MikeekiM

Not sure if there's an existing thread on this topic, but I saw one on another car site (for my Acura TL) and found it to be an interesting thread.

Simple question: How do you manage the end of your fuel tank?

So here the questions that came up at this other forum (again, this is Acura TL information, not S2000):

1. What year/model of car?
2. When the low fuel light first lights up, how many gallons are left in the tank?
3. How long do you typically go before filling up after the low fuel light lights up?
4. What is the longest you've gone after the low fuel light first lit up, and how much gas was left in your tank when you filled up?

I can answer this for my TL...

1. 2003 Acura TL Type-S
2. 3 gallons (out of the 17 gallon capacity) - I filled up shortly after the light went on to measure this.
3. 5 to 25 miles - I usually fill up pretty quickly after the light goes on
4. 25 miles (with 1.75 gallons left in the tank) - I finally found a use for my "B" trip odometer!

Before you criticize this thread, let me be the first to recognize that it is not a good idea to wait until you are close to empty, and that a lot of the bad sediment and crap is left at the end of the tank.

This is just a little fun thread that you can contribute to if you find it fun and entertaining...

I haven't answered any of these questions for my S2000 yet... I just discovered the thread for my Acura the other day, so I really haven't pushed the limits on how much I can get out of my "low light reserve"...

It might also depend on the model year of the car...

Oats

1. 05 S2000
2. Don't know but I assume 2 gallons (I've measured it on 4-5 cars and they were all about 2 gal)
3. Usually fill up when the light comes on unless I'm on a road trip then I'll wait until it is convenient
4. 38 miles

I usually reset Trip A when the light comes on so I have an idea of how far I can go. I drove my Mom's Prius 110 miles after the light came on. Once I hit 80 I started looking for gas but couldn't find a station. I was getting a little nervous and using every hypermile technique I had heard. My sister's gen 1 Prius could go about 90 before running out of gas. (I had to bring her gas on the side of the road twice lol)

I know a few people who start panicking as soon as the light comes on. I was driving my friends car once and he said we should stop for gas, I told him the low fuel light wasn't even on, he seriously asked me what that was. He had never seen it before or even knew it existed.

cosmomiller

I have the aviation mindset that you don't want to run out of fuel. I often top off above a half tank.

Gotpepsi

1. 2001/Honda S2000
2. I would assume 1-3 gallons? The bar drops down low enough for the fuel light to pop on, than after I stop or park on a hill it magically pops back up to three bars.
3. about 1-8 miles
4. Longest I been was probably 12 miles. I believe I filled up 10.3 gallons one time. Im not sure how big of a tank I have, I am guessing it is 12 gallons.

I am a little paranoid about running out of gas.

Adrenalize

I do something similar, I let mine run to about a third left before topping up, no lower. Every so often I will go down to a quarter to flush out the fuel better.

zeroptzero

Going forward I will likely keep my fuel from 1/2 tank to full. I made the mistake of adjusting my coilovers on an empty tank, as soon as I filled up with fuel the rear end dropped 10mm, so I had to readjust the coilovers. Seeing as a full tank is now worth 10mm in vehicle height, I will probably keep it above the 1/2 tank mark all the time simply to control wheel well gap, lol.

I know a fellow S2000 owner who would get 50 miles of driving after the low fuel light came on. Well on one trip home he only got 30 miles and his house was still 5 miles away, needless to say he got stuck on the side of the road. You have to understand that your fuel economy is always changing, mainly due to weather conditions more than anything, so you can't consistently rely on the last few gallons of fuel to get to where you are going all the time.

Car Analogy

I almost never fill up before the light comes on. I have driven pretty far on no bars and light on. I did get stuck a couple miles from where I planned to fill up once. I dd and my commute is 80 miles per day. So if I filled at half way I'd be getting gas every other day.

One thing I don't understand is when people say letting tank run near empty means you're sucking up debris. The fuel is always being sucked from the bottom of the tank, regardless of how much fuel there is, right? The fuel inlet is at the bottom of the tank, right? So why would it matter if you are full or almost empty? If there is junk in there, its going to get sucked up even if its full, right?

Unless there is floating debris that we need to worry about???

Mr. Slowly

I feel most alive when my fuel gauge registers zero bars. This car has a pea sized fuel tank. I need every last drop. In my '08 I know that when the last bar on the fuel gauge extinguishes (for the first time if it decides to re-illuminate) I have 1.6 gallons of fuel remaining. I average 25 miles a gallon so that's exactly what I give myself to get to a gas station. I figure that's margin enough to keep from screwing myself. It's worked out just fine so far.

The most fuel I've ever taken on is 13.142 gallons. That shit was crazy. I was driving home from out of state in the late evening on a Sunday. I was barely back in New Jersey when the fuel light came on. Fantastic.


If you accept riding empty as a lifestyle you only need to work through the bad fuel at the bottom of the tank once.

AZS2KDancer

I echo a few of the above. I like to make it a habit to fill up once the gauge gets to the half-way mark. I have run it down a time or two, and my low light seems to come on with about 2 or 3 gallons left in the tank. I don't like that feeling, so I'd rather top off half a tank more frequently and feel better about having a full tank. It's a long time ago learned lesson from my dad. I had a smaller motorcycle that I had forgot to check the fuel level before I went out one day. When I ran out of gas, he came out to make sure that I was all right, but then he made me push the bike all the way home. Lesson learned.

AE_Racer

If I were filling up at half a tank i'd be stopping for fuel every other day.

Usually run mine to fuel light, top off with 10-11 gallons depending on how far back the light came on. When i'm headed to work in the morning it is super inconvenient to stop for gas as the only stations open are on the other side of the road and require making a u-turn to get in and back out so i've put a little more than 12 gallons in a few times. Only time I ran out of gas was on my first track day. Think I got 120 lapping miles and ran out about a mile outside of the track on the way to the station. Whoops.