Gas mileage

[Lucifers_Ghost]

Just curious to know if there is any rule of thumb regarding how much mileage you have left from the time that "low gas light" comes on until the time your tank is empty and you are stranded.

I would assume it all depends on the size of the tank in the car but other than that, Im not sure.

Any ideas?
LG

[gadgetguy]

According to my wife, "Enough to get to the Mall and back."

[Lucifers_Ghost]

lol .. awesome answer!

[SquirrelDip]

lol - and according to my wife enough until I drive (so that I can fill it).

Seriously though... I don't think so - especially between different manufacturers. I would think that the gauge isn't all that sensitive near empty so variation could be quite high.

[träskmannen]

No - not really. Up until some years ago the light went on when the level in the tank was below a certain level set by the manufacturer, in my experience usually somewhere between 5 and 10 liters. How far you got was of course depending on your driving behaviour. Now it is getting more and more common that the light is triggered when the level gauge and the average consumption indicate that you still can drive a certain distance, in my case the light goes on when my car thinks I have 80 km to go before I should start cursing heavily. This pre-defined distance differs from carmodel to carmodel.

The size of the tank has nothing to do with it, only the settings from the manufacturer.

[ZAPPER]

Drive off into the desert and find out.


Juuuusssstt kidding

To many variables to be accurate between vehicles and probably the same on one vehicle. Check the owners manual to see if there is an estimated range for your car after the light comes on. I am pretty sure that I have gone 40 miles in a full sized pick up truck and a van but that only equates to a couple of gallons or so of go juice (figure atleast 15MPG or better on any modern Pick up)

I don't know the facts, but I don't think that fuel gauges are all that accurate. It always seems that the top half goes alot faster than the bottom half, maybe just because I watch the last bit a little closer nowadays

[Mr. Dweezel]

Just curious to know if there is any rule of thumb regarding how much mileage you have left from the time that "low gas light" comes on until the time your tank is empty and you are stranded. LG

This won't answer your question but.....

The tank should really be kept above 3/4 full.

Letting it run down will allow condensation to form, introducing water into the gas.

Also, running low will allow crap on the tank walls to flake off, although that
isn't much of a problem today, like it was 75 years ago!!!

[SquirrelDip]

I was going to bring up those points also but I'm as guilty as most when it comes to not filling until the light comes on...

On a plus side, many tanks are plastic now so there won't be as much crud in the tank as there maybe once was...

On a down side (another reason not to let it go down too much), I have a '96 truck recently purchased from my in laws and as it was explained the fuel pump is attached to the bottom of the tank. If it runs too low the pump may overheat as it uses the fuel to cool.