You just have to look at the fuel gauge!!!!

colekicker · Apr 26, 2011

So, my wife comes back inside this morning and tells me her Jetta TDI (diesel) won't start. So, I go out and look at the car. Well, it is pretty dang hard for it to start when the fuel gauge is on empty and there is a big yellow fuel pump showing on the dash.

I haven't been this frustrated in a while. Out of all the vehicles to run out of fuel, this was not the one she needed to do that with. Plus, the idiot light for low fuel comes on with 1.9 gal left of diesel. 70 miles warning!!!

Has anybody else dealt with this before?

Anonymous-0 · Apr 26, 2011

NO not here, everything always goes perfect around here!:>)

KYfarm · Apr 26, 2011

with my Golf TDI it takes so long between fill-ups (500+ miles) and probably the same with the jetta that maybe she just forgot that you have to add fuel to the thing

no really, good luck bleeding that out, there certainly isn't any access to parts under the hood of my golf, are you going to try and do that yourself or take it in?

Greenday · Apr 26, 2011

My daughter ran out of gas in her ZR2 S10 on her first week of having her driving license on her way to school. She called me and said her truck died and would not start so I went to check it out and the first thing I did was put some gas in it and it started right up. When I told her she was out of gas she replied-- Its not that I was out I just didnt have enough! WOW

Cliff Nelson · Apr 26, 2011

We bought a used 95 explorer for wife to drive 10 years ago. Checked it over, filled with gas and sent her on her way. About a week later she calls on her way home from work saying the engine quit. After rescuing her and asking questions she had 350 miles on it and had not put any more gas in. The gauge said full so she thought it was full even after driving it all week. Fuel gauge wasn't cheap either.

buickanddeere · Apr 26, 2011

I've kept several filled fuel cans on hand since marrage. The wife will drive in on fumes then park uphill or down hill so the fuel pump is dry.

ericlb · Apr 26, 2011

not me, and my gas gauges dont even work, [ 2, 1 ton dually chevy flatbeds from the '80's] i keep the tanks full dailey, here at the farm, empty isnt all that far away with these, one gets 6 mpg, one gets 8, got a nice 94 dodge diesel,gets high 2o's on the hiway, but my daughter took it with her to colledge, since her forrester broke down, last i saw it, it had her personalized licence plate on the front, ... i got a feeling i aint getting that truck back...

colekicker · Apr 26, 2011

From what I have read from my google search and then the TDI club site, it is self priming. I hope what I have read is correct!

Anonymous-0 · Apr 26, 2011

a friend pulled a dead car into his shop. It had been run out of gas and the gauge was on E. The customer cranked it long enough to ruin the starter, drain the batt and ruin the fuel pump. The customer was upset at the bill, he asked him why he keep cranking it, customer said he wasn't going to walk! There's your sign!

Anonymous-0 · Apr 26, 2011

a friend pulled a dead car into his shop. It had been run out of gas and the gauge was on E. The customer cranked it long enough to ruin the starter, drain the batt and ruin the fuel pump. The customer was upset at the bill, he asked him why he kept cranking it, customer said he wasn't going to walk! There's your sign!

Goose · Apr 26, 2011

Once when I worked for a large printing plant, I had to go to Omaha on company business. The Financial VP told me to take his car. (He was too cheap to pay me mileage on mine).

Next morning, he asked me how much gas his car had in it when I went to Omaha. I told him the guage had hung around half the whole trip, and I thought it had been getting pretty good mileage.

He said when he went to go home, he'd gotten a block from the plant and ran out of gas. The guage was kaput. Better him a block from the plant where there were several stations within a block or two than me on I-80 somewhere between Lincoln and Omaha.

Bob M · Apr 26, 2011

An elderly relative ran out of gas a few days ago. When asked how that happened he explained "the gas gage is busted". Said he put $20 in a couple days ago and the gage didn't move. And since $20 should fill the car the gage must be broke.

The poor guy simply can't comprehend the impact $4 of gas.

Sam#3 · Apr 26, 2011

Oh yeah! My X. and othe relations. In addition to running out of fuel and the usual sticking the front wheel next to a curb in deep snow she twice drove home on a flat. Once she hit a pothole so hard both sides of the wheel were bent to the bottom of the bead but the tire didn't blow. The tube was protruding under the edge of the tire.
My former son-in-law had a klunker that required adding oil all the time. One day as he added oil to his car he thinks (wrong word) because his car needs oil the daughter's nearly new pickup needs a quart too. She calls to tell me the truck becomes engulfed in smoke when she stops at lights. A little 1+1 and I tell her to go get the oil drained and refilled.
But the absolute funniest was the night the X loaned her car to the other daughter and a friend to go to another friend's house. I knew the car was low on gas and told them so but off they go. Later a swarm of kids come in telling me all about how the car won't start and has run out of oil. When the daughter and I go to pick up the car the next day I find the dipstick lying on top of the air clearer. It seems the brains were checking the oil by putting the dipstick in the oil fill on the valve cover.
Is it any wonder they're building computerized cars that run on a track?

Eldon (WA) · Apr 26, 2011

Awe heck, I'm sure she has some other attributes that make her worth keeping.....don't sweat the small stuff!!

MMfan · Apr 26, 2011

if it has an electric transfer pump in the tank just cycle the key a few times to ge the pressure up. I bet it will crank pretty easy.

Mike (WA) · Apr 26, 2011

I'd heard my Dodge Cummins was self-priming, too- A $200 shop bill later, I'm pretty convinced its not.

I was trying to run a bed-mounted auxilliary tank as low as I could, in anticipation of taking it out. Tank ran out before the guage did! 8<(

bobs old iron · Apr 26, 2011

along the same route, worked at gas station, lady drive from downtown to station for fill up. she was good on keeping gas in it, however, pulled in with tappets making noise, asked about oil light being on, she replies, "i thought it meant i have oil"./////////////// to quote jeff foxworthy--it is legal for women to buy gas!

colekicker · Apr 26, 2011

Well, I thought so too. Not sure how long she cranked on it this morning, but there must have been heck of a lot of air in the lines.
Left the old battery charging all day. Seems the battery just didn't have enough umph to get the engine spinning fast enough to start.
Got a new battery and it cranked right up. Sure spun a lot faster!

pat sublett · Apr 26, 2011

A Highway patroll stopped my sister for speeding when she was about sixteen. She told him that she was in a hurry to get home before she ran out of gas. He let her go.

Detmurds · Apr 26, 2011

I remember my aunt calling my father and complained that her clothes dryer wouldn't dry. She and my Grandmother who both lived alone did this all the time when they had "issues". My father was a pretty good all round mechanic and fixer-upper. Anyhow,..we went over my aunt's house and he looked at it and cleaned out a big gob of lint from the lint trap. It worked fine after that!

oldironman · Apr 27, 2011

The company that I worked for sent two guys to Germany to trouble shoot at one of the plants. They stopped for gas and filled up and hit the autobon. Didn't get to far. It was a rental with a diesel. No one ever said how much that cost the company. And they called there guys trouble shooters.

You just have to look at the fuel gauge!!!!

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