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How many miles once the gas light comes on?


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I got 40-km (25 miles) out of my 2002 Forester MT5, before the engine started misfiring, and I then refuelled from a portable gas-can.

 

someone always has to be a trouble maker :-p

 

 

nipper

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My 98 OBW takes 13.7 gal to full once the light comes on "full". Been like that for 134K miles and many fillups.

 

You can ge the light to come a bit earlier if your on a hill or a tight turn like on an exit ramp but it will shut off once your stabilized. Once the light comes on full I look for a gas station.

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Where do you get Techron? I can't find anything called that (or claiming the ingrediant) at the local auto parts stores.

 

Techron is the cleaning formula used in Chevron fuels, it is often also sold as a fuel additive. Look for a fuel system cleaner made by Chevron, that should be the techron additive.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just checked this again:

 

Light came on at 380.7 miles

Fill up at 383.2 miles

Fill amount = 14.2 gallons

MPG = 26.99 miles per gallon

Tank capacity = 16.9 gallons

Reserve fuel after light comes on = 2.7 gallons

Distance after light comes on = 72.86 miles

Theroretical max distance per tank of gas = 456.13 miles

 

This is a 2000 OBW.

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I got >50km, have to find out first time it went on last i drove 470km ok now some math (sorry guys metric :grin: ).

 

tank capacity : 60 l (15.85 USG)

tanked gas after ligth on : 46 l (12.15 USG)

distance : 470 km (292 Mi)

milage : 10.2 km/l (24.03 Mi/G) is this bad??!!?? (2.0l 2wd 4eat '91 legacy wagon)

 

So with the 14 litres left is should be able to do at leas 140 more km but never went further than 480 km on a tank. But now comes the strange things. The distance given by the odometer differs from tire size ('91 legacy still with cable) and seems quite incorrect. Will try this with GPS once and see the difference and get the real Mi/G (since i trust the pump meter where i get the gasoline). Then there is something else weird. When the light comes on at the first moment and i take some turns (to the left) it goes off. Also when the tank is getting empty and i take left turns it becomes slightly fuller!? If i go to the right it becomes emptier again, i can even get it below the E line on the dail without having the ligth on (ensuring us the light and meter are really two separate sensors).

 

Think will get a 5 l tank in the car and will bravely see if i can make at least 550 km. btw does anything bad happen to the automatic gearbox if the engine stalls or does it jumps into neutral???

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I got >50km, have to find out first time it went on last i drove 470km ok now some math (sorry guys metric :grin: ).

 

tank capacity : 60 l (15.85 USG)

tanked gas after ligth on : 46 l (12.15 USG)

distance : 470 km (292 Mi)

milage : 10.2 km/l (24.03 Mi/G) is this bad??!!?? (2.0l 2wd 4eat '91 legacy wagon)

 

So with the 14 litres left is should be able to do at leas 140 more km but never went further than 480 km on a tank. But now comes the strange things. The distance given by the odometer differs from tire size ('91 legacy still with cable) and seems quite incorrect. Will try this with GPS once and see the difference and get the real Mi/G (since i trust the pump meter where i get the gasoline). Then there is something else weird. When the light comes on at the first moment and i take some turns (to the left) it goes off. Also when the tank is getting empty and i take left turns it becomes slightly fuller!? If i go to the right it becomes emptier again, i can even get it below the E line on the dail without having the ligth on (ensuring us the light and meter are really two separate sensors).

 

Think will get a 5 l tank in the car and will bravely see if i can make at least 550 km. btw does anything bad happen to the automatic gearbox if the engine stalls or does it jumps into neutral???

 

Engine stalls, the car just rolls. The tranny pump looses pressure so it is like being in neutral.

 

24 mpg is not bad. It takes at least 3 tanks of gas to determine baseline MPG. i get 20/24 in my 2.5L OBW auto. i can see 29mpg if i stick to 60, but thats no fun. Also do 60 here and you back up traffic.

 

nipper

 

nipper

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I hope everyone remembers you can't squeeze every last ounce of gas out of the tank. Anything less than a gallon left and the car is prone to hesitation and bucking from the gas sloshing away from the fuel pickup... in the BC/BF chassis anyways. You can only make it as far as the pickup can keep sucking up gas.

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OK, I can't stand it anymore. I have to chime in. The car is a 92 Legacy 2.2L manual, 230K miles on it. The "feed me" light (c'mon, that is what it really means. . .) comes on intermittantly just below E, then I have about 40 miles range before the car goes bingo (out of fuel). The one time I let it go that far, the station was across the street, ande I got 15.3 Gal. into it. That last .5 gal was wasted, as the pickup could not get at it. Letting the fuel get this low is hard on the pump and on the engine, so I do not do so often. Emily (my car) likes Arco gas (BP), and I get between 20 and 30MPG depending on how I'm driving. All told I'm averaging about 25MPG on a 15 year old car with over 200K on the ticker. At that I'm also getting really good emmissions readings. I use about a quart and a half of oil in my 5K change interval (synthetic, but I do not trust the filter past 5K).

 

Recently the feed me light has started to lie to me, going on when the guage is above E. I tell it to fsck off and after a bit it goes off, returning at a more reasonable time. Hey Nipper, got any thoughts on that one? I am considering pulling the fuel guage sender and cleaning it up sometime soon as well. Does anyone have a recomendation on a cleaner?

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The feed me light can come on and off with the angle of the car. Its when it stays on that you need to pay attention to it.

 

Mine flickers on and off about E (which is normal for any light) as the fule sloshes around, and as the jet pump (in AWD subarus) moves fuel around.

 

It could be you may be due for a fuel filter, and thats affecting the jet pump effeciency.

 

nipper

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What he said. The light is a seperate mechanisim then the gauge, and is 100% repeatable and reliable (as long as the light doesnt burn out).

nipper

 

I ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere in Arkansas because, as I just learned, the fuel light burned out. How difficult is it to pull the instrument cluster and replace the light?

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I ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere in Arkansas because, as I just learned, the fuel light burned out. How difficult is it to pull the instrument cluster and replace the light?

 

The cluster comes out in about 3 minutes, its really simple..

 

 

nipper

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The cluster comes out in about 3 minutes, its really simple..

nipper

 

Thanks. It was very simple (Bulb #158). To replace it I didn't need to remove the culster completely as the low fuel light bulb is very accessible on the the bottom corner.

 

As you pull out the plastic visor, there are just two screws on top and a couple of hook pawls the bottom corners -- just pull outward and the bottom pops out.

 

I'm taking care of annoying little things, and will post a question about some other bulbs in a separate thread.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Replaced the bulb and the light still doesn't work. I just took the fuel gauge needle down several times on a recent road trip, and still nothing. I refilled with close to 15 gallons several times.

 

Can it be that the sensor has failed? Are there electrical connections I should check?

 

I know it's a minor issue but an annoying one nonetheless.

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