i just came back from a hiking trip in the backcountry here in california. the red light came on just as i started the last 25 miles on a dirt road leading to the trailhead. i always fill at 1/4 tank but it was late at night and foolishly thought i would find gas somewhere. of course there wasn't any gas. got to the trailhead, parked the car, camped for the night and went for an amazing 14 hour hike the next day up to the the top of a 12,000+ foot peak.
came back down and drove in second gear, 20 miles an hour to get out to a gas station 32 miles away. made it without running out of gas, coasted without accelerating down the hills and barely touched the gas going up... when i filled it up the counter said 13.299 gallons of gas. it wasn't until the morning when i reread the manual that i realized the tank hold 13.2 plus 2.1 gallons in the reserve.... kind of amazing that i did not run out.
i will be filling it more regularly from now on

 

Whoa! [Just saw your thread.] Try calling me (542-4295, as you know) next time as we're in the same vicinity. Could've been worse. A funny story for the ages, I'd say. Keep on motoring very hard, minihune

 

last sunday after working a race @moroso i tried to
make it home without a top-off. started to sweat blood
the last few miles. (late.no stations open)
computer said 2 miles. held 13.1 when filled.
won't do that again.not worth the grief.
doug

 

I normally don't allow the gas in my MINI to go much below a quarter of a tank, but on a few occasions I have driven to the gas staion with eh red light on. I have never, in my 8 years of driving run out of gas.
A few weeks ago I was parked with the car on waiting to go into an appointment. All of the sudden the car stalled and wouldn't start. MINI roadside came and picked up the car. Dealer called me 3 days later and said I had run out of gas. I knew it was a load of crap because there was just under a 1/4 tank in the car. I had only been sitting for about 3 minutes with the car running so I know it couldn't have run out of gas that fast.
Long story short, I went to pick up the car and it ran like crap. I turned right around and brought it back to the dealer. They wound up replacing the fuel pump, pressure regulator and the senor for the guage 2 days later. I know for a fact I didn't run out of gas, but I am now completely terrified to let the guage go below 1/4 of a tank.

 

[ It's never been a problem.

I liked the way VW solved this problem in the old days in the old Beetle -- the reserve lever just lowered the fuel pump feed tube![/QUOTE]


To give us a chance to run out of gas again!

Who needs fuel gauges anyway?

regards,
Red

 

On many cars it's bad to run the tank dry as it can burn out the fuel pump. The pump actually uses the fuel in the tank as a cooling medium to dissipate operating heat.

That said, I've ran my van out of gas quite a few times... then I flip the switch to the other tank...

 

I had a 93 Camaro Z28 for a couple of years. Ran it out of gas 3 X. The gage had NO movement below the empty mark, cause there was NO fuel left at all. A very accurate gage which I could not adjust to.