just how far can you go after zero miles to empty

[powerboatr]

This morning i left house with 12 miles to empty, headed to town about 9 miles away to get gas. my neighborhood is 2 miles from my house to the main road so it eats fuel horribly at 20 mph and dozen stop signs
about 2 miles outside of town my miles to empty dropped to ZERO and gauge turned red.

i had a hill to coast down and then a small hill until town, i kept waiting for engine to shut off, i had to accelerate going up hill cause the jackwagon in front of me SLOWED down
so i get to town and stop at first station and put in 1.49 gallons or 3 dollars of fuel, so i can make it to my favorite station that i have 30 cents of a gallon

so restart after putting in 1.49 gallons and DTE read 17 miles,
i then go another mile to the other station and pumped in 29.389 gallons
for a grand total of 30.879 gallons

yes i was puckering when it was reading zero miles for close to 2 miles
tank is listed as 33.5 gallons, so i seems i had just a tad over 2 gallons floating around, i could have gone to the preferred station MAYBE

 

[JExpedition07]

I’ve read the 34 gallon tank in our EL’s keep about 3.5 gallons of reserve. 3.5 gallons times your expected MPG (city or highway). Could be around 40-50 miles depending on conditions.

 

[LokiWolf]

I’ve read the 34 gallon tank in our EL’s keep about 3.5 gallons of reserve. 3.5 gallons times your expected MPG (city or highway). Could be around 40-50 miles depending on conditions.

I use a Kiwi and have been lucky enough to a few times to have my HP Tuner MPVI2 attached when I have needed fuel. Typically at ZERO to go I see 7-9% left based on the fuel level sensor, not the gauge. I’ve gone 17 miles beyond when I saw zero to go, and still had like 4% left in the tank.

No need to fret under those conditions. You can at least go 10-15 miles with no worry.


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[mossback]

Yeah, I’ve gotten in a jam once where I went 18 miles past the zero indication. So it’s a decent little reserve.

 

[powerboatr]

that makes me feel better, it was interesting as it was very very cold and i did not want to walk to go get fuel.
seeing that big 0 on the miles to empty was weird...my wife was giving me the EYE

2.5 gallons floating around as a reserve, imo was close,
i had two more four way stops and possible school bus as we came into town

 

[JExpedition07]

49.1 miles on AutoVlogs F-150

 

[LokiWolf]

that makes me feel better, it was interesting as it was very very cold and i did not want to walk to go get fuel.
seeing that big 0 on the miles to empty was weird...my wife was giving me the EYE

2.5 gallons floating around as a reserve, imo was close,
i had two more four way stops and possible school bus as we came into town

Like the video that J07 posted 30+ miles is a safe number as long as you aren’t stomping it!


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[99WhiteC5Coupe]

This morning i left house with 12 miles to empty, headed to town about 9 miles away to get gas. my neighborhood is 2 miles from my house to the main road so it eats fuel horribly at 20 mph and dozen stop signs
about 2 miles outside of town my miles to empty dropped to ZERO and gauge turned red.

i had a hill to coast down and then a small hill until town, i kept waiting for engine to shut off, i had to accelerate going up hill cause the jackwagon in front of me SLOWED down
so i get to town and stop at first station and put in 1.49 gallons or 3 dollars of fuel, so i can make it to my favorite station that i have 30 cents of a gallon

so restart after putting in 1.49 gallons and DTE read 17 miles,
i then go another mile to the other station and pumped in 29.389 gallons
for a grand total of 30.879 gallons

yes i was puckering when it was reading zero miles for close to 2 miles
tank is listed as 33.5 gallons, so i seems i had just a tad over 2 gallons floating around, i could have gone to the preferred station MAYBE

You sound like you’re one of the motorists that have no problem running out of fuel, then expect a law enforcement officer to stop and take you for gas.

I have never understood people that drive a motor vehicle with an extremely low amount of fuel.

 

[LokiWolf]

You sound like you’re one of the motorists that have no problem running out of fuel, then expect a law enforcement officer to stop and take you for gas.

I have never understood people that drive a motor vehicle with an extremely low amount of fuel.

I think he got like this by accident, hence why he stopped and put 1.5 Gallons in. You are ridiculous.

I have run out of gas before because of a broken gauge, but I walked to get the fuel myself. Never expected a cop to pick me up.

Also, every officer I know would have no issue with doing this if they needed to. They would love it. Most of our local departments have motorist assistance officers for this type of thing anyway.


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[powerboatr]

You sound like you’re one of the motorists that have no problem running out of fuel, then expect a law enforcement officer to stop and take you for gas.

I have never understood people that drive a motor vehicle with an extremely low amount of fuel.

no i never run out of ******* gas, in fact get nervy under 1/4
it was one of those one ******* off situations where i had to get home the other day to deal with an issue and arrived with 12 miles to empty after a long expedient drive to get home
my house to town is less than that. I was merely commenting on oh shit its zero miles to empty.
so ******* thank you very much
as far as LEO bringing gas, those days died in the 70s
and yes i have great road side that would bring fuel no question.

 

[Aspen03]

I run to about 10i to E pretty routinely, mainly because it takes exactly 7 days to do it driving to work and the shell station I gas up at is right across the street. My usually fill up is about 27g on my 03 w a 28g tank so I dont think they have near as much of a reserve.

That being said if its obscenely cold, bad roads, etc I fill up before, been stranded on a road w a friend once and luckily he had 3/4 tank because we were stuck for 4hrs.

 

[LokiWolf]

I run to about 10i to E pretty routinely, mainly because it takes exactly 7 days to do it driving to work and the shell station I gas up at is right across the street. My usually fill up is about 27g on my 03 w a 28g tank so I dont think they have near as much of a reserve.

That being said if its obscenely cold, bad roads, etc I fill up before, been stranded on a road w a friend once and luckily he had 3/4 tank because we were stuck for 4hrs.

The newer cars have more reserve, because it is all about programming. There is a reserve programmed in to the the IPC. Again, with the correct scanner, and program you can see the EXACT percentage left in the tank based on the float. At Zero miles to go, like I said I typically see between 7-9%. Pretty much the same on my Edge to.


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[mjp2]

I thought the "reserve" was there to protect the fuel pump since most depend on the fuel to keep the pump cool during operation.

Good to know how much is left after "E" but I'm curious to know the failure rate of fuel pumps within, say, 12 months after being run so low.

 

[JExpedition07]

I thought the "reserve" was there to protect the fuel pump since most depend on the fuel to keep the pump cool during operation.

Good to know how much is left after "E" but I'm curious to know the failure rate of fuel pumps within, say, 12 months after being run so low.

I don’t think being run low cause fuel pump problems. Besides random claims I’ve never seen any evidence of this.

 

[mjp2]

Yeah, I'm not sure how much of what I've heard is just anecdotal

 

[Blksmk]

I never let my tanks run under 1/4 either in the expy or the big rig. Especially in winter.

 

[mossback]

The newer cars have more reserve, because it is all about programming. There is a reserve programmed in to the the IPC. Again, with the correct scanner, and program you can see the EXACT percentage left in the tank based on the float. At Zero miles to go, like I said I typically see between 7-9%. Pretty much the same on my Edge to.


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Hey Loki, I've got the same OBDLink MX+ setup you have and love it, of course. Do you happen to know which PID category has the remaining fuel percentage? Would love to add that to my dashboard.

 

[mossback]

Before the expy I owned suburbans and tahoes for two decades. I'm not sure how valid it ever was but the word on the forums and even one service adviser told me that it was good to not go below 1/4 tank in order to help keep the fuel pump cool. Again, I don't know how legitimate such a claim is but it was repeated often to us GM guys.

 

[ExplorerTom]

Fuel pumps are not cooled by being submerged in gas. They are cooled by the fluid (gas in this case) that they are pumping.

So if you run really low and the pickup starts sucking air, then that’s bad for the pump. Most pumps are at the rear of the tank so when you accelerate, and the fuel sloshes to the rear and the pump has the least chance of sucking air. If you hit the brakes and all the fuel sloshes forward and the pump sucks air, that’s bad. But since you are on the brakes, the pump isn’t working hard and it’s not generating too much heat. And really, the engine will stall out before too long while sucking air.

 

[LokiWolf]

Hey Loki, I've got the same OBDLink MX+ setup you have and love it, of course. Do you happen to know which PID category has the remaining fuel percentage? Would love to add that to my dashboard.

In OBDFusion I use the PID Fuel Level. There are 2. Most of the time they show the same number. Sometimes they deviate by a small percentage. I think they are at different positions, or one is buffered and one is not. Sitting still on a flat surface they are the same.


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