Last time I ran out of gas I was on my motorcycle. Fuel gauges are just now (2015) being considered a standard item on motorcycles. My bike does not have one, but a switch to a reserve tank. In my bike, the reserve is good for 0.5-0.75 gallon, or 20-30 miles or so. To keep from being surprised, I reset the trip odometer to 000.0 at every fill-up and I will typically get 115-125 miles or so before it starts to sputter and I switch to reserve.
Well, week before last, I was over 140 on the trip odometer, and I thought I was getting really good gas mileage. Being well over 120, I had checked the reserve switch several times, but it was in the “normal” position. Well, it started to sputter and I switched to “reserve”, but it didn’t help. Usually, when I switch to “reserve”, it takes 5-8 seconds for the gas to get to the carburetor and the engine to start again. If I am going less than 40 MPH, it is a toss-up whether or not it will start before I stop or not. Well, I was going at least 60 this time, so I figured it would kick to life any second. Well, it didn’t. I pulled off the road and looked things over. Everything was as it should be, but I just didn’t have any gas.
Well, like epbrown01, I keep a bottle of gas in my saddlebag. It’s a wide-mouth stainless steel water bottle (a red one, but as a nod to safety I should really write “FUEL” on it with white paint). It holds 20 ounces, only enough for 5 miles or so, but it as always been enough to get to a station.
I am not sure why the reserve switch didn’t work. I did hit reserve yesterday on it and it was fine. My best guess is that I did not have the switch fully in the “normal” position and it allowed fuel to be taken from the lower pickup.
Then there was the time I was driving a 12 year-old Dodge Diesel 2500 whose fuel gauge was, well, variable. I had driven this truck several thousand miles, so I knew this, and I also knew on the open highway I would get at least 20 MPG. Oh, the tank held 35 gallons.
Anyway, on this trip I was pulling a cargo trailer. I figured my mileage would suffer, maybe down to 15 MPG, which would give me over 500 miles on a tank. Well, was about 25 miles outside of Shreveport, LA, when the engine died. I had gone 485 miles on the tank, and the gauge showed 5/8 full. I had had it as low as 1/2 full before (and put 30 gallons in), so I figured I had to have some fuel.
Well, I couldn’t get it started, so I called a tow truck. The driver put 7-8 gallons in the tank, and filled the fuel filter, but it wouldn’t start. They towed me and my trailer to their shop. They worked on it for like 2 hours and finally got it started. They said my fuel pump was weak and had to replace the pump relay, but was not sure caused it to die.
I went to the nearest station and put over 27 gallons in it. Add that to the 7-8 gallons and it is pretty obvious I was out of fuel. I found out that day that this truck has two fuel pumps; one to pump the fuel from the tank to the high-pressure pump for the injectors. The high-pressure pump is a mechanical pump driven by the camshaft gear. Well, the mechanical pump does not self-prime, which means if it goes dry, it will not pump. You have to crack open a high-pressure injector fuel line and crank the engine long enough to allow the tank pump to pump until fuel comes out.
It is much easier just not to run it out of fuel. An expensive lesson, $300 and that didn’t even cover the tank of fuel.
Being broke in school really sucked. It was tricky remembering that I put in 4 gals and could drive about 50 miles before filling up. I’d never drive like that today.
or by 100 km because you cannot be more than 100km from a shell station in Holland.