Reserve fuel tank capacity

[marmite]

Hi,

Does anyone know how much fuel is remaining when the fuel light comes on?   (2000 MR2 Roadster)

Many thanks!

[SimonC_Here]

I wonder if there is a way to find out if this has been discussed before???
I wonder....


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Spoon fed version: depends on your normal MPG and driving style.

[marmite]

Thanks - I did actually do a search before posting but the first three pages that came back were on 'fuel surge' (!),  so I figured it would be easier to just ask.....

[SimonC_Here]

Sorry, my post came across as a little harsh. I think I searched for "fuel light" as I remembered the threads a little.

[marmite]

No worries  s8-) 8-) s8-)

Since this was my first post/thread, I suppose I'd better introduce myself.....

I'm female, have a 2000 bright green (what was I thinking?!) MR2,  which I got about 6 years ago and has been pretty much trouble free (apart from a long-term oil leak which I can't afford to get fixed).

I forgot my purse today and will almost certainly have to drive home from work with the fuel light on (it hasn't come on yet) - but have 23-24 miles of A-road + urban, or 25-26 miles of motorway (still trying to decide which is the better bet with limited fuel) to do. Hence my slightly odd first question.

Sorry it's not a more exciting post about powerslides or Top Gear or whatever!

[Anonymous]

I think you will be fine, I am sure I got more than this out of the car when the light was on.

Welcome

[Gary Groves]

Hi
   My commute to work is about 25 miles and I have driven that with the light on when I forgot to take my card with me.
Take it steady on your way home don't thrash it and have a safe journey

Gaz

[SimonC_Here]

Stick it on the motor way at 60 and be careful on the accelerator, but be prepared for running out of fuel!

Or go on the A roads and you can probably walk to a petrol station if required.

On my commute I used to get the fuel light coming on and then going off again if I drove carefully.

[marmite]

Thanks all - I will report back tomorrow (assuming I don't spend the night on the hard shoulder of the M11!)

[ekimq]

I Drove from Brands Hatch to Slough with the fuel warning light on - that's 95 miles! Unfortunately I live another 6 miles down the M4   s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

[marmite]

I have had only soup for lunch to ensure I am as light as possible!

[custardavenger]

Don't run out of fuel on the motorway. I'm pretty sure you can get in trouble for that.   s:? :? s:?

[nathanMR2]

Could you not have a whip round at work and lend you a £5 until tomorrow   s:? :? s:?

[marmite]

Home safe and sound!

I think it was the soup diet that did it......

[Jaik]

I coasted to a stop <100m from a fuel pump in France last year after running out. The two cars behind me on the sliproad thought it was a very silly place for me to stop. Good times  s:) s:)

[Capvermell]

I coasted to a stop <100m from a fuel pump in France last year after running out. The two cars behind me on the sliproad thought it was a very silly place for me to stop. Good times  s:) s:)

Just to add to this topic in 11 years of MR2 Roadster ownership I have probably run out of fuel four times.  I would say one of the main reasons for this happening is because the fuel light on the car comes on far too early with about 50 miles range remaining (out of a typical range of 300 miles with a full tank).  The fuel guage can the then drop from the appearance of having well over a gallon remaining before reaching the empty mark to what then looks like about a gallon below the empty mark in about only 20 miles.  At that pont when the needle looks on rock bottom and way below empty it still usually has about 25 to 30 miles of range left.  The problem with that is that as the needle does not move any further at this point it is very hard to judge your real fuel situation.   So if you make a couple of stops whilst your fuel needle is on rock bottom you may very easily misjudge things.  When running continuously from the point the fuel light comes on it is much easier to judge what your safe remaining range is.

On the occasions I have run out or nearly run out (in the latter case where the car was suffering fuel starvation for the last mile or two before the garage but I kept it going by driving with a light throttle) my experience is that that the fuel tank capacity from empty is always around 46.3 lites.   However Page 240 of the Owners Manual claims that the capacity if 48 litres or 10.6 UK gallons.  I previously owned an MGF VVC before the MR2 Roadster and the Owners Manual for that stated that its fuel capacity was 50 litres but on the one and only occasion I ran out I managed to fill it with 56 litres of petrol.  It was almost impossible to run out of fuel in the MGF because the tank's reserve capacity was somthing close to 9 litres when it looked as though the petrol needle was already absolutely at rock bottom

Last night I realised I was running out of fuel travelling down the A3 and managed to get off the three lanes each way divided dual carriageway road (with no hard shoulder, some of which is in also in very dangerous tunnel like sunken sections below the grade separated roundabout where running out of fuel would not be at all nice) and managed to get off the road at the Hook roundabout Junction and successfully coast around the roundabout and then started to pull on to the forecourt of the Ace of Spades Shell station only to finally run out on the petrol forecourt entrance.  Just to prove my luck was really in yesterday a blonde, slim but physically fit looking woman in her mid 30s who was filling up her own car noticed my predicament and came across and offered to help push and steer (there is a significant upward gradient on to the forecourt that makes pushing and steering by one person almost impossible).  Her professionalism with steering a powerless car was such that I rather suspect she may have been an off duty police officer or Paramedic (she was not in unform if that was the case).  In any event I then made it to the pump where the car once again proved its tank capacity is just over 46 litres.

As to the reserve fuel capacity since the car's possible MPG varies between 25mpg (in town or at around 90mph) and around 50mpg (travelling at a constant 55mph) then it is not possible to come up with a hard and fast reserve tank figure.  However as the reserve on the illumination of the warning light is around 7.5 litres then it may be possible to travel as far as the 70 miles or so indicated between Brands Hatch and Slough on the reserve fuel tank capacity.

[damo66]

I ended up running low on my way home from work last night and just waiting at the lights outside the petrol station my mr2 started to miss fire. Thinking it was running lumpy as it was low, I was sure it would clear when I'd fuelled up.
But its still there along with flashing engine light. This turned to a permanently on light for a while and then started flashing...
I gotta go to work later, is it OK to user? What can I do? HELP !!

[nathanMR2]

Fill up and disconnect the battery for 20-30 mins. Then reconnect and try firing her back up again. This should clear the code and allow the ecu to relearn itself.

Think the moral of these stories is not to allow the car to drop to an unsafe level. Once the little orange light comes on get to a station to fill up. I must admit I've often thought it would be nice to have the light flash when it's really really low

[damo66]

I've taken too much of a gamble with it.... My previous car (a puma) would happily do work and back and probably there again, but the mr2 isn't a puma is it?  :-) :-) :-)  
I'll try the battery reset trick and let you know..... I hope it works. I have woke up today in a stinker of a mood because of this.... Don't like it when my little car is sick!

[Capvermell]

I ended up running low on my way home from work last night and just waiting at the lights outside the petrol station my mr2 started to miss fire. Thinking it was running lumpy as it was low, I was sure it would clear when I'd fuelled up.But its still there along with flashing engine light. This turned to a permanently on light for a while and then started flashing... I gotta go to work later, is it OK to user? What can I do? HELP !!

As one who has run out of fuel more in an MR2 Roadster more than he should have done (i.e. several times) it does seem unusual for the car to experience any problem at all from running out of fuel,  even if you try repeatedly restarting it when it first stops (which of course you shouldn't do) in the hope of being able to run that last mile or two to the petrol station.

On each occasion my car restarted and ran completely smoothly as soon as fresh fuel was put in the fuel tank.  Are you sure you don't also have a problem with the oxygen sensors?  These are notorious for bringing on the engine management warning light whilst the engine still runs fine, although you usually only get a steady permanently on light in that situation.  Also I suppose a problem with the cataltic converter would cause the engine management warning light to activate and possibly only periodically to begin with.  The catalytic converter can in theory be damaged by trying to repeatedly restart a car with empty fuel.

The electrics on older MR2s can do funny things though.  For instance my recent problem with permanently stuck on windscreen wipers unless I pulled out the 20A windscreen wiper fuse went away when I replaced the blown 10A windscreen washer fuse.  In theory one fuse being out should have no impact on the other circuit but in this case quite clearly it did.

[damo66]

It wasn't restarting it... It started getting lumpy at idle waiting at the lights outside the petrol station, directly off the motorway. I did about 17 miles on the motorway, that is all. I suppose I might have done 30 miles on yellow, the needle was right at the bottom...

[damo66]

Just wondering if it sucked up some crap from the bottom of the tank? Or is this a motoring myth?

[ChrisGB]

I often wonder if crud floating on top of the fuel gets sucked into the system when a car is run low. It would make sense. Fuel filter should prevent a problem, but you never know it will for sure.

Driving with low fuel should be avoided for safety reasons. Having the car cut out at the wrong moment could cause an accident or traffic hold up. If your car is boosted or heavily tuned, fuel starvation could properly break it.

[Capvermell]

Just wondering if it sucked up some crap from the bottom of the tank? Or is this a motoring myth?

In theory it doesn't happen in modern tanks due to them having a fuel filter but if the tank has so much cr*p in it that the fuel filter itself is clogged then I suppoe that it will happen.

I mainly fill up at large Shell stations although more recently have been using Tesco Momentum 99 (which may in practice actually come from Shell given that no other fuel company seems to do a 99 Octane fuel in the UK)  but if you only ever use 95 Octane supermarket petrol or fill up at small independent garages (who sometimes tend not to maintain their tanks properly) you are more likely to have rubbish in the bottom of your tank.

I suppose your fuel system could have some kind of air lock in it after the run out but as a relatively frequent runner outer in an MR2 Roadster I can report that this usually does not happen when you run out of fuel.  Normally you can just fill up and carry on again as normal.

[ChrisGB]

Momentum is produced by Greenergy. Shell make this own. Definitely different fuels, they smell very different too.