How low can the gas gauge go...

[1stgsxr06]

I always wondered how accurate the digital gas gauge is in our car. Long story short I was coming back home from a trip and had 10 miles left on the digital gauge. As I'm getting off the highway the digital gauge reads 0 miles. All I know is the car is still going and I kept the AC on too. After the gauge read 0 miles I drove 2 additional miles in local city traffic also having to wait for 3 traffic lights till I got to the gas station. I get to the gas station and she's still running. Here are some pics of the gauges.





At this point, I didn't want to push it anymore, but was relieved that I made it. Has anyone run out of gas? How many miles did you go after 0 miles. It's good to know.

[toaster]

i've driven over 20 miles "on 0."

...i was on the last leg of my morning commute on the highway.

your picture isn't working, but i know the physical guage can be BELOW and NOT TOUCHING the last tick on E, and you can still be going...it's risky though.

audi generally shows you 0 miles to go with ~ 1.5 - 2 gallons still left in the tank as a safety precaution.

[1stgsxr06]

I can't get this to work but here are links instead.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2197757...n/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2197757...n/photostream/

[chairlift]

(obligatory Seinfeld reference)

But seriously, on an episode of Top Gear, Clarkson drove an A8 4.0 Twinturbo diesel from London to Edinburgh and back (800 Miles) on one tank. He was on 0 miles in the computer for about 20+ miles until he made it.

[Comp4k]

and here is the video if you want to watch it:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TUU5tN03fg

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeIp72KvQcA

[hiwords1]

i believe you can still go about 30 miles after you tank says 0. i wouldn't do it because you'll be sucking up all the dirt and grime at the bottom of the tank

[Greg Nelson]

Jackson Browne: Runnin' On Empty
Long time ago read somewhere that running tank down to 1/8 or less may suck sediments from the tank into our finely tuned engines.
Do we really know what our oil company friends are 'blending' into the gas these days - especially BP with the 'captured' oil from the Gulf spewing rig
Cheers

[UmIsThisThingOn]

Pretty Crazy! I've only driven mine twice after getting to 'Zero'.
I didn't push it too far - I went to the first 'approved' gas station about 12-ish miles after 'Zero'.

I found this story from Edmunds over on QuattroWorld:
http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtest...-22-miles.html

Yesterday I proved that our long-term 2009 Audi A4 Avant can be driven atleast 22 miles with zero range. No, I'm not proud of it, but it was fun living on the edge.

By the way, after 22 miles I wimped out and zipped into some no name gas station. I wonder how far it could have gone.

[A5MD]

You guys are daring. The lowest I have gone was to 20 and I was getting nervous.

[B_Boy]

[Okan509]

I always fill up at the 1/4 mark... the most I will go is till the light comes on, and then my first stop is a gas station.

[AofC_RR]

It's not good to run them that low. It puts a lot of strain on the fuel pumps. I fill up around the quarter tank mark personally.

[Dake]

That's a relief. I drove mine to 5 once (usually fill up at 30) and was pretty nervous about all the crap I was probably sucking up. With the news that there's another 2 gallons left, I'm a lot less concerned.

[aaronw112358]

I am actually sort of surprised that yellow gas pump indicator on the driver display does not go to red when it gets 0. I think I've only let it get to 10 or 15.

[1stgsxr06]

True, normally I'll fill her up when i see 10 or 15. It was just one of those days just trying to get home and not wanting to stop. Thanks B_Boy for posting my pics.

[Comp4k]

I've only driven it to 0 once, that was to put some 100 octane in and have some fun, but now I usually fill up before the red bars.

[mellonhdz]

Your gas tank holds 17.2 gallons. Do you remember how many gallons you put in when you filled-up?

[Okan509]

Your gas tank holds 17.2 gallons. Do you remember how many gallons you put in when you filled-up?

My gas tank does not hold this many gallons at all, maybe 14.5

[Greg Nelson]

My gas tank does not hold this many gallons at all, maybe 14.5

Do the '09s (3.2L and 2.0T) and the '10s have differing tank capacities
Recall manual says my 3.2L has 16+ capacity - then again, manual was printed B/F '09 US models were released.
Cheers

[Alkivar]

most i've ever shoved in my '08 3.2's tank was 15.9... i'm an A5 though...

[ThePiombino]

Pretty sure our cars have 15 + gallon tanks

[mellonhdz]

My gas tank does not hold this many gallons at all, maybe 14.5

My 2006 A4 holds 16.6 gallons.

Here is a link. Click on SPECS. I will acknowledge it does say APPROX gallons.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/audi-a4.html#

[Ryan327]

The owners manual for my 2010 shows different specs for front vs quatto. quatto has a 16.9 total capacity with 1.8 to 2.4 gallons of that being a "reserve". I would assume that when the system shows empty you still have around 2 gallons, so at 25-30mpg you would get another 50 to 60 miles past empty. Just a guess and not something I'm going to try out. And I wouldn't worry about sediment going into the motor, thats why you have a fuel filter, but it will clog it up much faster and effect performance.

Another thing, not sure how the fuel pump for the A4 is setup and I'm sure someone with more knowledge could chime in, but in a some cars the fuel is also used to cool the pump so running the tank low can overheat the pump and cause it to fail early

[1stgsxr06]

16.5 Gallons, thats how much I pumped.

[UmIsThisThingOn]

HAHA, I just ran down to the bare dredges in my tank again.
I put in 16.066 Gallons of Shell and the Computer estimated 435 miles.
From the previous fillup I got 376 miles - a lot of highway, then the usual commute of mixed speed roads.

[cazeluf]

I don't normally run my tank below a quarter, but whenever I get a new vehicle, I run the tank to E in order to determine what kind of reserve it has. After a few months of ownership, I finally did that with my S-Line. The needle was right on E as viewed from the normal driving position (the apparent position of the needle will vary slightly if you move your head over to be directly in front of the gauge), and the range display said zero miles remaining. The car took 15.369 gallons. Based upon the stated capacity of 16.9 gallons, that would be a reserve of 1.531 gallons.

Which leaves me a little confused about the "reserve" mentioned in the owner's manual. As Ryan327 said, it states that the "reserve (of total capacity)" is 1.8 to 2.4 gallons. Since it says "of total capacity" and not "in addition to total capacity," you would think that actual fuel remaining at E would be in that range. Yet, my results are less than that. I suspect that this might have to do with the direction from which the gauge is viewed, because when the needle is right on E from the driving position, it will be a little below E if you move your head to the right so it is directly in front of the gauge. That might be worth .3 gallons.

My last two vehicles (Japanese) both had reserves of 2.9 gallons. I'm curious if German vehicles typically have smaller reserves. It just seems consistent with the German perspective on driving and vehicle design that there would be less of a fudge factor in the fuel gauge.

[Ryan327]

I'm not exactly sure what you are confused about, but 1.531 gallons compared to the listed 1.8 to 2.4 is pretty darn close. Neither your eyeball or the gauge are calibrated to an exact measurement so if you perception of where E is may be different than mine it could easily make a .3 to .5 gallon difference. I wouldn't worry about it too much either way and if you truely wanted to determine the reserve you would drive until the gas light came on, note the mileage, drive it until you hit E and note the mileage, and then continue to drive until empty, then you would really know how low you can go. I wouldn't recommend it but that's what I would do if were so interested/inclined to try.

I don't think there is a specific reason for why some companies may have larger or small reserves. If anything maybe the Germans expect their drivers to pay attention to these things and fill up when you need gas and watch the gauges. I know from wife being in Germany before in the military, she said the driving test is much more difficult in Germany and they expect more from their drivers. She also said they WILL ticket you for running out of gas which is another reason why they may pay closer attention or fill up more often.

[cazeluf]

if you truely wanted to determine the reserve you would drive until the gas light came on, note the mileage, drive it until you hit E and note the mileage, and then continue to drive until empty, then you would really know how low you can go.

That's not really a very good idea at all.