[MichaelMurano]

I have a long commute to work daily. A combination of me forgetting to fill up and me playing a game to see how far I can go without running out of gas, I ran it pretty low last night. The display said I had 6 miles left. The needle was on empty - had been for awhile - and I went about 12 miles with the gas pump light lit up on the dash. I wonder how much further I could have gone and if the display goes to 0 before actually running out. I reset the odometer everytime I fill up. Would like to go over 500 miles on a tank. Have gotten well over 400 but you'd probably have to drive 30mph highway the whole time to do it. Nice feature displaying miles left - not completely accurate but good compared to nothing.

 

[MightyMo]

When your DTE shows an asterisk (*) then you've still got a couple gallons left.

Just do the math between the size of the fuel tank vs. how much gas you eventually put in. The specs say it's 21.7, but you have to remember there's usually some at the bottom that is unuseable, so if you put in over 20, or *gulp* over 21 then you really pushed it.

 

[Ohio Murano]

One time my computer said I only had 2 miles left and I was really worried, can't remember how many gallons I put in though. Today I ran it pretty low and put in 19.983 gallons and the computer said I had 21 miles left so who knows.

 

[jmeitz]

my wife once drove an additional 50 miles on asterik. When i got it to the gas station it took all of 21.5 gallons to fill it up.

 

[njjoe]

The tank reportedly holds 21.7 gallons. Two weeks ago I put in 20.2 gallons, which means I ran it down to the last gallon and a half.

The display read zero and the gauge read "E" but the needle had not yet touched the "zero" pin. I actually put close to 40 miles on the MO after the display read zero.

It looks like I can go about 60 miles after the display reads zero before I am running on fumes.

-njjoe

 

[cschmidt]

non-linear heading to 0

What we have noticed is that the DTE seems non-linear. From about 60 miles on down it goes pretty fast (faster than the 60 miles). Then on to the *. I'll have to ask my wife - who drives and fills the Mo most often what she has seen for fill-ups vs. tank size and what the DTE is reading. Our previous Lincoln was pretty accurate. If it said empty it was serious about it.

Another little amusement.. our driveway slants from left to right (right side is lower). We have seen a very low fuel guage reading when the tank gets to about 1/3 to 1/4... and the Mo sits with the passenger side lower for a while. Getting back out on level ground and it still takes 5-10 miles for the level to read correctly. Anyone else seen weird readings like this?

My wife now resets the trip computer at fillup to compensate for the crazy fuel / DTE guages.

Chuck

 

[pcs15394]

DTE Guage

I am guessing that the DTE is based on current driving conditions and could change very rapidly when stuck in traffic, shifting into DS and punching it, etc... The reading is being pulled from average miles per gallon, which on mine is usually @ 17.8. I know if I am on E, I better fill up before @ 35 miles.

 

[Eric L.]

When the gas light comes on, you've got 2.5-3.0 gallons left. Lowest I ever went - DTE showed a * for what felt like an eternity on the highway and finally found a station to fill up - 21.2 gallons! Whew....

I don't ever rely on DTE as a fuel guage. Its determined by average driving conditions, and you never know when you will get stuck in traffic. After filling up the tank with the fuel guage needed at different positions, its pretty easy for me now to estimate, within a gallon, or how much fuel the car will take.

That said, its not a good idea to run the tank down too low. For one thing, the fuel pump uses gasoline both as a coolant and as a lubricant, and running it down too low will strain the pump somewhat.

 

[njjoe]

If I remember correctly, Nissan Zs in the early to mid-nineties had two gas gauges. One was a typical gauge and the other took over when the tank was down to a quarter. The secondary guage was more precise and more accurately monitored the remaining fuel.

Does anyone else remember this? Maybe I was just hallucinating back then.

-njjoe

 

[MightyMo]

Yup, a first generation 300ZX with digital dash was my first car actually, and it had a pile of bars to show how full the tank was, and then the last 5 would actually read seperately 5...4...3...2...1. That and the 'kit' voice in the dash would say 'fuel is low' at me .

The second generation 300ZX that I have now is very accurate, yet not very useful. There is seriuosly a full 1/5th of a tank hiding under the E. Very annoying how Nissan treats it's drivers as juveniles in this way...

 

[njjoe]

MightyMo-

Yeah, maybe that was it. However I could have sworn they were dual analog gauges. Again, maybe it was just hallucinations.

-njjoe

 

[MightyMo]

I've never looked that close at a first gen 300ZX with the analog dash setup to notice, I wouldn't be surpsied.

 

[bruno]

I like living large when it comes to fuel.... always filling up only when very empty..... dumb as a sack of hammers....
In my Mo, when the DTE =*, I have ten liters or 2.5 US gallons left. I ran out of gas only once, about 50 feet from the pump. We pushed it in and it took 82.5 liters, the manual says it hold 82.

 

[njjoe]

I like living large when it comes to fuel.... always filling up only when very empty..... dumb as a sack of hammers....
In my Mo, when the DTE =*, I have ten liters or 2.5 US gallons left. I ran out of gas only once, about 50 feet from the pump. We pushed it in and it took 82.5 liters, the manual says it hold 82.

Bruno-

You almost had the record. It doesn't count if you run out of gas 50 feet from the pump. However, if you had run out after arriving at the pump and putting the car in park, then that would have been O.K.. :2:

You definitely push the envelope.

-njjoe

 

[mozman]

Wish I knew this earlier....

My screen was reading 11 miles remaining. Knowing that estimate is based on driving conditions, I still didn't want to take the chance, since I drive 10 miles to get to the bus stop. SO I stopped at the gas station on the way and filled it up... approx. 18 gallons. Plus, I missed my bus... got the net one 15 minutes later.

 

[MichaelMurano]

I had seen that the owner's manual said the MO had a 21.x gallon tank but everytime I filled up the gas pump showed 18.x. I assumed the manual was wrong - guess not after reading reply posts here. So, last week I pushed the envelope quite by accident - display said 20 something miles to go and then all of a sudden it jumped to the *. I went about 20 miles on the * and STILL the gas pump only showed 18.x gallons needed to refill. Guess I'm not pushing the envelope enough - although I've never run out of gas in my life and I'm sure it must be a real pain in cold weather late at night with not much around which is pretty much my evening commute when I'm approaching empty - plus with the colder temps and snow here in the East now, probably not much sense in pushing it now - would hate to run out while sitting in stalled traffic because all the wusses in the DC area can't drive with .25 inches of snow. Oh well, but next Spring ...

 

[njjoe]

MichaelMurano-

The DTE display errs on the side of caution, which is how it should be.

On my MO, when the *.* first appears I have approximately 3 gallons left in the tank.

It looks like the same for your MO.



-njjoe

 

[MichaelMurano]

I agree it's nice it errs on the side of caution. About a week ago I left for work - got about 1.5 miles from my house - what I thought was a loud constant beep came on and when it went off after 10 seconds the ! showed up on my dash to indicate low tire pressure. One of my tires was slightly below 30psi - which is cautious - but I'm glad it let me know. I mentioned this among other things about the MO to people who don't own one and the question I'm always asked is "Is there anything that vehicle doesn't do?".