Ran out of fuel completely and here's what happens

[bulls96]

unfortunately ran out of fuel last week. Thought I just share the experience for others to learn from



Low fuel warming came on at around 40 miles range.



There is no other warning of fuel levels before your run completely out.



Last message on the screen was "engine power reduced" and not a minute after my car died.



You can just pour fuel to the tank and the car wull run. No other maneuvers needed.



Engine light came on when I got back to running. Called Onstar and they said there was a "cylinder misfire" detected. They said I needed to bring the car to the shop "as soon as possible within 7 days"



Went to my Chevy dealer for servicing and they found nothing wrong. They checked the fuel injection, spark plugs, etc and they checked out fine. Error message or whatever happened if the cylinder misfired was related to me running out of gas.



So one piece of advise..



NEVER WAIT TO RUN OUT OF FUEL.



It was a huge hassle and got me scared about my beloved car and whatever your reasons are for waiting to fill up... ITS NOT WORTH IT.



Hope that helps.




Sent from my HTC6990LVW using Tapatalk

[Scalded Dog]

Thanks, Bulls96... very cool to share the experience; I've been curious as to what would happen. Hope that you don't get flamed by those who are "better, smarter, more prepared" than you, but knowing that that would surely happen, your post is unselfishly informative.

[Spartan01]

Well of course the cylinder misfired, there was no fuel in it to combust.

[TPAJETSKI]

I get the point of your post but I can't help but being a smartass with your title...

Ran out of fuel completely and here's what happens...uh, let me guess, the car stops moving?

[suzook]

I hate that it says low fuel instead of giving the miles to empty...its one of the stupidest things I hate about my car.

[davidmk001]

Just curious as to how this happened? Was this done just to test the theory? Or was it more of a legit experience where you were not able to get to a fuel station on time?

[Scalded Dog]

Originally Posted by suzook

I hate that it says low fuel instead of giving the miles to empty...its one of the stupidest things I hate about my car.

I assume that could NOT possibly have been a sincere comment.

[rontammy0]

Some people I know always seem to have plenty of gas.....

[Mint]

It's also bad for the fuel pump. Why not just fill the car each time you visit the pump ... You will end up putting the same amount of gas in eventually...

[TPAJETSKI]

I try to fill up around 1/4 of a tank. But I've noticed that if I fill up shortly after the low warning light comes on there is still about 2.5-3 gallons of gas in the tank. FWIW.

[=Stephens=]

Hey bro, shit happens. I was driving out in the middle of nowhere and had a 1/4 tank, and my low fuel light came on. I found a town with a population of 156 and found a gas pump and luckily it took a credit card because I only had 12.00 cash on me.

[trashmanssd]

I had a friend run out fuel in his 9? something Dodge Pick up had his gf bring him 5 gallons fuel put it in went to start it and oh my flames shooting out the air box truck went up in flames. tow guy came to get it he was laughing asked him you ran out fuel? he said yeah how did you know said his seen it few times with them said you cant just fuel and go they had a problem there was some procedure you had to do to purge the vaporized fuel before you started it if you ran it dry.

[FenwickHockey65]

I can count the number of times I've driven a car below 1/4 tank on one hand.

[PYROLYSIS]

I run mine to the low fuel warning or farther every time in my 13 years of driving and Ive only run out of gas once. That was in my 91 RS V6. My check gauges light is on in my fourth gen right now. Ill fill up after work.