Thread: How far can your car drive on empty?

But my gas light comes on when it gets to the next to last tick, not the E...so I don't understand. But I have always been tempted to see how far my car really will go after it's PAST the E lol...but who the hell wants to run out of gas?

Originally Posted by Aquanina

But my gas light comes on when it gets to the next to last tick, not the E...so I don't understand. But I have always been tempted to see how far my car really will go after it's PAST the E lol...but who the hell wants to run out of gas?

I certainly don't.. in fact I don't let my gauge fall anywhere near the "E".

I heard about this website on some news program and supposedly the guy who runs the site has people emailing him all the time about how far they've gone before running out of gas.. some even film themselves and put it on youtube.

It says my car can go an average of 44 or so miles after hitting empty.. that's just.. wow, that's a lot.. but makes me wonder if the car manufacturers were just incapable of making accurate gas dials, or if they do this sort of thing on purpose? I don't know.

Originally Posted by Mes Tarrant

It says my car can go an average of 44 or so miles after hitting empty.. that's just.. wow, that's a lot.. but makes me wonder if the car manufacturers were just incapable of making accurate gas dials, or if they do this sort of thing on purpose? I don't know.

If I remember correctly.. they stated that the car manufacturers do it to give us some extra mileage so that we don't actually run out of gas as soon as the gauge hits "E".

my car book thingy says I have an 1/8 of a tank after I hit E. I have a small 11 gallon tank so I'd have 1.375 gallons left on E. I get 30 miles to a gallon so I could go for 41.25 miles. I'm too scared to test it though.

Clairity's just a linking machine today.

Another interesting find.

I try not to let it get under a 1/4 tank.

1. Because hubby gives me shit if he sees it under a 1/4 tank... it's always something... in the summer the gas is used to cool the engine, and in the winter too little gas can freeze or something I think he's just making it all up

2. Because if some kind of disaster happens (like the blackout of 2003) and you can't get gas, I don't want my tank to be empty and not be able to evacuate or something. Hey I figure if I take precautions, I'll never need to use them, right?

Originally Posted by Burns

I try not to let it get under a 1/4 tank.

1. Because hubby gives me shit if he sees it under a 1/4 tank... it's always something... in the summer the gas is used to cool the engine, and in the winter too little gas can freeze or something I think he's just making it all up

2. Because if some kind of disaster happens (like the blackout of 2003) and you can't get gas, I don't want my tank to be empty and not be able to evacuate or something. Hey I figure if I take precautions, I'll never need to use them, right?

It's healthier for your car to keep the gas above 1/4 tank too. I used to always be low on gas and car mechanics said that was one of the reasons for all my car problems.

I went 10 miles once on E... in bumper to bumper traffic. I was panicking the entire time thinking that my car would just shut off... there would be no where to go (I was a middle lane on a four lane highway) and I would be blocking the lane.

Man I was so relieved when I finally pulled into that gas station... and I only spent $10 there as well.

Originally Posted by Michael

It's healthier for your car to keep the gas above 1/4 tank too. I used to always be low on gas and car mechanics said that was one of the reasons for all my car problems.

ok well maybe he's not full of it after all

most cars have a reserve tank (actually just a different part of the same tank) that will allow you to go about 40 miles. Of course this varies depending on the size of the car.

Originally Posted by Michael

It's healthier for your car to keep the gas above 1/4 tank too. I used to always be low on gas and car mechanics said that was one of the reasons for all my car problems.

Yeah, it dries out your filters.