Just how much fuel is left when that last bar on the gauge goes out?

racer26 · 10-04-2011, 10:29 PM

I'm looking for empirical evidence.

I just did the following today.

Reset segment meter the instant the last fuel bar went out, then drove it to the gas station. I got this:

2.8L/100km over 54.7km

Thats .028L/km, or 1.531L used from the time the last bar went out.

Anybody else have similar experiences?

Docrings · 10-04-2011, 11:06 PM

When I refill with 3 segments left (the lowest I've gone), I put in 10.3 US gallons. I need to correlate that with the tank capacity to calculate a residual.

**thedhgroup** · 10-04-2011, 11:10 PM

Mine putters to a stop exactly 33 miles after the last light goes out indicating about 1/2 us gallon left after the light goes out. I've done this twice to see if I could get 750 miles out of a tank. Both attempts failed. I'll try again next summer. Since it is getting cold where I am I've seen my mpg drop a little making it hard to get 750 out of a tank.

retepsnikrep · 10-05-2011, 12:06 AM

I don't have any hard evidence but I've done ~50 miles on zero bars at 100mpg so used about half a UK gallon. I've never run it till it stops.

Varak · 10-05-2011, 01:13 AM

Mine is approximately a half gallon as well.

If I fill up as soon as it goes out, I put in ~10.1 gallons.

racer26 · 10-05-2011, 01:31 AM

Since everybody's topfill method is a little different, and the cutoff on each pump is a little different, using measurements based on fills isnt accurate. I figure the fuel senders in each car should be relatively equal, based on when the last light goes out.

I've only run my car right out of gas once, and that was about 100km after the light went out.

Eli · 10-05-2011, 05:05 PM

One problem with the fillup method is that the charcoal canister is HUGE. You can inadvertently pump gas into it, making your fillup numbers all wonky. Up to 14 gallons.

I've put 10.6 gallons into Insight #2 when the light had literally just come on a few miles prior.

But yeah, in my experience there is about 0.4 to 0.5 gallons left when the last light goes out(I used to often fill the car with 10.1 - 10.2 gallons).

racer26 · 10-05-2011, 05:10 PM

Are there any negative effects to pumping gas into the charcoal canister?

Willie Williford · 10-05-2011, 05:19 PM

The cannister is charcoal imbedded. Once the charcoal gets saturated, you probably will get a MIL light. It's a waste of money to overfill. (emissions related)

Willie

Eli · 10-05-2011, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by racer26

Are there any negative effects to pumping gas into the charcoal canister?

I imagine it's not good for it? Probably uses up the activated carbon quicklike. It's also a pain to do purposefully, you would have to sit there and milk the pump for 5-10 minutes to get that much into it.

I believe you can see the inlets for the charcoal canister around the perimeter of the filler neck(at least, that's where I assumed the gas was going).

It was kinda cool driving for like 250 miles before I lost the first bar on the gas gauge though, lol.

Trying to find the thread where all this was discussed, can't remember the title though.