How Far Can You Travel When Your Fuel Reserve Light Comes On?

[GSXR_J 0]

Hey everyone... so the tale begins last week when I filled up the tank with £45 worth of fuel @ 125.9 a litre!!! I travelled to work each weekday untill this morning the fuel reserve light came on whilst on my commute to work...I was running late so didnt fill up on the way! (Big mistake!)

 

I had reset my mileometer when i had last filled up so glanced down to see i had done 276ish miles or so...thinking i could get to work and back to the petrol garage i continued the 18 miles to work...

 

Jumping back into the car at the end of the day I began my journey home remembering that I had to fill up on the way back...you know whats coming...with a vw Golf R32 following yep 10 miles later I ran out of fuel! (how embarrassing!)

 

So the mileometer stopped at about 304 miles! So when I thought about it sat there waiting for a friend to arrive with fuel I calculated that the reserve take delivers about 28 miles or so when the light comes on!

 

My question is has anyone else suffered this sad twist of fate and is this amount of mileage i got out of the reserve about right? Id like to hear what people are getting from their tanks when the reserve light comes on too!

 

Only bit of advice is...when that light comes on fill up first stop!!!

[Alan77 78 1 Cars]

IIRC, when the reserve light first stays permanently on, you've got about a gallon left. So 30 (ish) miles is about right with a light right foot.

[welshpug 1,657]

if its healthy you'll get a lot more than 30 miles, especially without corners

[tri_longer 25]

At least your reserve light works, I kept waiting for mine to come and then promptly ran out of pretrol. I had to run a mile home, get the other car, drive three miles to get fuel, fill it up on the way past, drop the car off and then run the mile back to the car so I could get back to work.

[welshpug 1,657]

GSXR_J, how many litres did it take to fill back up again? You can see how many MPG you've done after that.

 

 

Sounds like it already had about 15 litres in there when you filled up if it clicked off (£45 @ £1.27.9 = 35.74L, 50L tank)

 

 

If its really empty you'd have done a not too unreasonable 27.6 mpg, though there's probably a few litres still sloshing about evading the pickup pipe, which means your average MPG would be nearer 30, not bad at all from a 1.6!

 

 

Not bad at all, come back when you get closer to 400 but then I do have a pretty healthy 1.9 on a 1.9 box

Edited March 19, 2011 by welshpug

[monkee87 2]

I easily get 27 mpg from my 1.9. So what's wrong with your 1.6?? I used to get over 40 mpg in my old 1.6.

[allye 530 3 Cars]

I get, measured and accurrate, between 35-45 from my XS, I drive on the light for a few days, or as long as I dare It makes you drive better with no fuel!!

[Cameron 16]

I wouldn't go any more that about 30 miles unless you're really frugal, i.e. sitting behind lorries at 56mph.

[harryskid 193]

You would not like to pay for the fuel in my rally car then 45 miles cost me £35!

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

100 in the battle bus when the light comes on.

[Anthony 1,003]

The fuel gauge (and light) is probably one of the most inaccurate things in a 205!

 

Surprised that you only got 28 miles with the light on though - most 205's that I've owned have had the light start to flicker on with over 2 gallons left in the tank, and you normally get the pump whining when you're critically low on fuel to give you a chance to save your dignity if you're playing fuel light bingo.

[richsmells 2]

I used to go as long as I dared as the fuel pump whined louder and louder!

 

The best i've done is rolling into the petrol station with the clutch in just as the engine stalled. Smooth!

Edited March 20, 2011 by richsmells

[Boost_junkie 0]

I get about 20 miles on the light in my turbo but I only normally see about 15mpg.

 

If my calculations are correct;

 

20/15 = 1.3 gallons of fuel

 

If your getting like 27 mpg then you should see about 35 from the light.

 

P.S. 27 mpg sound sound a bit naff for a 1.6

[GSXR_J 0]

Gonna fill up to the brim next week...travel to work few days...then fill up again then calculate what its doing...anybody any advice if its running low on mpg???

[welshpug 1,657]

drive more economically

 

replace AFM and CTS, get the ignition timing set properly, service it!

 

or fit better engine management and service it.

[GLPoomobile 958]

MPG does seem low for a 1.6, but I don't know what your typical journeys are. Short journeys in stop-start traffic, combined with the cold weather, will cripple economy somewhat. It's something you take for granted in an old car with no trip computer, but it's amazing to see just how drastically little things can hit your economy when you drive something that does have a trip computer!

[welshpug 1,657]

1.6's also aren't geared particularly ideally for motorway work, not least at modern day traffic speeds.

[GLPoomobile 958]

Motorway speeds have fallen due to the increase in fuel costs. Although I'd have taken that statement with a pinch of salt if I'd heard it, I certainly found it to be the case on my last trip down to Devon the other week. NOt just on that trip, but all the motorway trips I've done in the last 6 months I've seen a lot of traffic cruising at ~60mph, and not that much going sigificantly greater than 70. It's very different to how I remember it a few years ago.

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

but I only normally see about 15mpg.

 

 

Somethings not quite right then!

[DaveW 6]

Those with the carb TU's dont let the car run too far on the light as you will suck up something into the carb, as ive found out a few times in the past

[Petrolsniffer 3]

Those with the carb TU's dont let the car run too far on the light as you will suck up something into the carb, as ive found out a few times in the past

 

 

Really? I run with the light on alot not sure how long I can go on the light in my 1.1 once it starts staying on I normally fill up!

[dcc 855]

once got 340 miles out of my civic type r on a tank. first time i had ever got more than 220 miles out of it so kept a VERY keen eye on the gauge!