I always panic when the fuel light turns red even though it's logical that I would have at least 2-3 more miles before the car dies. Does someone know specifically how many more miles on average?
How many more miles can I drive after car's fuel light turns red?
- Thread starter Hoeboy
- Start date
2-3 gallons of reserve? That's like 60 more miles average if you don't drive a gas chugger. doesn't seem right.
guyver01
Lifer
- Sep 25, 2000
- 22,135
- 5
- 61
<< 2-3 gallons of reserve? That's like 60 more miles average if you don't drive a gas chugger. doesn't seem right. >>
there is usually 2-3 gallons in reserve... but at such a low amount, your car burns ALOT more fuel than normal... so if you average 20mpg, i'd say you're pushing 20-25 miles before ya stall.
it doesn't seem outrageous. do this. once your light turns red, go fill up. find out the capacity of your tank... then you tell me
are you serious? i always thought it be a couple miles before a car stalls. hm now that I know it's 2-3 gallons, I don't have to panic anymore.
Really depends on the car, the location of the fuel guage sender, the incline of the road, the gas mileage of the car, etc. Put a gas can in the trunk and drive around till you run out of gas to find out.
My current car doesn't have a low fuel light. But on my old car I wouldn't go more than 20 miles with it on.
My current car doesn't have a low fuel light. But on my old car I wouldn't go more than 20 miles with it on.
<< Really depends on the car, the location of the fuel guage sender, the incline of the road, the gas mileage of the car, etc. Put a gas can in the trunk and drive around till you run out of gas to find out.
My current car doesn't have a low fuel light. But on my old car I wouldn't go more than 20 miles with it on. >>
i woudlnt recommend driving around till your tank is empty. isn't it bad to do that? all that junk could go and clog your filter right?
Rallispec
Lifer
- Jul 26, 2001
- 12,375
- 10
- 81
<< there is usually 2-3 gallons in reserve... but at such a low amount, your car burns ALOT more fuel than normal... so if you average 20mpg, i'd say you're pushing 20-25 miles before ya stall. >>
Why is this? I've always noticed my car gets much worse gas mileage as my tank gets closer and closer to empty.
my gas light comes on when i've got just under 3 gallons left.. i usually get gas as soon as the light comes on. I'm to afraid to push my the limit of my car's gas tank.
my fuel sending unit trips out. after a complete full tank. i'll be idling at a light and it tells me the tank is empty. its fun cuz it freaks ppl out. 
<< there is usually 2-3 gallons in reserve... but at such a low amount, your car burns ALOT more fuel than normal... so if you average 20mpg, i'd say you're pushing 20-25 miles before ya stall.
>>
Could someone explain this to me? I don't understand how your MPG would change depending on the amount of fuel in the tank.
Why do people think that you get worse milage at the bottom of the tank? Do you think that your engine somehow knows how much gas is in the tank?
Let me guess, you see the gas gauge drop a lot faster through the last half of the tank then the first, is that what you base it on? I have always assumed that was due to the geometry of the gas tank. If the shape of the tank is not uniform across the entire depth of the tank your gas gauge will not read consistently. You will appear to use gas faster if the cross sectional area of the tank is smaller. Is this making any sense?
We have driven our '98 Grand Prix 40- 50 miles and still had over a gallon in the tank.
Let me guess, you see the gas gauge drop a lot faster through the last half of the tank then the first, is that what you base it on? I have always assumed that was due to the geometry of the gas tank. If the shape of the tank is not uniform across the entire depth of the tank your gas gauge will not read consistently. You will appear to use gas faster if the cross sectional area of the tank is smaller. Is this making any sense?
We have driven our '98 Grand Prix 40- 50 miles and still had over a gallon in the tank.
OS
Lifer
- Oct 11, 1999
- 15,581
- 1
- 76
<< << there is usually 2-3 gallons in reserve... but at such a low amount, your car burns ALOT more fuel than normal... so if you average 20mpg, i'd say you're pushing 20-25 miles before ya stall. >>
Why is this? I've always noticed my car gets much worse gas mileage as my tank gets closer and closer to empty.
my gas light comes on when i've got just under 3 gallons left.. i usually get gas as soon as the light comes on. I'm to afraid to push my the limit of my car's gas tank. >>
The actual gas mileage doesn't get worse when the tank becomes more empty, but usually the fuel tank gauges on cars aren't straight linear. That is 1/4 on the top of the gauge isn't worth the same as 1/4 on the bottom. The designers built cars that way so that people get that nice feeling that they are getting good gas mileage because during most of the time between fills, the needle stays above half.
I know my fuel gauge drops like a meteor once I go a bit below half. If you could map out on my car what the fuel gauge says versus what is actually in the tank, disregarding the safety margin that fuel empty light represents, I'd say the top half of the fuel gauge is worth 2/3rds of the tank and the bottom half of the fuel gauge is worth 1/3rd of the actual tank. That's just my guess, but it should give the idea of what's really going on. I mean gee, 4 days out of the week I drive around above half, but then in one day, I suddenly lose a quarter of the tank, if my fuel gauge was to be believed.
This reminds me of this story where certain caddies had electronic fuel gauges and they would read "full" and then go to say "15" gallons (next gallon down, I dunno if that's the actual number, just for examples sake). People would bitch and moan to GM that their car got crappy gas mileage so they reprogrammed the cars to stay at "full" for say 2 gallons and then go to "14" and the complaints vanished. The car didn't actually get better gas mileage, but told a better story, which made all the drivers happy. Same idea here.
<<
<< there is usually 2-3 gallons in reserve... but at such a low amount, your car burns ALOT more fuel than normal... so if you average 20mpg, i'd say you're pushing 20-25 miles before ya stall.
>>
Could someone explain this to me? I don't understand how your MPG would change depending on the amount of fuel in the tank. >>
Yeah i'm actually still thinking about this statement. Why woudl it burn ALOT more. Your car is lighter.....
[edit]
But if i know that my car has 3 gallons in reserve (i don't rely on the fuel gauge) why would i get lower MPG (cuz i haven't seen this happen)
<<
i woudlnt recommend driving around till your tank is empty. isn't it bad to do that? all that junk could go and clog your filter right? >>
Well, yea, so is driving the tank down till the fuel light pops on. But most fuel filters are easy to get to and cheap to buy from Pep Boys. Could possibly hurt the fuel pump as well (no fuel to cool the pump, could overheat it, not likely though). But if you only do it once, and stop the car once you feel it sputtering (instead of waiting for it do die on it's own) you shouldn't be so bad. If someone is really curious, that's about the only way to really find out.
when my fuel light goes off, I've consumed about 11 gallons in my 13.1 gallon tank. I know this because I pulled into a gas station the second the fuel light went off, filled her up, and the pump read 11 gallons. Seeing that I get about 35 miles to the gallon and 2 gallons left, I've got 70 more miles to go.
of course i've never fully tested how far i can go, because it's pretty scary driving when the gauge is pointing at empty.
and i hear it can burn the fuel pump if your tank is empty.
and if anything, gas mileage should increase on an emptier tank because there's less gas in the car, which means less wieght, which equals better mileage
so next time your LED lights up, pull into the nearest gas station and do the same calculation.
of course i've never fully tested how far i can go, because it's pretty scary driving when the gauge is pointing at empty.
and i hear it can burn the fuel pump if your tank is empty.
and if anything, gas mileage should increase on an emptier tank because there's less gas in the car, which means less wieght, which equals better mileage
so next time your LED lights up, pull into the nearest gas station and do the same calculation.
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