Fuel warning light

[Anonymous]

Drove for about 20 miles today with the low fuel warning light.  What's the furthest anyone has dared drive before stopping for fuel?  Just wondering how far I could have gone.

[Darth Paul]

I read on SC once that it's about 30 miles. I'll be doing it on the 30 mile drive home from work.  s:? :? s:?  The low fuel light's just come on.

[Anonymous]

An interesting question but one which i find difficult to answer.

When my fuel light comes on its normally when in town and i find if i stretch her legs a little the guage will rise to almost a quarter of a tank and the light will stay on...next time i start the car the light is off....

A little off topic but interestingly i can't answer sorry!

[Sam]

I have managed 30 - on mainly motorway. (getting a bit nervy tho)

[Liz]

I stop as soon as possible, always worried about what might be drawn up out of the bottom of the tank and pollute the engine, having said that I know that mine is going to come on on the way home!

[Anonymous]

I worked out that the warning light come on way too early, i you ignore if and wait for your needle to go completly to zero, then keep on going, on mine at leat theres another 8 litres in the car.

Try running to the warning light then filling to the top, see how many litres against the capacity of the tank which i think is 48L

[Liz]

Well mine was on by the time that I got home this morning and was reading just over the empty marker, got in today and it was sitting halfway between the empty and quarter tank and the light did not come on, I don't think that the Optimax fairies had visited me in the night as it still took £33.00 to fill up!

[Anonymous]

ive done 30 miles with the light on, and that was a mixture of round town and thrashing it a bit  s:shock: :shock: s:shock:  

i agree with what odub said, i think there's still quite a lot in the tank when the light comes on, cos if you try to fill up just as it comes on, you get no where near the 45L tank capacity...

[Tem]

78km from the moment it shows up to empty tank  s8) s8)

I bet it varies a bit between cars though...so take an extra gasoline canister with you and see when you run out  s;) s;)

[Tem]

I stop as soon as possible, always worried about what might be drawn up out of the bottom of the tank and pollute the engine

Isn't the fuel pump in fixed position...so any crap on the bottom of the tank should remain there even when you run out of fuel...? If you have anything floating on top of the fuel, that might get sucked in though  s:? :? s:?

[MRMike]

I'd say i''d done approx 30 before chickening out.  Personally I make sure i get every last drop out of the tank each time i fill it up.  That way I believe you'd elleviate any sludge building up as prominently.

[Anonymous]

if you treat your tank to a bit of injector cleaning and some 'dry tank' stuff which get rid of water, i dont think you should ever get any nasty bits sitting at the bottom

[MR2Blue]

I don't know why but I log all of the petrol I buy and the mileage I've done and my warning light has come on more than a few times during the time I've had the car but the most petrol I've ever been able to put in is 38 litres.

[Anonymous]

38 litres is around the limit for the warning light (about .8 of a tank).  So by my calculations you should get at least another 60 miles from the empty point.

[Anonymous]

I've managed 47 miles, but I wasn't happy about it. Although the car was fine. Was on a late night M1 trip and watford gap was closed and I'd been aiming for that. However I think the maths with my driving shows about 70 miles.
When I first got my '2 (over 2 years ago now) I was running a petrol spreadsheet mainly cos I do business miles in my 2.  I average 7 miles to the litre and the tank is approx 48 litres. The light comes on about 38 so that's 70 miles. I've only ever put 41.5 litres in cos when the light comes on I don't drive in my average style: I stay below 3500 rpm and drive as smooth as possible.