car for a few months to a year, you tend to know how many kms of travel a certain amount of fuel will get you. To me running out is just you being a little careless?
Even with rentals, it only takes me a tank or two to figures out my range.

[zipdoa]

hahahahahaha my mom ran out of gas on the way to canmore yesterday.

she was driving my audi and tried to make it from bowness to canmore on under a 1/4 tank... she said her honda would go there and back no prob and therefore a superior brand of car should have NO problem making the distance.

good thing I was following her up, or else she woulda been waiting for a few hours for AMA to show up.

epic lols for me, but she was scared shitless that someone was gonna hit her while she was pulled over on the shoulder.

awd + bad o2 sensor = teh bad fuel economies

[RickDaTuner]

Wow Suckie, Options for gas heading out to canmore are kinda far few between. You have the COP stations, the Petro at the 22X turn off, then the Indian Gas Bar if you are brave enough, and Finally Dead Mans Flats before you hit the town...

[inline6turbo]

Originally posted by scat19


maybe you are a girl! cell phone and driving! haha!

Pfffttt! Not your average pootie cat I stretch the line veryyy thin. I think of it as a game haha.

I know I'm on the right track when my 50L tank requires 54.9L to fill

[5fivespeed]

I keep a 5L reserve in my brothers car, he's ran out of gas twice.

Ray

[bituerbo]

I left Calgary headed for Sylvan Lake with a 1/4 tank, it was around 3:00 on a Thursday or Friday, so I didn't want to risk getting stuck in traffic so I thought I would fuel in Airdrie so to not waste any time.

Well I'm out of it and cruise right past Airdrie... next thing you know my gas light comes on, and I'm a third of the way to Red Deer. Well my trip-o-meter is counting down how much fuel I have left in my tank... 40km... 30... 20... 10km... then I pass a sign... Red Deer... 40-something km. Fuck. My Car's telling me I'll only do 10, but I need to do 40. Well just as I was thinking that, I roll up behind a truck towing a camper van with very low clearance. Well I creep up behind him, must have been about 4" off his bumper for the next 40km, but my trip-o-matic showed that I still had 10km remaining by the time I got to Red Deer. On the flat spots I could come completely off the gas and not lose any ground. I'd like to do a long distance test like that, see if it really did make that much of a difference.

[Jay911]

I have never run out, but about 15 years ago, during the winter, one day it was -43 and my fuel completely froze. I had around a quarter tank or just below, in a ~40 liter tank (old Taurus wagon). I never let my vehicles go below quarter in the cold weather these days.

[masoncgy]

Originally posted by bituerbo
I left Calgary headed for Sylvan Lake with a 1/4 tank, it was around 3:00 on a Thursday or Friday, so I didn't want to risk getting stuck in traffic so I thought I would fuel in Airdrie so to not waste any time.

Well I'm out of it and cruise right past Airdrie... next thing you know my gas light comes on, and I'm a third of the way to Red Deer. Well my trip-o-meter is counting down how much fuel I have left in my tank... 40km... 30... 20... 10km... then I pass a sign... Red Deer... 40-something km. Fuck. My Car's telling me I'll only do 10, but I need to do 40. Well just as I was thinking that, I roll up behind a truck towing a camper van with very low clearance. Well I creep up behind him, must have been about 4" off his bumper for the next 40km, but my trip-o-matic showed that I still had 10km remaining by the time I got to Red Deer. On the flat spots I could come completely off the gas and not lose any ground. I'd like to do a long distance test like that, see if it really did make that much of a difference.

Wow... you know you do pass at least a handful of gas stations between Calgary & Red Deer though, right? They're right off the side of the road...

I've only run out of gas once... in my old 1986 Escort GT... about 10 years ago... learned that the gauge was inaccurate when it was reading anything lower than 1/8 of a tank... then on, always fueled up at 1/4... all good.

[n1zm0]

i've never ran out of gas but have come damned close to it in HS a few times when i used to constantly run my first car on fumes pretty much, poor financial decisions are to blame lol (i.e: $5 to either a joint/gas/lunch )

so here's my contribution, what i thought of when i saw this thread

[TimeAttack]

Originally posted by bituerbo
must have been about 4" off his bumper for the next 40km

. I'd like to do a long distance test like that, see if it really did make that much of a difference.

If you tried this test and I was the vehicle driving in front of you I would have you pulled over and charged with dangerous driving/following too close.

Great way to cause an accident and hurt yourself and whoever is in the vehicle in front.

[89s1]

Originally posted by bituerbo
I left Calgary headed for Sylvan Lake with a 1/4 tank, it was around 3:00 on a Thursday or Friday, so I didn't want to risk getting stuck in traffic so I thought I would fuel in Airdrie so to not waste any time.

Well I'm out of it and cruise right past Airdrie... next thing you know my gas light comes on, and I'm a third of the way to Red Deer. Well my trip-o-meter is counting down how much fuel I have left in my tank... 40km... 30... 20... 10km... then I pass a sign... Red Deer... 40-something km. Fuck. My Car's telling me I'll only do 10, but I need to do 40. Well just as I was thinking that, I roll up behind a truck towing a camper van with very low clearance. Well I creep up behind him, must have been about 4" off his bumper for the next 40km, but my trip-o-matic showed that I still had 10km remaining by the time I got to Red Deer. On the flat spots I could come completely off the gas and not lose any ground. I'd like to do a long distance test like that, see if it really did make that much of a difference.

No need to risk your safety, mythbusters did it for you. Tailgating a large vehicle saves quite a bit of fuel. Not that it's recommended obviously
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lttgT1XZVvE

[AndyL]

Only once... On purpose, I knew the tank was a heck of a lot bigger than my 'fills'... Tossed a jerry can in the truck, headed out on the highway - ran until she died... When the needle hit the pin for Empty - still had 1/3 of a tank...

Have had more than a few incidents where I made the gas station but just barely... But those don't quite count Been once or twice where I literally coasted up with a dead engine - but never been stranded at the side of the road...

[Kloubek]

My 300zx TT was sitting for over a year, untouched. It would not start, and I simply didn't have the money to fix it.

After the winter, I tested the air, spark, and fuel, and it all seemed fine. As a last-ditch attempt to get it going before I brought it in for repair was to put $15 worth of gas in it. (Funky gas from sitting?) Much to my surprise, this made it fire up, no problem.

I let it idle for 10 minutes or so to get the power recharged, and the vehicle running happily. Instead of insuring it for the day, I opted to slap the plates on it from my Sequoia so I could just take it out for a 10 minute spin to ensure it ran ok. I knew it was out of tune, and running super rich.

I was only 5 minutes into my trip when the engine died. I coasted to the Barlow South off-ramp. I was pretty nervous, since it would just be a matter of time before a "helpful" cop pulled up. I was not keen on a $2800 no-insurance fine.

I didn't know why it died, but on another whim, I got my roomie to come with the gas I had remaining in the jerry can, dumped it in. Yup, that was the problem.

How it managed to consume 15 liters in 15 minutes, I have no idea. Luckily, after the tune, it is now down to a more managable level.

[Das Auto]

I once purposely ran out of gas. Picked up this girl from a house party after work and drove her home, I hadn't gotten anything from her yet. So I figured instead of filling up on my way to drop her off home I would run out of gas, phone AMA, get busy waiting for the AMA guy and then drop her off.

We ended up running out like 3 block from her house. I remember her saying "What are you poor?! If you were THAT empty I could have paid for some gas you know". She walked home and I was left tugging it till AMA showed up. I think I was like 16-17, so so so dumb haha.

[Kloubek]

^^ lol. You had the very best of intentions though....