Ran out of Gas!!

[KliersLC]

Well,

We hopped in the 80 today to go to Lewiston, (33 miles south at the bottom of a big grade) and I notice the fuel light is on. So I asked the how long it had been on, and she said "just since yesterday"

So...I thought, no big deal, I do this on a regular basis because the fuel in lewiston is about 15 cents cheaper per gallon, so off we went.

About halfway down the lewiston grade, I notice that the cruise control cut out, and I was slowing down. This is at 65 or so on a 9% grade.


So

Option 1. Pull over, tow or walk to gas station.

Option 2. keep rolling to the gas station that is about 200 yards from the bottom of the hill.


I chose # 2 and stuck her in N and of we went with no power brakes and no power steering. It was about 2 miles total, and she rolled right into the station.

The only time I ever ran a fuel injected engine out of fuel was on an old ford 6.9 diesel, and it took me forever to get it started.

I bumped the starter for about 2 seconds, stopped, and then she fired right up on the next hit.

I was impressed.

That is all.

 

[RavenTai]

I found this out the hard way a few months ago,

when you are near the end, both up hill and down hill move the fuel away from the pickup.

you would have gotten fuel pressure again when you got on flat ground,

 

[D'Animal]

You a lucky man! No Pushy from wife. She caused problem to start with.

 

[KliersLC]

I found this out the hard way a few months ago,

when you are near the end, both up hill and down hill move the fuel away from the pickup.

you would have gotten fuel pressure again when you got on flat ground,

That makes sense, I was wondering about that, but it seems like there still should have been a bit of air in the system to work out. That diesel that I mentioned was also on a down hill and it took me 15 minutes to get it to run...

 

[RavenTai]

Did the diesel have a boost pump in the tank? Or just the engine driven injector pump? it is much easier to push a fluid than it is to pull, especially when you are running a fluid pump on air. When drawing the maximum pressure you can use to draw is 14 PSI. (one atmosphere)


Also the fuel pressure regulator on this motor will purge the lines of air and rout it to the tank much quicker than you would trying to pump the air out.

 

[cam75w/ls1]

Now if I can teach the wife to keep from running out of gas in the Vette I would be happy. She does this on a monthly basis.

 

[cruiser88]

Now if I can teach the wife to keep from running out of gas in the Vette I would be happy. She does this on a monthly basis.

wait till she does it so muchs the pump finally fails

 

[KliersLC]

Did the diesel have a boost pump in the tank? Or just the engine driven injector pump? it is much easier to push a fluid than it is to pull, especially when you are running a fluid pump on air. When drawing the maximum pressure you can use to draw is 14 PSI. (one atmosphere)


Also the fuel pressure regulator on this motor will purge the lines of air and rout it to the tank much quicker than you would trying to pump the air out.

Good points, the ford 6.9 only had a mechanical pump.

 

[Miescha]

I once ran out in my '99 F350 diesel - about 50 yards from the pump when I rolled to a stop .

Worse still, the station only had a 1/2 gallon can for my use. I must have walked back and forth about a dozen times. I kept trying to start it the first three times and finally decided it would need more than 1/2 gallon to get going. So I made another 10 or so trips looking to get about 5 gallons in there. It finally started up, but it took a lot more cranking.

All the other diesels I've had required manual pumping on the engine side - but they started right up.

 

[cam75w/ls1]

wait till she does it so muchs the pump finally fails

Already on pump #3 cruiser88. I tried to explain the cooling ability of the fuel but it goes over her head.

 

[ginericLC]

Already on pump #3 cruiser88. I tried to explain the cooling ability of the fuel but it goes over her head.

Actually those pumps are going to fail no matter what. She is accelerating the process though. It is a maintainence item.

Kliers,

Your a brave man given your history of having bad things happen in 80s. I think I would have hoofed it.

 

[IdahoDoug]

You lucky boy. Wouldn't want to be pushing the 80 around on a day like today...

DougM

 

[e9999]

errr....

at 15c / gal cheaper = $3.75 saved for 25 gals.

say $2.25/gal (cheap?) so $3.75 = 1.7 gal

say 15 mpg (generous?), 1.7 gal is 25 miles.



so you lost 66-25= 41 miles worth of gas going down there, if you go just for gas then...?


no wonder you're out of gas all the time...

 

[KliersLC]

E,

I ran those numbers too, and found that is wasn't worth it, We were headed down there already, so I get fuel if I am down there.


And this is the first time I have been out of gas.

Usually I figure if the light just came on, then I have about 50 miles to go before total failure if I drive reasonably, but not this time