That is what I kept thinking.....

The gas gauge was low on my 06 Civic Coupe. Three squares left.......then two......then the light came on and the tripmeter showed 402 miles. I knew that meant I have 1 gallon left give or take. At least that is what the manual said.
So I figure since I usually get 36 -39 mpg I can go at least 20 miles right? That is provided the fuel pump is at the very bottom of the tank. So I am driving to work and going to stop and get gas near where I work, I am nervous thinking when will it die......when does the dash start blinking, when does the messge show up.....YOU MORON....GET SOME GAS.......
So I get to the gas station showing 422 miles and start filling it up. Thinking I have a 13 gallon tank I would guess I used at least 12.5 gallons.
The pump clicks off at 11.1 gallons.

What a deal.

So did I still have close to 2 gallons left?
Since I have over 54,000 miles on the car I never drove it much past 4 or 3 squares left so that is why I was so nervous with the light on.

How far do you guys go when it shows two squares and the light is on?

Or should I say...........How far do you think we can go?

Drive safe
Ron

 

I never let my gas gauge go past a quarter tank. Its bad for the pump to be pumping fumes and I've heard you can damage the pump by letting it go dry. Really how hard is it to throw in a gallon or 2 before going home? or in my cause litres.

 

...The other day my car started to sputter on acceleration because I was too lazy to get gas that morning. I had someone bring me a gas can, I'd say I wouldn't have made it back to the gas station and my fuel light had just came on 6 miles before it started to sputter... I don't know why it comes on so late on this car, my last one came on long before I actually needed to get gas. Needless to say, I'm not letting it get anywhere near that low again.

 

yea, i usually fill up with a quarter of a tank left.

 

ive pushed it sometimes on my 99 about 20miles after the low level light comes on... but not to many times.... i dont think that running the gas out can really hurt the pump...
but i havent tried it.... i can always tell when my gas tank is getting low because the car doesnt want to start right away. takes about another second of grinding for her to fire up.
but now that it close enough to winter i keep at least 1/2 a tank in her just incase something happens like i slide of the road and get stuck.

 

With my old Civic I let my gas get so low it actually died. Luckily, this happened in my driveway. LOL
So I walked in the garage, grabbed the gas can, poured it in, and then went to the gas station.


But yea I think that the large amount of extra gas you didn't have to pump has to do with gas being in reserve. Plus, it can have to do with the temperature at the time you pump the gas.

"When it gets warmer gasoline expands, so if you're filling up in the afternoon or in the evening, what should be a gallon is not exactly a gallon."
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/aut...umping_gas.htm

 

The lower the fuel level is in the tank the harder the fuel pump has to work. Running on empty all the time will shorten the life of the fuel pump.

 

Almost all gas pumps are heated to compensate for that.

 

maybe in canada... but most in the USA ive heard dont.... the gas suppliers do when transporting the fuel but most gas stations dont because they dont care! most stations wont instal them because the price isnt worth it.....

 

Underground storage tanks keep a pretty constant temp, regardless of the temperature above ground.
BTW, running your tank dry can suck crud from the bottom of your tank into your injectors/carb/fuel system.
If you do run it dry you should change your fuel filter soon.