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Fuel Light Help


Jonny lad
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Hey lads just recently bought a 58 plate zetec s. The light comes on around 50 miles left (this is what the info button tells me so how many miles left till empy) anyway as it comes on with 50 miles left is it ok to run it on the light till about 15 miles left? then re-fuel. Answers would be much appreciated. Just normally the petrol light used to come on on my old corsa and i had to re-fill straight away. But new car and technology , surely if it states it has 50 miles left In it I won't brake down providing I don't go to 0.

Hope I get some answers as I'm confused

Btw new user so please don't flame me :)

Jon

Regards Jon

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It's a game of chicken.

Personally, I usually fill mine up whenever I pass the petty station after the light comes on, which is easy for me as I pass one on te way to work in the morning. You might well get 50 miles or so out of it, but why would you want to wait so long, it's not worth the hassle if for some reason you couldn't get to a station in time.

As for your suggestion about waiting till 15 miles are left, don't see a problem to be honest and don't worry about those who say you should never run your tank down because all the stray cntaminents collects at the bottom and could ruin your engine. It's rubbish on two counts. One, the fuel filter will stop it getting anywhere near the engine and in most cases, any contaminents in your tank will be heavier than the fuel itself and will settle on the bottom whether you have 4 litres in or 40.

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Hey lads just recently bought a 58 plate zetec s. The light comes on around 50 miles left (this is what the info button tells me so how many miles left till empy) anyway as it comes on with 50 miles left is it ok to run it on the light till about 15 miles left? then re-fuel. Answers would be much appreciated. Just normally the petrol light used to come on on my old corsa and i had to re-fill straight away. But new car and technology , surely if it states it has 50 miles left In it I won't brake down providing I don't go to 0.

Personally I wait until mine is near zero before refilling. I always fill the tank to the brim, and from ~0 miles remaining it takes about 39-40 litres. The tank holds 42, so there's a small buffer remaining. Also, the "miles remaining" figure is based on your current average mpg, so can be a bit misleading if you drive in a mix of town and open road (as I do).

The only reason I do this isn't to inject a little excitement into an otherwise dull day :-) I just hate wasting time in filling stations....

I don't suggest you do this until you build up some confidence in the gauge being accurate. And of course you know there's a filling station in range :-)

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It is generally accepted by those who know about cars that running a fuel tank low is a very dangerous game to play.

The sediment issue is a bit of a red herring although it can cause problems.

The main reason is the overheating of the fuel pump.

The following links explain it much clearer than I can.

http://tankonempty.com/viewstory/71

http://tankonempty.com/viewstory/99

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100919134226AABWIXt

Hope this is useful.

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absolute fantastic feedback lads, really appreciate it! Yes i ended up filling the tank today, only because i had a rough estimate of around 28 miles left (until empty) therefore thought Sh*t i had 34 yesterday. I think personally i could run it down to around 18-20 before i need to fill up, but i love the fact you get nearly 40 miles with your light on. I generally drive around town, although have just picked up my Zetec S 2 days ago and still buzzing, as my Y reg corsa wasnt even close to the experience i have in this!

Thanks lads, anymore info would be great!

Normally drive around middlesbrough town therefore not many motorway miles!

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