I have a 2008 Acura RL. I do a lot of driving for my sales job. The low on gas light indicator comes on a little late, and the range says there's maybe 30 miles to go before I run out.

Has anyone ever gone all the way to zero? Do you actually run out of gas or can you go another 30 miles or so past the zero marker?

I haven't lived on the edge yet and was wondering if anyone has gone past the point where it says zero miles til empty and if so, how many miles past...

 

I have an 06 RL and it behaves the same way. The low fuel light comes on when the range hits 30 miles. I've driven it until the range is zero and you don't run out of gas when it hits zero. I've stopped and filled up immediately when the light came on, and it takes almost exactly 16 gallons to fill up, so you have nearly 3 gallons to spare once the low fuel light comes on. That could be anywhere from 45-70 miles of driving, depending on city vs. highway and how close you want to cut it.

 

my light comes on at 10 miles left

 

I posted THIS a few years ago. If I remember correctly, at that point, I had been driving for about 10 miles. YMMV

LL

 

There were a few helpful things in that thread once you sort through it. what I suspected. The guy said he had zero miles left according to his range but still had 3 gallons and another guy said he went 60 miles further after it read zero.

 

there's no reason to be pushing the limits of low gas warning and drive it further, you don't wanna damage something pulling a silly stunt like that unless it's a either bigger emergency...

 

I agree with the light on at 30 miles left and have put in 16.3+ gal without it ever reaching zero. Probably under 10 miles left.

Sorry to steal the main idea here dunk it, but does anyone feel like the initial "estimate" of the range after fill up is way off?

I understand I have a heavy foot, but usually I only get 330+ mi before I fill up. The range has said between 470-500 after filling up since I bought it, but I don't know how or where to drive to get that kind of mpg. Has anyone put 450+ on one tank?

 

Other than perhaps one's ego, what would get damaged by running out of gas?

LL

 

LLand, if you run out of gas, you run the chance of burning out your fuel pump. Last weekend on a trip to Sacramento, we filled up in South Sac and drove back and the week on the tank. It showed something like 370 miles on the tank and 1 mile on the indicator when we refilled. The car took exactly 17 gallons. I don't know what was left in the bottom of the tank, but I wasn't willing to chance running out of gas on the freeway. The indicator was right at the red mark or slightly below on the gauge.

 

It's a 19.4 gal tank, so you still had 2+ gallons.

I have also heard of hurting the fuel pump by running out of gas.

 

on most fuel injected engines the fuel pump circulates fuel, that helps keep it cool. When you run dry the pump has no coolant or lubricant so it goes bad. You really don't want to run it dry with an electric fuel pump.

FYI - we were down to about 37 miles left available on one of our first tankfuls as I thought would sneak up on where empty was. It took 17.1 gallons. That leaves 2.2 gallons and we average 18 in stop and go work traffic - so it said 37 and the amount it took said 41. That is pretty close to accurate for a guesstimate.

 

Didn't know that. Luckily, I haven't gotten down to zero miles since.

LL

 

My question is answered!

 

Don't forget, a gas tank on an injected car is like a airplane gas tank, there is some fuel that is unusable because it can't get out of the tank and that some fuel is required to pressurize the injection system. So if you are at zero, I would figure you have a gallon left if that in the system.

A fuel pump install will be very expensive. I don't know if the gas tank has be pulled or not. The pump will most likely be at least$300 plus labor to install. Anyone know the real cost?

 

if they need to pull the gas tank, they'll need to disconnect the prop shaft, and the differential, then back seats (just looked under my car)... that's expensive lesson for running it down to 0!

 

Yes, the range is "off" after fill-up with respect to when the warnign comes on later. That said, I believe the range is actually accurate after fill-up and sometime when it gets below half, the range adjusts to a more conservative level. As others have said, if I fill up right when warning light comes on (in my case about 20 miles left), I put 16.5 gallons in car. Fill-up at zero range is 17.5 gallons. Thus, there is 2 gallons (perhaps not fully useable) at zero range.
I know you don't want to go empty for the fuel pump and other reasons. However, at least give me good info that I know where I stand once the warning comes on.

 

I have hit 370+ mi on one one tank driving non-stop highway from Lousyanna to Austin, which is pretty flat. I would say I averaged 25-26 mpg, but was going 80 most of the way and didn't help my milage. Still, for 470 mi I would have to use 18 gal with 26 mpg. Why would the factory put the high limit of the entire tank at great milage as the range? Just to make me feel bad when I fill up 140 mi below this? It just doesn't seem realistic. So again, has anyone put 450+ on a tank? What's your max?

 

Dont want to burn any scurvy that *might* be swillin' around the bowels of the belly! Might make for some rough waters ahead!!!


ARrrrrr!

 

I usually get 650km - 700km per tank. I've gone past the 0km till empty mark many times. My older Honda's used to show more gas once the reserve kicks in, this car doesn't.

 

any car will drive better with at least 1/2 tank because the pump is fully submerged and the fuel is evenly cooling the pump. In all my Honda's i usually take the tank out and lower the pump down more to the bottom. I drive hard! and like the corners so you need to keep the pump way in the fuel

 

I try to fill up when my tank is at 1/2 so I don't feel the dent in my wallet as much. ;-)

 

Its just bad to run your tank that low. All the crap thats in gas all settles at the bottom of the tank, and if you run your car to suck up every last drop, you are also sucking up all the nasty stuff into your injectors, filter, and lines. Its just not a good idea to drive past the warning light