psteng19

The other day, I drove about another 10 miles after the MID read 0 miles left.
I was pretty scared because I had a Buick rental that showed 0 miles left once, and it went another 15 miles and the car died.

Fortunately I made it to a gas station and filled up with 13.675 gallons, which is far from the max 17...

So what's the furthest you've gone on empty?

LuvMyTSX

I don't remember......I try REALLY hard not to let it get that low, cuz it scares me.

thunder04

iTrader: (1)

Hmm, in the '04 the Navi has a trip computer. I've never tried to get it to zero. I think the lowest I've been was 20 miles.

In my '86 Mercury Cougar, I drove 9 miles when it said 10 miles to empty. That's the closest to "living on the edge of my tank" I've been. lol

IMHO, the low fuel light comes on wayyy too early in the '04s. My low fuel light comes on at around 90 miles to empty, and the needle isn't on the red yet.

SoCaliTrojan

Low fuel light turns on when you only have 3 gallons left. This is a safety precaution for idiots. Also, it's for people who live in the mountains with steep roads to ensure that the fuel level won't dip below where the fuel pump can reach it.

The MID reading is just an estimate....the car is examining your driving behavior and makes an educated guess. It doesn't measure the fuel tank's level, the engine's consumption/efficiency, etc.

clee109

I've ridden the MID to 5 miles left and just didn't have the nuts to pass the gas station lol

CGTSX07

i've gone past 0 many times, but never for more than 10 miles. not willing to push it.

sutekidane

max i've tried was 35 miles after the "0 miles" message pops up.
usually 15-20 miles (freeway).

ChrismanTSX

I've done more than 50 km (30 mi.) past the "0 km" message on the MID. And found out that I still had 10 litres (2.6 gal.) left...

there's conservative, and ridiculously misleading... i'm starting to think that the fuel gauge is the latter... now, I won't even consider filling up until I'm on 0!

Zyuan10

i did 50 miles past "0 miles". I'm really confident because I know I have some 2.5-3 gallons left in there

kak1154

I went quite a bit past 0 once, I think about 70-75 miles. I pulled into work, and at the end of the day, the car wouldn't start, so I guess I just made it. IIRC, when I filled up, it didn't take anywhere close to 17 gallons, though. Something around 14-15, I think.

If I fill up right when the light goes on, it'll take 12.5 gallons. 75 miles for me is about 2.5 to 3 gallons. I get the feeling that you cannot run this tank dry.

lvcurvs

I live in the sticks so when my gas light comes on I normally won't push it. i'll stop and fill up. it is ALWAYS around 12 13 gallons before the pump stops. no that means that when the gasl ight comes on, I have anywhere between 4-5 gallons left when the light comes on. That is a bit misleading, and kind of sucks actually. I thought there was something odd about it but never went into further thought about it.

gsrthomas

Someone should try this.

Put a 1-2 gallon container of gas in their trunk and when it hits "0" drive your car really conservatively and see how many TRUE miles you can go until your car shuts off.

Now thats the info I would want to know! My guess you can go 50+ miles passed zero.

EJH

Not such a great idea since you don't want to pick up any crud that's settled in the bottom of the tank. Also if the TSX is like other cars the gas in the tank is used as a heatsink to cool the fuel pump. Running it empty can cause the pump to heat up more and lead to earlier failure.

gsrthomas

I doubt 1-2 year old cars accumulated that much dirt to have any negative affects of running out of gas. I ran out of gas in my 10 year old Acura Integra 1 or 2 times. Nothing happend. Thats what the fuel filter is for.

As for your heatsink idea. Some car manufacturers designed the fuel pump to have a certain amount of gas in the tank to cool it. For example the Lexus IS250/350 Lexus/Toyota designed a Subtank which the fuel pump resides in so no matter how much gas you have the pump will still be submerged in fuel even if you run out of gas.

tofumonzter

i've driven about 30miles past 0miles. i was driving aggressively and the car died out about 10miles before the nearest gas station.

since then i never drive on low fuel.

acn684

i've gone about 50 miles after zero. I was going from ithaca to binghamton and right when i started the trip, the 0 counter hit. i knew there were 0 "premium" gas stations until bing so i just held out. I got there an ended up filling to about 14.5

alucardx

sounds like 30mi past 0 on the MID..

muncher

the specific heat of gasoline is about half of that of water... why would they use it as a coolant??

rb1

You can probably safely go 50 miles past "0" without even thinking about it (assumes mpg of 17 mpg).

In highway driving, it's probably possible to go 100 miles past 0.

The range reported by the MID is worthess, as is a gas gauge that reads empty when you have 3 gallons left.

davidspalding

Why ... WHY? I fill up when it's convenient to me, not when the car tells me to. Gas is only 6 lbs. per gallon, I can't imagine the weight savings of running near empty boosts your performance all that much. And I'm not so strapped for cash that I had to stretch it, not for decades. Driving a $29,000 car, I can't imagine who among us has to wait a day or two to spend $40 (cough, it used to $15) to put some gas in the tank.

The idea of running dry and possibly damaging components seems silly and reckless to me. Do it to your OWN car, instead of asking one of us to damage ours to satisfy your curiosity.

eggbert52

You guys are idiots...LOL

acuratsx228

acutally the reason why you can only put in around 13 gallons is because the gas cut switch at the gas pump thinks its full. i live in mississippi and during Katrina i fulled up on my car to the max, at first it cut off at 13 then i squeezed in 4 more gallons equalling 17, but i dont think its recommend to do that but gas was hard to get the day after Katrina so i had to push my baby to the limit.

ChrismanTSX

I think for most of us, it has more to do with not wasting time filling up more often than we have to, and then constraints around time... If I get stuck in traffic and am on my way to the office or to a client's, I will not stop for gas, until I know I absolutely have to... this is where an accurate fuel gauge and MID range display would be handy, as opposed to having to guess how much really is left, and take chances that I have enough...

EJH

There are a few reasons but the main one is why run a coolant line to the gas tank when you have an existing volume of liquid to dissipate the heat into? It accomplishes the same task...and for free.

EuRTSX

I've driven 0 miles past 0, considering there wouldn't be any fuel left haha.


But yeah, in all seriousness, I never let my car reach the 0 mark on the gauge. I always top it off whenever it reaches mid-way.

wrussi

ive done about 40 miles after the 0 comes up. the light kicks in at 3.5 gallons left and it o's at about 3 gallons so u still have about 60 miles before u run empty

Newplay1

The most I ever filled up was 14.58 gals and I was shitting bricks before I got to the gas station :p

thunder04

iTrader: (1)

I drove my car until the fuel gauge read a little below the red empty mark, and the Navi (since I have an '04) reported that I could drive 20 miles after that. Not wanting to risk it, I gassed up this morning and put 15.5 gallons in the car. Has anybody ever put more than that in their TSX?

steeveage

I have put in 15.9 before. I have an '06 -- I must have driven at least 50 miles beyond the Range 0 indictator on the MID.

timd38

Driving on empty is really bad for the fuel pump because it needs fuel to cool it.

thunder04

iTrader: (1)

Is there an echo in here? :-P

thunder04

iTrader: (1)

Personally, I don't do that on a regular basis, but if the tank was engineered well, wouldn't it retain enough fuel to cool the pump when you are "out of gas"?

vinipux77

Did I miss anything, but what's the point of trying to outdrive the "0 mile" ? Running out of fuel and KNOWing it sounds more stupid than anything.

vwong

The most I've put into my car was 15.886 gallons. My last 10 fill-ups average 15.10 gallons each time.

davidspalding

I'm guessing that folks are trying to figure out how much gas is left when the (E) light comes on. I figure it's about 2.3 gallons, or roughly 50 miles range at best. Handy to know if you're shopping for cheaper gas, and don't want to pay a premium to just get $5 worth at the first station you see.

vinipux77

Well, I gas up roughly once a week at around 1/2 or 1/3 of the tank left. This way I can enjoy the luxury of never worrying about running out gas and having to pay premium price when I have no other choice.

Most all cars I owned or had experience with (including TSX) seem to have about 50-mile range left when the idiot gas light comes up. This can be a very useful thing to know about a car, but the number is very easy to calculate and adjust for everyone's driving habits, instead of running a car dry. All that's needed is knowing your average MPG number (not by the trip computer again, but dividing how many miles you actually drove over the given amount of gas you put to top off) AND filling up once of twice just when the light or trip computer tells you so. Then you can take the difference between the spec tank gallons and what you fill.

Well, I gas up roughly once a week at around 1/2 or 1/3 of the tank left. This way I can enjoy the luxury of never worrying about running out gas and having to pay premium price when I have no other choice.

I just simply hate the idea of so heavily depending on it or a trip computer for that matter and ending up stuck in traffic when your car literally spurts gas out of the tail pipe.

My 2'c

vinipux77

Well, I gas up roughly once a week at around 1/2 or 1/3 of the tank left. This way I can enjoy the luxury of never worrying about running out gas and having to pay premium price when I have no other choice.

Most all cars I owned or had experience with (including my current TSX) seem to have about 50-mile range left when the idiot gas reminder comes up. This can be a very useful thing to know about a car, but the number is very easy to calculate and adjust for one's driving habits, instead of running the car dry. All that's needed is knowing your average MPG (not by the trip computer again, but dividing how many miles you actually drove over the given amount of gas you put to top off) AND filling up once of twice just when the light or trip computer tells you so. Then you can take the difference between the spec tank gallons and what you fill.

I just simply hate the idea of so heavily depending on it or a trip computer for that matter and ending up stuck in traffic when your car literally spurts gas out of the tail pipe.

My 2'c

davidspalding

Concur 100%. I know my 1982 Accord LX hatchback had 2.7 gallons left when the E light came on.

My 1987 Jeep has NO E light, and the gas gauge is so inaccurate that I have used the trip odometer to measure my "gas consumed" for about 17 years.

With this new car,... I do what you do, as I've always done. Gassed up when I'm at my usual warehouse club, or when I see it particularly cheap (and no more than 75% full already). I'm not fanatical about it, just gas up 1nce or 2wice a week, depending on driving.

My Jeep has been vacationing since I bought the TSX, so this weekend I actually have been making a point of driving it to use up the "summer gas" that's in the tank.

poltergeist

And I'm sure you've all read the owners manual that says driving the car with an extremely low fuel level can cause fuel starvation/misfire/eventual catalyst damage.

PWAiN

wtf...why would you subject your car to such abuse...if your at or past 0 on the MID and able to fill up why not just fill it up. Don't even let it go that low. That's just going to create problems in the long run...