Question about the "Low Fuel" Warning

Cybele,
Did you fill at your usual station? You should have been able to get at LEAST 8.5 in - assuming your 49.4 was computer, not calculated, MPG. I assume computer since if it was calculated it would be about 55 MPG. I'm willing to bet that you are not getting it to 'full' if the best you can do on 1 bar blinking is even 8.5 gallons.

I had a problem the first time I went to the Gulf station, the pump just did NOT want to work right. It kept kicking off starting at about 5 gallons. All fills at Exxon and the last one at that Gulf (different pump) were no problem. I always get 9+ in not long after 1 bar blinking no matter what my tank MPG is. I haven't put in enough to get spit back. I do add after the first auto shut off but I'm NOT trying to cram it into the fill tube. In fact, I calculate how much I SHOULD be able to get in based on miles and computer MPG. I figure I should be able to safely add as much as I used, though I am watching for "cold bladder" syndrom now, just in case.

If I'm not experiencing "bladder problems" in cold VT, you shouldn't be in LA.

 

I don't know, it gets pretty cold here in Texas. It actually got down to 32 for about 10 minutes last week (tee hee hee)

 

I didn't fill at my usual station (in fact, my husband did the filling). I was wondering if perhaps we weren't perfectly level.

I've never, ever been able to put more than 9.4 gallons in the car - and that was on my best tank/range. I usually go one gallon (whatever the current mileage is) past the blinking bar. I know I should probably be brave and push it, but I just don't have the courage to tempt the fates. The only thing that was different between this fill and the last 5 or 6 (which were about 8.5-9) was the fact that the temp had dropped 30 degrees.

I'm also not willing to try to push more gas into the car - a spill or overflow can create more VOCs than driving the car itself. I fill, I let it wait for 30 seconds, I try to fill some more and then stop when it stops (never getting more than 1/4 gallon more).

But I know I didn't get a full tank - yesterday after going only 27 miles (at 42-46 mpg) the first bar went down and the second bar went down by the 50 mile mark (and by then I was up to 50 mpg). The first bar doesn't usually go down until about 80-100 miles.

I'm resigned to the funkiness of it all. If there were one improvement I'd make it'd be on the fuel reporting. My husband's Saab tells us not only how much gas is in the tank, but what his range is based on the current mileage so he can accurately tell when he needs to refill (and of course get the best price and stop at a safe place).

 

I ran my 05 out of gas just to see what really happens. It was probably about 50 miles past the start of the blinking fuel light... and I did see the "Add Fuel" warning message on the main screen at least once. When the gas ran out all hell broke loose with the warning lights on the dash ...... everything lit up ....... but I was able to drive maybe another mile on the battery before losing all battery power....... however, this was just enough to make it to the next gas station. After filling up, everything was fine ....... Would've thought I could get 3 or 4 miles out of the battery.

One issue though ...... on a completely empty tank...... I was only able to put in 10.8 gallons of gas completely topped off. Since the manual says there's 11.9 capacity .... I'm wondering where the missing gallon went? Have others found their capacity to be less than what the manual states?

 

Last week my car ran out of gas after running only 33 miles on the flashing bar! I was able to drive slowly on the battery to a gas station which was about 2 miles. When filling the tank the nozzle clicked off at 10.747 gallons and I put in a little more for a total of 11.03 gallons. I'm done trying to stretch the tank, next time the bar flashes I'm heading to a gas station.