mediamst

Ok, here's a funny request. On previous vehicles I have gotten to know how far I can drive once my low fuel warning says low and not a certain number of miles left to drive. I knew that I could still drive at least 10 miles or so without running out of gas.

I have a 2012 SH-AWD - Any experiences of how many miles you have once your low fuel indicator says you dont have any more miles left?

For the rare occasion I cant find a gas station or am in a jam

potmilkz

um, your MID tells you how much miles you have left? ever though about using that?

LawnPro

Owners manual should say how many gallons are in reserve?

Once the low fuel light is on, i dont drive more than 20 miles-

or as soon as the next gas station is up. If the shawd tl gets

20 mph-just as an example, thats as far as im going to risk running

out of gas. Gotta think its bad for the engine to run dry of gas.

mediamst

I am talking about once that reaches 0. My 525i BMW I just sold would say range 0, but I had on a few occasions not been able to find a gas station and travelled another 20 miles or so with the display reading 0. That's all. Not that I do it often, its an emergency situation.

potmilkz

my suggestion, dont even consider to hit 0 in the mid.

once your light comes in (Light will come on at around 45-50 range in the MID) you should get gas, and should not go no more than 20 range left in mid.


it surprises me how dumb people can get. it cost more and creates more stress to run your gas tank down to absolutely zero than to just pump when light is on.

mediamst

Thanks. (I think).

cloud7

It always amazes me how people can be so aggressive in a friendly forum. Calling people dumb and such will not make them take your comments seriously.

slick316

I always run my tank bone dry before filling up again. I don't care what anyone says. When my low fuel light turns on, I go another 40 miles or so on it. I'm filling up between 17-17.5 gallons at the pump and I believe the tank holds 18.5 gallons.

potmilkz

do i really care if you take it seriously? answer is no..

why run the risk of getting stranded? just pump your gas when the light is on.

there is no benefit to running your car completely empty. there are nothing but downsides to it.

if you can give me one good reason why you should run your tank to full empty, then be my guest.

You sir are as smart as a nail.

by running it completely dry, you run the risk of damaging your fuel pump, injectors, and anything along the lines of delivering fuel.

Read it up, you can learn something new everyday.

audi_to_TL

iTrader: (2)

I drove about 40 km's once the MID reached 0.

I filled up with 68 Litres of gas...capacity is 70.

I usually get about 13.5-14L/100km's so I wouldn't go past 50km's of driving once I reach 0 on the MID.

sarge_in

While I agree there is no point of doing it if you can avoid it, there may well be situations when this will be good info to know.

E.g. I once did not fill up the Odyssey during a visit to Yosemite, as it was about 1/3 when I entered. Going to different places in the park but having no access to gas well after the low fuel indicator lighted up - and the one gas station in the park to be closed that particular day - almost got me that one time. A very helpful passing local helped me by driving behind me till I could get to a gas station so he could help in case I get stranded. I didn't end up needing his help, but having a good knowledge of how much I can afford to go would certainly have helped manage the stress in that case.

potmilkz

good suggestion but bad way of thinking about it.

as technology advances, we all have the ability to locate a gas station, either by our GPS/NAVI or by cell phone. we are not in the 90's. we have ways to find shit. If you dont have a phone by now that has that ability, then obviously you dont have TL or not up to date with technology, but im sure 99% of you guys do have it.

Find nearest gas station via mobile or gps. Calculate how far you can drive, if it seems or even doubt you will make it, dont do it. It is for safety of you and others on the road. The moment you run out of gas as you are driving I.E FWY or local streets, your putting everyone around you in danger.

LawnPro

If its summer than you can risk running out of gas-if you have to. But in the winter months......... not a good idea, not safe.

slick316

My bad, I forget the smiley in my post.

I would suggest being careful with running the car under a 1/4 tank of gas. That bit of gas keeps the fuel pump cool, once you start getting low on gas, the fuel pump will get hot from use and you risk damage to the pump.

Sorry for the lame, sarcastic post earlier, I guess I was in a mood.

jspagna1

No need for all the snide remarks guys! Yes you should not run your tank dry of gas as it will/may cause damage to your fuel pump. If you choose to do so it's your business and you can't we didn't tell you so.
It's your money so you can waste/throw it away as you feel!!!!!

draph

The "miles to go" software was written by lawyers. When I got down to 15 miles to go, it started counting down at twice the rate during steady state cruise. They want to make sure the software will never miscalculate that you have miles to go when you actually run out out of gas (surely someone would find a reason to sue if that happened). It worked - it made me nervous enough to divert my route from going to the day care first to pick up my son to a gas station instead (it would have added another 7 miles if I had picked up my son first). The pump clicked off at 16.2 gallons, indicating at least 2 gallons left vs. the 4 miles to go on the MID by the time I pulled into the station. Luckily, I still got to the day care with 2 minutes to spare before they hit me with the big by-the-minute late fines.

BTW, I live near a city where the gas price jumps by 40 cents in a single day. I drive 32 miles to work one way, and the gas prices don't all go up 40 cents at once in my driving zone...so on that day, it was worth pushing my range to save almost $7 (the gas stations in my 'burb hadn't jumped yet). I tend to agree with the folks who say it's not good for fuel pump cooling and fuel filters to run the tank too low; but there are legitimate reasons why some of us find ourselves in a situation where we might want to know with better accuracy how much range we really have left. On a January day in a car with less than 25K miles on it, I don't think I had to worry about overheating my fuel pump and sucking up a bunch of accumulated fuel tank debris into my fuel system...and yeah, it may not be worth $7 to many of you; but it's that kind of frugality that helped me earn my way in life. I wouldn't be in a TL if I didn't care about losing a few bucks here and there...

potmilkz

you say that now, but when your fuel pump goes out, and your injectors clogged, lets see if you still want to save that extra $7.

i know in certain cases, you just have to do it, but dont make it a habit to do that all the time. your fuel pump has to stay cool. and again, if your car dies while your driving, your putting yourself and everyone else around you in danger.

not worth it in my opinion. but i believe once you hit "5 range" you should stop.

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Guys,


There is some really good information here.

I would greatly appreciate it if we could "all just get along" and maybe practice the Golden Rule....meaning it's not what you say, it's the way you say it.

Thanks....

Mr Marco

This issue has been covered before. It was determined that running the RDX on fumes is bad for the system as it retards to the point of damage to the converter. After reading this (italics), I don't recommend seeing how far you can get on the tank:

https://acurazine.com/forums/1g-rdx-2007-2012-147/gasoline-related-questions-whats-final-verdict-797932/

LaCostaRacer

Even if the car can go a few extra miles, it's not a good idea to run it to bone dry for another reason: you might not be able to buy gas when you need to. This could happen with a freeway traffic jam or even a power outage.

I like the indicator light because you have a little time after if you don't get too carried away. There has only been one time that I took the car down < 1 gallon since I have owned my car- there is usually 3-4 gallons left most of the time.

Oswald Vater

Lots of good info here (in spite of some sarcastic remarks). This does matter to me as, living where I do, the gasoline is very expensive. The further up the Keys I go the cheaper it gets (sometimes varying as much as .20 per gallon). Obviously I want to be able to go as far as possible before I have to fill up. That being said, I try to fill up within 5 miles or so of the light coming on.

tuxacura

I hit 0 on the MID once as I pull into the gas station. After filling up I think there was still about a gallon of fuel left. But I usually fill up with about 20 miles left in the MID.

mr_raja

So... here are my 0.02 cents about that... I happen to drive my car after the MID said that I can go 0 miles till empty (MTE) over the weekend. I refueled the car about 3 miles after I got 0 MTE and filled a little over 16 gallons. So when your MID is saying 0 MTE, I will say, depending on your driving conditions, style and load, you can go anywhere from 10 to 30 miles. But, as I said, it totally depends on how much of lead foot you are or how much weight you are carrying. Weather will be a negligible factor but should be considered.

Now, I will not recommend or even suggest doing that. Like Potmilkz said, refuel once you get the light on, which, in my case, came on 35 MTE a few times. Reason for that is that if you run your tank dry, you will overload, and possibly damage, your fuel pump. Costly way to replace because in most of the cars, TL included, it is in the tank..... So you cant just get under the car and switch the pump if it burns out. So.... DONT DO THAT....

Hope this helps.

mediamst

Great info. Thanks. This was the kind of responses I was hoping to see.

Thanks

turbo_oxide

If you hit '0', you still have some reserve left. I did it once on accident in my '10 (The mileage dropped 3-4 miles for every 1 mile as i was looking for a gas station, so it wasn't accurate indication of my actual range). I finally pulled into a gas station just after hitting 0. I don't remember how much, but even when the MID stated 0, it still didn't fill up all the way... I want to say I still had 3/4 gallon left.

Obviously, it's not a good idea to run it dry as everyone has stated, but it's nice to know that when you're at 0, you're still good for a few more miles.

Pseudomaniac

iTrader: (1)

In my experience, it kicks in when you've got less than 3 gallons of gas in the tank.

Fuel pumps are submerged in the tank, and are cooled by the fuel around them. Run a pump hot - burn a pump up. Fill it up before you burn it up.