ran outta gas
- Thread starter mystik
- Start date
Liverpool
south yorkshire
mine went to the straight line reading for miles to empty once - it did no harm but wont be repertng it again!
I have run out of gas AT THE GAS STATION.
It was maybe 4 years back, I was driving my moms 328i, on the road to the station it started loosing acceleration, and had no response.. Miles to empty read 22. I pulled into the station, and while sitting 2nd in line, it started to shake and not sound good... So I turned it off, and when my turn for gas came, it wouldn't start back up, had to push to the pump.
It was maybe 4 years back, I was driving my moms 328i, on the road to the station it started loosing acceleration, and had no response.. Miles to empty read 22. I pulled into the station, and while sitting 2nd in line, it started to shake and not sound good... So I turned it off, and when my turn for gas came, it wouldn't start back up, had to push to the pump.
mystik said:
That's alright then, as I hit that quite often and still only manage to get 45 litres in (of a 57 litre capacity), so there must be 50-60 miles still in the tank when it claims to be empty.
I did it once in my old e34, when I offered my boss a lift to his hotel which was supposedly on my way home, which was also the same route I'd need for my regular fill-up garage. As I headed for my normal route I simply asked him to tell me when to turn off, expecting at most a couple of mile diversion. An hour later and I'm still driving away from my route home and the boss is adamant that this is the correct way.
I finally dropped him off about 20 miles north of the office - I lived 35 miles south - and headed back home. As I passed the office for the 2nd time that night, I realised the low fuel light was on (on steady which means it'd been on a while) and I didn't know how long it had been on. So I started sweating as I knew I was in the middle of nowhere and the only place I knew for certain that would be open at that time of night was my regular place which was just off the motorway.
Anyway, I take it very easy and baby the old girl along the country roads and onto the motorway. I'm about 1 mile from my junction and I'm about to pull onto the slip-road when I see that the junction is closed for overnight roadworks. So I follow the diversion to the next junction which is about 2 miles away, turn around and come back down the motorway. As I pull off the motorway, I can see the petrol station on the other side of the carriageway and breathe a sigh of relief...just as the car starts to splutter.
I lift off the gas and cruise, then when I try to put any sort of input to the gas it just splutters a bit more, and finally dies about 50 yards from the petrol station, but on the wrong side of the carriageway (i.e. 500 yards to drive or 50 yards to walk).
I go over to the petrol station and ask to borrow a petrol can so that I can put a gallon of fuel into the car. The staff say that they can't lend me one, but can sell me one for £5. Reluctantly I pay the £5 and get given the petrol can, only to find out that it is just the can, no stopper and no pourer. I complain, but they know I'm stuck, so it's this or nothing, so I take it and fill it up.
Get to the car and realise there is no way the petrol can will get any fuel into the tank without a pouring pipe of some sort, so get some A4 size paper out of the car and create a funnel out of it. It doesn't work too well, and I end up with half the fuel over myself and the car. Just then I see some blue & red flashing lights behind me and it's the police wondering why I'm sloshing petrol over myself and the car right next to Mancheser airport
I explain, tell them about the bolshy attendants at the petrol station, and they help out by giving me a laminated A4 sheet of operating instructions for something. This works much better, and I get enough into the tank to be able to drive it to the petrol station. Strangely the pretty female police officer didn't want her instruction sheet covered with petrol back.
Got to the petrol station and filled it up properly - and once I got up the following day, I clamped, removed and flushed the fuel filter to get rid of any gunk that was in the bottom of a 17 year old e34 tank.
The boss got a right earful the following week though, and everytime he asks for a lift to his hotel I print out directions and then give it to whoever is the closest to the route. He's not had a lift from me since.
You have a good 5-7 litres left when the fuel light comes on. Around 50 miles.
I ran our Audi TT for a good 30 miles with 0 miles showing left on the fuel computer during the fuel panic a few years ago. During the same period I fondly remember burning off a Porsche 911 who was obviously coasting and saving fuel - I was in an old shedscort 1.3 station car
In my early driving days I would put £5 worth of fuel in at a time as it was all I could afford. My MK1 Escort ran out of fuel on a roundabout, luckily it coasted all the way to the pump at the fuel station 100M or so away. I didn't even need to push
I ran our Audi TT for a good 30 miles with 0 miles showing left on the fuel computer during the fuel panic a few years ago. During the same period I fondly remember burning off a Porsche 911 who was obviously coasting and saving fuel - I was in an old shedscort 1.3 station car
In my early driving days I would put £5 worth of fuel in at a time as it was all I could afford. My MK1 Escort ran out of fuel on a roundabout, luckily it coasted all the way to the pump at the fuel station 100M or so away. I didn't even need to push
My light comes on when the computer says 60 miles to go until empty.
nearly got caught out late sunday night, had done a bit of unplanned driving and realised I was down to 17 miles until empty and had a while to go until the next major town with petrol stations, drove at 50mph very gently and found one that was open, was showing 8 miles left on the display. I'm sure you could get an extra 10-20 miles once it says zero though. However I wouldnt want to try and find out.
nearly got caught out late sunday night, had done a bit of unplanned driving and realised I was down to 17 miles until empty and had a while to go until the next major town with petrol stations, drove at 50mph very gently and found one that was open, was showing 8 miles left on the display. I'm sure you could get an extra 10-20 miles once it says zero though. However I wouldnt want to try and find out.
When my display goes to ---, I still manage 20km. But these are then highways, not rural roads in France where I ended up dead after hunting for a Shell gas station (I have a Shell fuel card) and trying to settle on an unnamed pump which turned out to be out of gas.
It was then when I found out BMW servicing does not include roadside assistance for an empty fuel tank. But they will happily send someone over with a tow truck and pay 120€ on the spot for the assistance. I told them to f*ck themselves and hitched a ride to the nearest Total pump, bought a jerry can, filled it, filled the Z4, drove back to the pump and filled the Z4 up.
Only a few hours later I had to call roadside assistance again since I crashed my car on a trackday... Luckily they *did* cover recovery of the wreck.
Lessons learned:
- never run out of gas
- watch out who you tell to f*ck off
It was then when I found out BMW servicing does not include roadside assistance for an empty fuel tank. But they will happily send someone over with a tow truck and pay 120€ on the spot for the assistance. I told them to f*ck themselves and hitched a ride to the nearest Total pump, bought a jerry can, filled it, filled the Z4, drove back to the pump and filled the Z4 up.
Only a few hours later I had to call roadside assistance again since I crashed my car on a trackday... Luckily they *did* cover recovery of the wreck.
Lessons learned:
- never run out of gas
- watch out who you tell to f*ck off