Never seen this before - driving along with something like 60 miles left to empty on the range meter (in the instrument panel, not the nav screen)

Went thru a sweeping curve in a "spirited" manner, got out of the curve and looked down - range meter said 0 miles (not the double dashes like it should), and there was no yellow warning light or flashing warning on the LCD. Freaked me out....the fuel gauge was close to E, but its hard to tell since the needle is so side vs the space between 1/4 tank and E.

Immediately started going to the nearest gas station just in case...as I was driving there the range to empty starting going up again, and once it was over 10 the yellow triangle light came on and the LCD started flashing its warning.

Since then the car seems a bit sluggish. Not sure if its the gas I put in (not my normal station, but it wasnt cheap stuff), just a placebo, or if there is something really up that caused that weird range reading.

Anyone ever seen it before? AFAIK it should never read 0, it would just go to double dashes as a warning to fill up.

Thanks in advance.

-Chris

 

With little gas left in the tank, the float went to the bottom of its range as you went around a sharp curve and your display momentarily went to zero.
Why are you surprised with so little fuel left in your tank?


Cheap stuff???

I have been buying the cheapest gasoline I can find all my life and never had a problem.
Here in NJ all gasoline comes from the Bayway refinery located along the NJ Turnpike in Elizabeth. The only difference is the price you pay for different brands at the pump.

I use this



BTW I have read on other forums that gasoline in the tank helps keep the fuel pump from overheating. I generally fill up at the 1/4 mark
What would happen if a traffic accident ahead shut down the road with so little fuel left in your tank on a very cold night.

Running out of fuel can be a big PITA


Telcoman

 

It's normal. I've had it go to 0 and then back up. You caused no damage from it, you just sloshed the remaining fuel around violently so that the sensor read that the tank was completely empty and then when it sloshed back into place read the level correctly. Your fuel pump isn't damaged form running it low or even all the way empty, the pump floats in whatever gas is in the tank and as you probably know, gasoline is always cool. It's a very small electrical pump, it doesn't need a lot of cooling like an engine does.

From a guy who's run completely out of gas in a G37. More than once.

 

bottom of the tank gas is always good for the car. Especially the particles that get inside the engine parts which is sweeetttt...

 

I've been inside mine more than once and it is completely clean. The filter inside the tank is completely clean. Not a speck of foreign material anywhere. Just gas. That's all. Not just this car, every gas tank I've looked inside of on at least a half dozen cars over the past 20 years. What are you basing that on? What you read on the internet somewhere? What foreign material are you putting into your gas tank? And are these "particles" so heavy that they can only sit on the bottom of the tank, they don't float or slosh around? If not, then they won't get picked up by the fuel pump, will they?

There's nothing in your gas tank but gas and vapor.

 

Interesting.

Ive run it down low enough that Ive seen the double dashes....Im not surprised that something happened with the tank low, I *am* surprised at exactly WHAT happened.

Double dashes seem to take over at 10 miles left, the warning light comes on with less than 50 miles left? I had none of that happen until after it hit 0 and started coming back up. Was just weird to see it hit 0 instead of double dashes, and no flashy warning lights.

As far as what the tank looks like when run down - I know there were a few threads about my old 01 i30, where people would replace the "lifetime" fuel filter (installed around the pump inlet inside the tank) and some reported slightly better acceleration, but no one could prove if it was just a placebo or not. The technical reasoning being that the pump can overcome any crud on the filter.

 

Thats happened to me multiple times. Except that I was going down a level road with no sudden acceleration. Is there any reason for this happening?