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How many miles left in the tank when the petrol light comes on

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Dalerobert

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Location
Sheffield
Car
1.8 vtec sport
So tonight as i was driving home my petrol light came on bad times,then i got thinking how many miles would it do before it ran out, does anybody know?
 
Accord636 said:
So tonight as i was driving home my petrol light came on bad times,then i got thinking how many miles would it do before it ran out, does anybody know?
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I don't actually know for certain but I wouldn't practice it personally. These 6th gens are over 10 years old now and there is a risk of sucking up sediment from the fueltank into the filter. Not ideal. I'd try and avoid getting too close to the red marker if you can, I once did and the engine was noticibly spluttery at times..
 
You don't know fuel sediment woes until you've owned a mk2 Scirocco :lol: fwiw I run all my cars to almost empty and never had any drama bar the Scirocco, and my 6th gen was on 112K iirc.

As for how far can you go once the light is on... Well that's going to depend on how hard you're driving :lol: I always reset the trip counter and gave myself 30 miles or so, and drove like miss daisy. Never ran out once ;)
 
I tried this once for a laugh, and to actually see how far I could get. Jerry can at hand, I went for a spin....83 miles later and I was bored so I gave up. :D

But in all seriousness I was amazed, and she was still going strong and not sucking air around bends etc so I would say there was probably a few more mile left. Oh, and don't worry about picking up rubbish from the tank as 6G's have a filter on the pick up, a filter on the rear lines and a filter just before the fuel rail, and then at the pumps themselves there are filters too. Also, the tanks are plastic and the pickup is not at the lowest point in the tank (just!) so even if there was ***** in the tank, it would be on the RH side at the very lowest point so the pickup wouldn't even know it was there!
 
No worrys!
 
HI..I usually get another 50 miles plus after the light comes on, only refill once the needle goes below the white line!!
 
I had a :blush: moment once. Was driving to Wickes and was flooring it, but each time I did they car was very very hesitant, after the trip to Wickes I popped down to B&Q 1-2 miles away, again the car was wheezing, I didn't have a clue what was going on, I thought I must be low on oil, was getting annoyed, so on the way back home, I came to a round about and forgot to shift into 1st, so it was still in 3rd, so when the time came to move, the car stalled, so I look down, restart the engine and see the fuel indicator flashing like mad, ever since I make sure I have enough fuel in the tank!
 
I once had a Datsun Stanza. Only had it a couple of weeks, and was running it to almost empty to measure the mpg. The fuel guage was still reading 1/8th when it conked out... and only then did the 'low fuel' light come on!

The most I did in my 6th gen 2.0 Accord with the fuel light on was 25 miles.
 
My excuse is it was a very hot dehydrating summers day, and I had been doing manual labour all day since the morning, so was tired as hell!
 
lol excuses excuses lol
I swear I saw u stall it at the traffic lights yesterday ;) lol
 
Doubt it, I have only stalled it like 2 or 3 times in my few years of ownership, the other time was when I left it in gear and came back started it and it jumped forward and stalled. :lol:
 
lol...just as well the person in front didn't park too close or I could sense an insurance claim lol
 
I don't :unsure:
 
I always leave mine parked in gear.... when I was about 9 or 10, we were playing out in the road (we lived on a quiet side street with zero traffic) and a car rolled down the hill and wiped out a garden wall - it missed my mate by inches. The owner had left it in neutral and the handbrake had failed.
 
I always park in gear because

a) it's safe!

And

b ) when I first started driving I shared a car with my Dad - he would give me a b*llocking if I didn't leave the car in gear, as that's how he expected it to be when he started it :rolleyes: :lol:

I've got my girlfriend doing the same, and I'm now a bit OCD about it - I can't stand it when I'm in a friends car and they park in neutral, I just want to put it into 1st :lol:

P.S I've just thought of reason c - I've had rear callipers ruined from where I've left cars with their handbrake on for too long. The cars I have laid up atm have the handbrake off and are in gear, along with a wheel chock just in case ;)
 
I only leave it in gear when parking on hills. Otherwise I use just the handbrake. I drive too regularly to damage the discs with prolonged handbrake clamping as you mention. But if I was leaving a car on a flat drive as SORN or something, like a project car, I guess it be pointless to leave the handbrake on for exactly the reason you mention (unless as part of your project it has no gear box and/or engine :lol: )
 
I do it automatically, even if the car is out of gear when I stop, I put it in gear.

It's actually impossible to load my van with a fork lift unless it's in gear or there is someone sat with their foot on the brake! Sprinters have dire handbrakes.
 
I park mine against a kerb and leave it in gear (I park in a bay, 60's 'LeMans' style). Good practice for many reasons. First being if the handbrake fails (it does happen even today!). Second and Third, It can't be rocked out of gear and if for some random reason someone wants an old worthless Accord, they can't cut the handbrake cable and nick it. ;)
 
Hi!
Few years ago, as i was driving to school, the fuel light came on. As school was 250 km away from my starting point, i went off 4.30 am in the morning. Long story short- the fuel station was closed. So decided to drive to my parents house which was a bit off the route, but closer than the next fuel station. Was pretty sure i had spare fuel in my old car- Well, i was wrong. Loving brother used it on his car as it turned out later. Decided to try driving to that fuel station afterall. Well, made it- 114 km with the light on. Was impressed and a guess there was a few kilometers left maybe!? But definitely don` t want that situation again... Own stupidity :D
 
According to the vehicle handbook when the light comes there is about 9 litres (1.98 gallons) of petrol left in the tank.
normally a range of 50 miles driving till you need to visit the garage to fill up.
I hope this helps.
 
Well its all very interesting, but the OP wanted to know how much fuel left when the light comes on.

Page 71 of my owners handbook says :

"less than 9 litres left when the light comes on"

so half it for safety - therefore a gallon left say. So you had better find a station in the next 35 miles !
 
But "less than 9 litres" could be 1 litre?

... Just like BT sold me an internet service claiming "up to 8 Mb/s" but actually gives me less than 1 Mb/s!
 
Jon_G said:
But "less than 9 litres" could be 1 litre?

... Just like BT sold me an internet service claiming "up to 8 Mb/s" but actually gives me less than 1 Mb/s!
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Ha ha yes I Know. It could also be zero !

So one has to extrapolate between zero and 9 litres - I thought 4.5 litres a reasonable compromise. I wonder what the mean distance between petrol outlets is in the UK?
 
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