ran out of gas :(
 

yea im an idiot but i couldnt control the situation. i actually ran out of gas and the car went dead. i had someone come by and fill me up and she started back up. however, the car seems a bit sluggish right now. what should i do? reset the computer? do i possibly cause some damage or is this just all in my head?

:yikes: :nono:

isnt that bad for the injectors

It's not bad for your fuel injectors. (ie, there is going to be air in the fuel rail when you replace the fuel injector/rail) Though your fuel pump certainly won't like it, epecially since many fuel pumps will overheat if they are not submerged in gasoline.

Dude that suks. Its also horrible for the car. I was running low on gas and I had to replace all 7 fuel injectors (not on the tl).
Hope nothing bad happened. But you should keep a level at which u will fill up more gas. Hope no damage done

Toss a can of Seafoam in the tank- that will clean the crud from the bottem of the tank out of the system and restore power.
At least now you know how far after the light comes on til empty

Just curious. How many miles did your TL go after you hit "E"??

01TL4TL,

THis seafoam you speak of, can i get this at the local pepboys or kregens?

^^yup. its about 6 bucks a can at autozone and we have a DIY in the second Gen section.

but what year is your car, I heard that it is not good to seafoam your car if it's "older"

There's really no need to seafoam a car unless its older, (higher mileage)

dont touch the seafoam shit if the car is new..... "IF". first did u use the right kinda gas when the person filled u up a little bit??? 87 89 or 93? thats the biggest factor because the car will feel crappy for a lil while if you ran shit quality gas even for 30 secs......fill up pull out of the gass station hang out on the side for a lil bit somewhere unplug the battery both terminals if u want just to be 100% sure the computer drains and then in 10 or so mins plug it back in.....the car should go back to normal.

Not to rub too much salt into the wound, but how could you not 'control the situation'? There's about 3 gallons left when the light comes on. That's 70+ miles even without driving like a granny. Not to say I haven't pushed it myself for stupid reasons (like trying to wait until Tuesday to fill up at Shell because they discount the gas 5-cents/gallon) but if I did run out, I wouldn't say I wasn't in control of the situation...just that I'm an idiot.

i honestly dont know. if had i had to make an educated guess based on when the gas light came on, then i got about 70 more miles once the light came on going at a steady 85-90mph

the car is an 04 with 73k miles. it was sunoco 93 that i used to fill up after it died. (thats what i always use) the car feels better now since the other day. ive gone about 150 miles since i ran out gas and it feels fine. i bought 3 16oz cans of seafoam and im going to treat the fuel when i get to a half tank. i just changed the oil so ill have to wait a while to treat that.

im a little confused on how to add seafoam to the gas tank. 16oz of seafoam to 8 gallons of gas? can anyone inform me on that? should i run the tank almost to empty once the seafoam is added then just fill up regularly again?

i had a family emergency and i was having tunnel vision and did not want to stop

thanks for the advice, i put 16oz seafoam in half tank of gas an ran the car 50 miles past gas light. the car feels much more responsive then before.

I did it on my 2000 and at the time it had about 95K

EDIT: 3000 posts!!!!!!!

:rave: :rave: :rave: :rave: :rave: :victory: :victory: :clap: :clap: :eek:

^ :rofl:

I ran out of gas few months back... I was on low fuel for about 4 days... the car felt sooo much lighter... so i got on the highway and on my way back home I got to my exit... turn signal on... entered exit.... stepped on break... every single light on the dash lit up... I was like nooooooo don't tell me... by the way I was on a hill incline lmfao.... so i came to a slow stop rolled back a little parked it and walked my ass to the gas station 3 blocks away... (it was raining cats and dogs)... leason learned... fill up at half a tank early mornings... (gas is colder in the Am... and it usually is cheaper as the rumor is gas stations up the price at 10am... I guess it is controlled by the stock market, go figure lmfao)

Its not good for the fuel pump if the car is always driven around with low fuel and it is really bad to run it out of fuel. One time probably won't hurt it but it defintly wasn't good for it. The gas around the pump helps to keep the pump cool, when you drive around on "E" all the time your allow the pump to get hotter than it should. As with any type of pump it is bad for it to run it dry.

With all that said, I have no idea how anyone can run a TL out of gas. My light always comes on at 300miles on the tank I have driven to 400 miles miles with the light on and the car still only took 15 gallons. Maybe my TL's gas guage is off but it seems that my car has a 5 gallon reserve.

isn't there a MID option/indicator showing how many miles is left for the remaining gas?

you think that's bad? i was on going to the grand canyon from las vegas on highway 93 this monday, left with a 1/4 tank (dick move)...anyways i was driving economilcally (110-115mph in 6th gear) but i was running out bad...mile after mile of total darkeness and emptyness...the only lights around were my car's.

then i felt a judder, and the engine was gone, i was like SHITT..really done it this time. so i let it coast in neutral until i eventually make a complete stop on a uphill. (which was only about a mile away from the city...i ALMOST made it.)

so as i'm wondering what to do, i try cranking it again...and it starts, apperantly the fuel went to the back of the tank from the uphill...as soon as it did start i took off maximum force picking up as much speed as i can until the hill ends, sure enough i got it back to about 120mph...and when i got back on the flat my engine died again within 30 seconds...but it was enough speed to coast to a gas station in that town.



so here's my technical observation...the TL MUST have a low fuel protection and shut off before it can do any damage to the fuel pump or anything else...

i say that because 1, it shut off instanlty with no choking, as in the computer just said cut it.

2, when i was on the uphill that raised the gas level a little so the computer allowed it to start, and when i got back on the straight the engine was running for another 30 seconds, which it should not have, but then the computer cut it again when it realized that the fuel level dropped again.

3, it started right up on the uphill, and started right up in the gas station once i filled it up, so i know it didn't actually run anything dry cuz then it would of needed to crank a bit longer to bleed everything out and actually start up.

Because of this protection, it is safe on the car to run out of gas, it wudn't do any damage...the only reason why u might of felt a difference is if ur friend brought you some cheap/old gasolene he had sitting around.

that observation also means that if you are in a real emergency and your car shuts off, you can pour a bottle of water in your gas tank to raise the level so the computer says it's ok to start the engine, that shud get you a few miles of range to hopefully make it to a gas station, then fill the tank up...a bottle of water in a tank of fuel wudnt make a big difference, you might feel a cut once in a while but if it's an emergency i guess you have no choice.

sorry for the long post, but in conclusion yr best bet is to never let the gas go that low, and for backup, mabe keep a small container of gas in ur trunk for emergencys. :thumbsup:

damn son you was in the middle of nowhere... nice theory... hope someone with technical expertise can comment

Wow, that's seriously the most ill informed and downright dangerous advice I've ever seen given here. You're seriously advocating pouring water in your fuel tank? You honestly believe the car would run after that? You're car would not start after that. Water is heavier than gas and would sink to the bottom, displacing the gas. The fuel pump would then try to inject water into the engine and bad things would result.

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised given this is coming from some one who thinks driving 110 is driving economically. :whyme:

Oh, and you're making some huge assumptions about the presence of some sort of safety cutoff based on what you observed. There's nothing that says the engine has to sputter before it dies when you run out of gas. Considering you were driving 110 mph, at the rate you were consuming fuel, any sputtering would go by very quickly anyway. It's entirely possible you just didn't notice.

The fuel pump is electrical and turns on as soon as the key is in the on position. The fact that it started up without any extra cranking means nothing.

You're better off just not running out of gas.

Or pouring water in your gas tank. Obviously.

ROFL. water in gas tank. next time try pissing in your gas tank, your car might like it more. :whyme:

both of you are complete idiots....i have experience with that sort of thing so here it goes:

i know that water will sink under the gasoline...that's what we're trying to do here...the pump is not at the bottom because that's where all the dirt ends up over time...so the gas would raise above the water and actually start the engine...learn a bit more about this b4 making assumptions.

another thing...my friend with a 99 honda accord 4cyl has done this countles times, he said he even pissed in the gas tank once...and it makes sence because any fluid to raise the gas would give you a little more running time...after you fill the tank to the brim, a qt or so of piss or water wudn't make a big difference in a 17gallon gas tank...i have seen this work and am positive that it does work...and if you didn't know, gas stations do add a small percentage of water to their gas to make more money...a little amount of water wund't hurt anything as it'll only be about 1-2%.

also i am sure it has protection for that because it took a while to shit off again when i got back on the flat, it should of died instantly if it really had no gas at all.

1 last thing...on the trip i put the car in cruise at 120mph and did an average of 22mpg...so it's not the best the car cud do, but at 110-115 it was probably doing 23-24mpg.

(i also ment it as a joke but u didn't seem to get that)

... This just inspired me to use my Visa[that I need to pay off] to go refill my tank of gas[I'm broke!]. I got less than 30KMs[not miles] left to drive apparently--says the TL.

^lol...depends on how you drive, but even though this is my 2nd time running out of gas with my car...it shud be able to go about another 100kms (60 miles for me) after it says it can go no farther.

ive done this many times...when i actully ran out i was about 70-80 miles past the 0 mile range...again, the computers calculations are not 100% accurate so i wudn't go much more than 50kms past 0, after that it's a risk.

I knew I saw that gas station attendant with a garden hose, pouring water in the underground tank to dilute the gas by 1 or 2% so they could get filthy rich off of us. :detective: :tomato: :tomato:

lol, water in the gas tank. that's a first; why don't you try mixing the water with some sugar next time. I hear it increases the mileage of water!

how about not waiting until the last minute to put in some gas...?
sure beats pissing in your car..

I did this once but not in the TL. Ran outta gas in a rental several months back because the damn gas gague was broken. It was reading half a tank.. I got at the light right infront of my building and the bitch just stalled... I turned it on and the fuel light was flashing and she wouldn't turn over. Talk about looking embarassed. I had to push the car into the fire zone in front of my building and I just was standing there as all my co-workers walked pass.. Needless to say I know the feeling and feel your pain haha

After reading all the posts in this thread I feel the need to comment again...

Should I decide to use water in my tank.. Do I use Spring or Tap Water? I have Lemon flavored Vitamin water (walmart had it on sale) what's the recorded hp gains for this

The MID has been pretty damn accurate for me...every time. I reset my trip odo, and the avg. mpg every time I fill up. Divide the the mileage by the avg. mpg and presto you get how many gallons you have used and thus how many you have left in the tank. Not exactly rocket science. I've kept a log book of my TL's mileage, and after 14,000 miles the MID has been pretty much dead on.

On the other stuff, it just baffles me that people can pay 30k+ for a car and then be too stupid, lazy, or careless to fill there cars with gas at the appropriate times?

If you can't afford to keep the tank filled, don't you think it's about time to sell the car for something more affordable or seriously think about mass transportation?

You're calling us idiots yet you're the one who has on multiple occasions either pissed or put water in your gas tank. :jack:

this is where the thread derailed. if I were you I would just let it go or try to post without personally attacking the members

this is warning...

are you all a bunch of ignorant ppl here on a-zine that mock ppl 4 what they say without any reasonable logic of their own?? i have explined why it works, i've seen it work, i've done it, it makes physical sence and is a fact...but all u care to say it wow, put water in the gas tank?? this guy is a moton.

i'm not saying an internal combustion engine will run on water, i have explined why it would run for a little longer in an emergency situation but since most of you here obviously don't understand that then nvr mind.

if you read carefully you would see that i didn't piss in my gas tank, but i know someone that did, and it worked, and it makes sence that it would, it didn't run on piss, it ran on the little gas that was left in there but the piss was simply used to bring up the gas to the fuel pump...same as what water would do.

IT is NOT good for Any car or fuel pump to run it out of fuel. The TL has no electronic or computer protection for the fuel pump. The protection is the reserve fuel in the tank when the Yellow light comes on. Most people go and get gas when the needle is pointing at"E" and that yellow light is on. As many people have noted before the TL has VERY generous reserve. The reserve is the fuel pump protection.

For future reference, just think how far you could have made it if you were driving 55mph and not 100mph. You probaly could have made it to the gas station with fuel left over and not endagered your life or anybody elses.

yea the mid is pretty accurate when you calculate the mpg vs gallons used and miles youve gone. i think what he was talking about was the miles left until empty.. this weekend my mid said 0miles left and i went about 50miles past that. filled up, and it was 15.5gallons..

haha i cant believe he got banned/mad arguing over water in the tank.. lol. lets all remember to not push our cars to the point of dying from thirst on us :thumbsup:

No offense to anyone here, but I have never in my driving years ever ran out of gas(knock on wood). I've gone through ten vehicles(get bored easy). I can understand technical difficulties(broke fuel gauge).

I think that is a mistake that a woman would make(sorry female TL drivers). I have to get on my girlfriend for that everytime she tests the limit. Maybe I'm a very cautious person, but I pay attention to my gauges all the time. Hell, Acura even made it easy for us with the MIDs indicator. When I'm in double digits as far as miles remaining, I fill up. Simple, isn't it?