Mileage and the subsequent panicking

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Thu 2 Jun 2011 16:51
Mileage and the subsequent panicking - Bobbin Threadbare

Ok there has been mention of 'petrol chicken' and suchlike. This thread is by way of The_Grouch's 'how many miles...' thread.

How far can you get AFTER your fuel light comes on or your needle is at zero?

This'll be akin to a straw poll of various marques.

My Mazda's fuel gauge is terrible and I am too afraid of breaking down on my commute to let it drop below 1/6th of a tank. I nearly had a seizure on the M6 when I saw the petrol light. Never again!

My old Focus, on the other hand, got me almost 70 miles after the gauge said zero and about 30 miles after the light came on. Not bad at all.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 2 Jun 2011 16:53
Mileage and the subsequent panicking - jamie745

You coined "Amazoning" as a verb, and now you've stolen my petrol chicken!

How....DARE YOU?!?!?!

LOL!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 2 Jun 2011 16:58
Mileage and the subsequent panicking - veryoldbear

Us diesel blokes tend to panic and start looking for filling stations at about 1/4 full ....

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 2 Jun 2011 17:00
Mileage and the subsequent panicking - jamie745

Im a petrol daredevil me, at about 1/8th of a tank remaining i'll start considering putting some in it.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 2 Jun 2011 17:00
Mileage and the subsequent panicking - WellKnownSid

The correct term is "Holiday Chicken". You know... you get given a beaten up Focus estate as a hire car at some grim island in the med on a "return empty" policy. Suspense is added due to the impeding missing of the flight should you actually run out of fuel.

I have to agree with the Focus. I once drove one for a full (or should that be empty?) hour with the orange light shining in my face. About 15 minutes from the airport traffic started to build and I had to pull out every possible measure from the armoury... Aircon compressor OFF, Fans OFF, windows tightly closed for extra aerodynamic ability, highest possible gear, and pretending that the accelerator pedal was on fire.

We arrived to the car hire drop off without incident... needle buried hard in "E", somewhat sweaty from the lopping of the non-critical loads...

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 2 Jun 2011 17:21
Mileage and the subsequent panicking - dieseldogg

Why should us diesel dorks be any different. I regularly did a run to Muff in Donegal for the cheaper diesel, and since the economics dictated that I brought back as much fuel as possible I aye run her empty..................... plus some. (Plus 10 No 20 litre jerry cans, plus a wheen o good strong 20 litre plastic jars.) Bearing in mind the VW gauge is pretty accurate once we got into the minus miles I was sweating especially iffen Senior Managment was sitting in. Putting a measured 80 litres into a 72 litre tank was proof enough for me, though I never actually ran out. I did deliberalely run her dry when near new to establish the veracity of the gauge. & Boy was she a pig to get primed & re-started compared to her XUD engined Citroen BX predessor.................hence

I vowed never to do it again.

Edited by dieseldogg on 02/06/2011 at 17:22

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 2 Jun 2011 17:34
Mileage and the subsequent panicking - Reentrant

It used to be a real palaver priming a diesel if you ran out, but I think all modern ones are self-priming.

Could it damage the pump though if it's run without diesel to lubricate it?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 2 Jun 2011 20:02
Mileage and the subsequent panicking - Bobbin Threadbare

Yes you can damage the pump. Diesel cars can take other similar fuel (not petrol!) but without the right lubricant effect you can crap the pump out.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 2 Jun 2011 21:10
Mileage and the subsequent panicking - piggy

Being of an an age where I remember when petrol tanks used to be made of steel,it was considered very unwise to go much below a quarter full otherwise all that crud swishing around on the bottom of the tank would find it`s way into the carb. with "interesting" results. I still consider it bad housekeeping( should that be carkeeping?)to run much lower than quarter full.Living in rural Anglesey,the nearest petrol station from us is six miles away. It`s always nice to have enough fuel to cope with emergency journeys anyway.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 2 Jun 2011 22:33
Mileage and the subsequent panicking - unthrottled

all that crud swishing around on the bottom of the tank would find it`s way into the carb. with "interesting" results


But the fuel pick up ALWAYS picks up fuel from the bottom of the tank, so assuming the crud falls to the bottom of the tank (likely given the low density and surface tension of petrol) it won't make any difference whether theres a full tank or just another to cover the fuelpick up.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 2 Jun 2011 22:37
Mileage and the subsequent panicking - unthrottled

And you're not really playing the game if you're driving in an area where you know where the petrol stations are. Anyone can do that!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 3 Jun 2011 09:57
Mileage and the subsequent panicking - Bobbin Threadbare

I'm not sure I like this game. Anyway, people who use LPG can always win as I can think only of 2 places to get it in my entire area.

I only had 1/3 of a tank yesterday so I had to fill it up at lunchtime so I wouldn't feel nervous about it on the way home.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 3 Jun 2011 14:08
Mileage and the subsequent panicking - turbo11

Both my current Mazda 5 and previous Mazda 6 have managed 50 miles of moderate driving, after the warning light has come on. Upon refilling to the brim, they have been within 5 litres of the capacity stated.I very rarely do I let mine drop below 1/4 tank, especially as there are not a huge number of filling stations in my neck of the woods.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link