I bet she’d go even farther on a tank of gas if she stopped carting that baggage around in her trunk.
Out of curiosity I put a can of lawnmower gas in the car and am letting it get lower than usual.
This morning the DTE display went from 30 miles to LO FUEL.
Obviously I have not explained the game effectively: the goal is NOT to run out of gas.
Your score is the amount of gas you put in when you fill up after using up as much as possible without running out.
I’m not saying it’s some amazing pastime that you all should join in on, but I have to keep myself focused while I drive somehow or I might start thinking about something else entirely. This keeps me alert and vigilant, so I like it.
Question… How do you stay alert and vigilant when your tank is full? I’m guessing you’re not perpetually running the car with $5 in the tank.
I’m calling bullshit on that wisdom too, but for a different reason.
The moment a fuel pump starts sucking air, it loses its prime and the pressure in the fuel rail falls off. The engine stumbles, stalls…and the fuel pump stops (because the engine isn’t running). The pump does not keep spinning and spinning for minutes on end with absolutely no fuel in it; it spins for a few seconds, under minimal load (because no pressure), with some aerated fuel in it that does indeed keep it lubricated.
Running out of fuel is inconvenient, but so is filling up. There’s “overhead” for stopping at a fuel station (the overhead being all of the steps/time except for the actual dispensing of fuel), so I don’t want to tank up unless the tank is getting close to empty, e.g. down to the last 20 miles or so.
If my tank is full, I’ve just stopped and broken the monotony, so I’m less in need of vigilance assistance.
On a boring drive, I typically scan through the radio stations looking for ranting preachers, obnoxious talk show hosts, or annoying music; calculate how far I will get on the tank of gas and where I will probably stop for it; plan my next meal; search the horizon for possible threats or obstacles; pass vehicles that block my view… Normal stuff.
Background thread music
[QUOTE=Jackson Browne]
Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I’m running behind
[/QUOTE]
… roll credits.
And I have completely the opposite situation. There are literally gas stations on every block. On my way home I pass two, on the way to work, I pass another - on the other side of the street. So there is really no reason for me to wait, and I find it more comforting and less stressful to at least have a quarter tank of gas. Again, I only keep it up to half in the winter. I do NOT want to run out of gas when there’s three feet of snow on the ground and all the sidewalks are covered and it’s 10 below with windchill.
You said up thread that you wouldn’t take the risk if you had your baby to take care of, but you’re happy to take the risk in front of someone who may have their baby in their car? So basically it comes down to if it’s important to you, you’ll be careful but if it’s important to someone else, who cares?
I completely agree.
One other note. On newer direct injected engine you do NOT want to run out of gas. Get air in the direct injection lines it can vary from difficult to near impossible to get the engine running on all cylinders again.
When you run out of gas, your car does not suddenly screech to a halt. If the babykeeper behind me can’t cope safely, they probably should not be driving.
Kayaker may literally be driving on empty right now, as was his stated intention. Why don’t you bitch at him and save some lives?
Made it to the gas station. My DTE went from 30 miles to LO FUEL. I drove another eight miles. The damn pump was running sloooow, so I stopped at $40 rather than filling it, but I’m not sure what the tank holds anyway. (Got the vehicle with 5,000 miles and a DVD in the glove box)
ETA: for completeness, let it be known that I had no babies in the car. 
This. And with diesels, it is supposed to be bad as well (although on the one occasion I did run out, I was coming up to pass the gas station, and felt it miss a beat. And I turned in, and it died as I was rolling downhill towards the pumps. I drove up the last uphill bit to the pump on the starter motor. The air in the diesel lines caused it to stall repeatedly after I’d filled up, but once it worked out of the lines it seemed fine.)
You put a lot of other people’s babies at risk today. Feel ashamed!
As the thread starter I’m reminded of the time I hosted a party where one of the wives was sleeping with one of the husbands (not hers), and it turns out everyone knew but thought they were the only one who did.
Can I get you a drink?
ETA: oh, wait. You’re driving, right? Wanna coffee maybe?
For me, it’s a combination of procrastination and lack of funds. I have run out of gas so many times, I’ve lost count. This includes 3 times in my own driveway, where I’ve gone to start the car in the morning, and I’m out of gas, so I know I must have just coasted in the night before. I always carry an empty plastic gas can in the trunk.
Note: If I’m driving up deep into to the ADKs I make sure I have plenty of gas, since gas stations are few and far between.
I’ve driven a rental car with a readout like that. Unfortunately, it was very accurate. I ran out of gas about 3 miles after it said “0 miles left” 
My light comes on when my MTE reads 40 miles left, so I usually wait for the light and then maybe a bit more, depending on the gas station density near me. (2013 Honda Pilot)
**Rick **is, of course, right that this is just an estimate based on the average MPG I’ve been getting. But it also adjusts if my MPG get worse. So it may drop to 36 miles left if I’ve driven only a mile, because it figures out I’m not getting the gas mileage I was before. But accounting for that, it’s accurate enough that I’ve not run out of gas, which is accurate enough for me.
I’ve run out of gas twice. Once was my ex-husband’s fault, as he was supposed to put gas in the car and didn’t and I didn’t look (so yeah, my bad) and then the light didn’t come on. That sucked, but I put on my big girl panties and dealt with it and it wasn’t the end of the world or anything. Now I have roadside assistance, so while it would kill my schedule, I wouldn’t even have to walk to a gas station unless I chose to. I kind of agree with AnaMen that exposure therapy - once - might be the best way to kill the anxiety around running out of gas, but I wouldn’t do it on a regular basis. I was a lot more anxious about running out of gas until I (accidentally) did it and realized I could handle this.
The other time was when I was out in The Boonies and didn’t realize that 1/4 tank means “fill up when you get to the next gas station.” City girl life didn’t prepare me for the distance between rural gas stations. That was a white knuckle ride as I frantically looked for a gas station and there was nothing but corn fields for miles and miles and miles. Luckily, I made it to my destination (which I reached before the next gas station), where it died in the front drive and my host had a gallon or two to put in my car, with directions to the nearest gas station just a few miles past his place. Lesson learned. If I don’t get 4G, I fill up at the next station past 1/4 tank!
I feel the need for a new thread coming on. Do tell; do tell!!
My personal-best out of gas situation was in a 1992 Ford Bronco. i.e. a 2-plus-ton vehicle that was very, *very *hard to push. And this thing was old enough there was not fancy DTE computer; just an idiot light driven by a flaky traditional Ford gas gauge. The thing had a 35 gallon tank, plus a gallon or so in the (very long) filler neck.
At the time I lived downtown in a city and never ventured much past the inner-ring suburbs. Gas stations were plentiful and I liked to play it close. Same game as AnaMen. The station nearest to my residence was one whole entire inner-city block away from my driveway.
Anyhow, I ran out trying to stretch a tankful to the station by home. After it died 150-ish feet from the station I rolled into the station driveway and ran out of inertia a few inches short of the pump. I got the hose down and couldn’t *quite *reach the fill port. I was literally, really, actually, just about 4" short. Damn.
There was a slight uphill incline at the pumps and I was still young & strong then. By pushing like mad on the top of the tire (which gives you a two-for-one leverage advantage versus pushing on the bumper) I eventually heaved that behemoth the whole 4" to get the damn nozzle in the fill port. This was back when gas was around $2.50 a gallon the first time. And it still cost $80 to fill the damn tank.
I think 4" is damn close to the world record for *almooooost *making it to the station. Top that.