Low Gas Light......

ggweci

Member
:
2003 Protege5
just wondering if anyone knows exactly when the "low gas" light comes on? mine came on today and then i filled up a little later and the tank only took 45 Litres (~11gallons) but the tank takes 55L...does that mean it comes on with about 10L left (~2.5gallons)...if so, that's a very advanced warning notice...

and i got about 500km (~310miles) on my very first tank, is that good?
 
you wouldn't want it to come on say...with half a gallon left would you? especially on a long road trip where a gas station may be more than 50mi away...makes sense doesnt it.
 
Did you fill the tank completely full? I can usually get another gallon and a half or two in it after the pump shuts off the first time.

On the freeway at a steady 75 mph, I get right at 400 miles on mine before the light comes on, and even around town I think I get better than 300 - Maybe your tank wasn't completely full last time?

Don
 
nope. I took the risk. Coz people told me that there is a lot of gas left when the light goes on. But I didnt drive 5 hour continuously.
but if your asking about how many KM I drove. I have no idea.
 
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My low fuel light has only come on once, and when I went to fill up I put just over 51 litres in, which means my light comes on when there's about five litres left or a bit more than a gallon. My car's also the same as Don's: when the pump shuts off automatically the first time I can always put in at least another five or six litres without overfilling. So if you're just going to the nearest dollar after the pump shuts off you're likely not really filling up the tank, which is why it would seem the low fuel light is coming on early.
 
I purposely drove my car till the light came on when I first got the car, just so I could see when it came on....then filled her up all the way.....I had 2 gallons left....so it sounds like they are all pretty well set or are at about the same place.....it was a piece of info I needed or wanted just in case.....

I have had cars in the past that varried a lot....one only had ONE gallone left....another had 7!!!
 
I have ~300-320 miles when light came on. I'm driving more ~40-50 miles and it's a ~12.5 - 13.5 galons to fill up.
 
Hello fellow p5ers, felt compelled to let those that don't know and those that think they have the answers that overfilling thefuel tank past the point where nozzle clicks off may cause charcoal canistor damage and possible fueltank and fuel level sender damage, as over filling fuel tank causes saturation of the charcoal canster and excessive fuel tank negative pressure.I will touch more on this topic when more time allows, sorry for the lack of proper punctuation. Its late, wifes p5 getting 400-425 miles per tank. 11.5-12.0 gallons, manual trans and synthetic lubricants do help.
 
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yep... after 45 litres, the light comes on, so 10 litres are left for reserve. that roughly turns into 100 km if you take an avg. of about 10L/100km. Again, it depends on your driving habits, if you rev high and go fast, obviously you're not going to have 100km to go. So if your light comes on and there's no gas station in sight, drive conservatively at around 90km/h to maximize your distance.
 
Hey gaZOOM-ZOOM what sort of driving does your wife do?? I drive approx 40 miles a day (35 are highway miles) and get about 300-325 miles a tank.

Seems to me like she is getting incredible gas mileage.

BTW I do have a 5 speed.
 
talon4x4, mixed driving, live in atlanta a-lot of stop and go driving, there are some things that i have not seen on here yet, #! making sure oil level is no more than full, after replacement of the oil filter and draining the oil typically take 3-1/4 qts oil, I prefer mobil 1 5-30, no thicker than 10-30, #2 keep your foot from having a mind of its own, regular unleaded fuel only, 87 octane in our area. (silverp5)
 
Sir Nuke said:


I have had cars in the past that varried a lot....one only had ONE gallone left....another had 7!!!
yeah, my old suburban got about 6-8 miles to the gallon. It had a 45 gallon tank, and a warning at 8 gallons.
 
It was also supercharged, it got about 10-12 stock
 
On my last long highway trip to berkeley the light came on as i just passed the exit for gas, 35 miles to the next gas.

35 miles came up and no gas station to be found.

Drove another 20 miles for a total of 55 miles after the light came on. Kinda freaky, since my guess is we have about 2 gallons when in there when the light is on, and i get about 28 or 29 mpg most the time.

Big sigh of relief.
 
I get around 28 MPG if I take out my roof rack. During the summer time, I had my roof rack on and sometime with the bike rack and I only get around 26.5-27 MPG. It's also little noisier.
 
The most miles I've ever gotten on my P5 was 323 miles per tank, and that was when I drove another 45 miles after the light came on. I'm just really pissed off with my mileage. 90% of the time, I don't even hit 300 miles. I always fill my gas tank up after the light comes on because I hate stopping for gas and I want to see how many miles I can go on one tank. Usually, by the time the light comes on, I'm at 260-270 miles. It's quite pathetic considering, I used to drive a 90 Honda Accord and consistently got 23-25 miles per gallon. I get 21-23 mpg on the P5 with 6700 miles altogether. Why can't we have comparable mileage to the Civic, considering they're both "small economy cars"? I have the mileage of a dang midsize sedan.
 

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