How far can I go?

corblimey

Anyone know how far I would be able to drive in a 03 Ibiza after the low petrol warning light comes on? a mile? 20?

t5pwr

As far as I know the light usually comes on when there is about 1 gallon left in the tank. I usually don't go over that for my car when the light goes on...

But it's better safe then sorry.

Jood

I usualy take the red light to mean empty and get petrol straight away, but I think its about 30 miles on reserve????

crosstownk

Jood wrote:

I usualy take the red light to mean empty and get petrol straight away

Me too. How far you can go depends on traffic etc, but best policy is to fill ASAP to avoid walking to the filling station with a jerry can!

comanche

got from belfast to dundalk on the red light in a 1.6 auto megane. On board comp was saying had 40 miles left before the light came on.

conor_mc

Your manual should tell you the capacity of your reserve tank, usually about 5 litres or so.

Motorway driving, you'll prob get about 30-35 miles. Obviously, slowing down to 60/65 mph would be preferable to doing 75 or more.

I wouldn't sit in traffic for more than a half-hour if it can be helped.

cargrouch

Depending on the age of the car running the system dry could lead to a worse pain in the hole than just hauling a jerrycan back to the car.

Old car - possibly enough crap at bottom of tank to block injectors. Had an old Carina II that had probably been filled at too many country petrol stations that had to be almost pushed in as a trade in because injectors were clogging!

New car - no experience of very new cars unfortunately - but I've heard that with the very high pressures of modern fuel systems that refuelling a dry system needs a visit to a mechanic?

fjon

The tank in an Ibiza holds 45 litres when full, the light comes on at about 7 litres. So that's about a fifth of the distance you have driven from full to light.
That's probably not much use though!

colm_mcm

better not to run it near empty, as residual dirt will be more likely to be pumped into engine when nearly empty

zilog_jones

I remember reading the manual for an early 90s Mazda 323 and it said running the tank dry could fudge up the catalytic converter - is this true for all cars with cat's?

colm_mcm

yeah, could affect the air/fuel mixture and cause a misfire?

milltown

AFAIR my Ibiza's fuel light came on very soon after the needle passed the quarter full mark, so a touch pessimistic to say the least. Unless it had a conical fuel tank!

Mine was an '00 and I would safely get 30 - 40 miles more, mixed driving. As has been said if you're sitting in traffic you'd want to be stopping for fuel sooner rather than later though.

mloc123

colm_mcm wrote:

better not to run it near empty, as residual dirt will be more likely to be pumped into engine when nearly empty

This is not true. Most if not all cars fuel pumps are either at the bottom of the tank or take the fuel from the bottom of the tank. The fuel is then passed through the filter. So no build up of dirt occurs on the base of the fuel tank.

Seth Brundle

I think what colm_mam meant was that the crud that exists within the tank is more likely to get taken in when there is less fuel there for it to suspend in.
Anyhow I believe that most fuel pumps are cooled by the fuel present in the tank and having next to no fuel in the tank can reduce pump life expectancy

deRanged

kbannon wrote:

Anyhow I believe that most fuel pumps are cooled by the fuel present in the tank and having next to no fuel in the tank can reduce pump life expectancy

The manual for my car says this and warns against driving with less than a 1/4 tank.

cargrouch

kbannon wrote:

Anyhow I believe that most fuel pumps are cooled by the fuel present in the tank and having next to no fuel in the tank can reduce pump life expectancy

Mine died yesterday, but 140K miles is good innings I suppose! Happened in the car park rather than the dual carriageway so not so bad.

Thanks to mloc123 for putting me straight on the "crap in the tank" myth.

Seth Brundle

The fuel pump on my old E30 (~155k miles) went on the Chapelizod bypass heading into the city during rush hour. Parked it up half onto the path to reduce bus lane blockage. Motorcycle garda arrived within seconds and OK'd it there.
Thankfully a friend was passing and he took me to Frank Keanes where I got a replacement pump and went back to fix the car.
Coincidentally my friend had an E30 318is whose pump went a week or two before mine.

maidhc

cargrouch wrote:

New car - no experience of very new cars unfortunately - but I've heard that with the very high pressures of modern fuel systems that refuelling a dry system needs a visit to a mechanic?

The modern diesels are meant to shut down before they run totally dry. This safeguard doesn't always work and you can kill either the high pressure pump, the injectors, or both.

I would never let my car run down below the orange light after seeing the crap that comes out of fuel tanks. Chances are nothing will happen, but why take the risk?

Trampas

colm_mcm wrote:

yeah, could affect the air/fuel mixture and cause a misfire?

My mates car does this a times. How can he fix it??

Seth Brundle

Trampas wrote:

My mates car does this a times. How can he fix it??

If it is ECU controlled injection then i don't think it is possible without altering the ECU

Trampas

kbannon wrote:

If it is ECU controlled injection then i don't think it is possible without altering the ECU

Is it hard to fix it??

mloc123

Trampas wrote:

Is it hard to fix it??

What car has he? make/model. Carbed or Injected? I presume its injected unless its old. It could be any number of problems. ECUs regulate the amount of fuel injected on a number of things, MAP sensor, TPS, CTS etc..

Trampas

Its an Ibiza 03 1.4L Added nothing else to it bar what it came from Seat with

bennyc

I got in trouble on an opel vectra 1.6 one night old model and done 67miles before running out. I actually made where I was going to and freewhelled into a parking spot

No damage done to the engine in the process

mloc123

could be a number of things, try checking http://www.seatenthusiasts.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=358

If its a common problem with them you should get an answer.