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Pulling my hair out

J

john in la

Well-known Member
Location
What part of in La do you not understand
Daughter calls this afternoon. She is broke down on a state highway right in a bad curve. No real shoulder but she has it mostly off the road. Time I get there the cops are there to try and slow traffic. Grandson is crying in the back seat cause he does not understand what is going on.

2008 Toyota Yaris with over 200,000 miles and has never had a problem in the past. I ask her what happened and she said it was like it just ran out of gas and would not start.

It cranks but will not start. Fuel gauge is on 1/4 full. I check the ignition and fuel pump fuse but they are OK. So I just have it towed home.

Spent several hours checking things. Got fire to the plugs but no gas. Just about to pull the fuel pump out the tank.
Just for more info ask my son and daughter about it. Son says it had 1/4 tank when he left. 15 miles to town and 15 back. Daughter went 15 miles to town and about 12 back before it broke down.
But wait son says it had 1/4 tank when he left and still showing 1/4 tank. Something wrong with this.

Put 5 gallons of gas in tank and it fires right up. Took it to corner and fill it up it takes another 6.5 gallons. So that's 11.5 gallons in a 11.1 gallon tank. Yea it was empty.

Moral of the story........
Never trust a gas gauge. Even though it read 1/4 tank it was slap out of gas.
Guess I am headed to Toyota to get a dealer only sending unit part so this does not happen again.
 
That's the same way I learned the same lesson. Car quit, showed a 1/4 tank of gas. Dad said put some gas in it. I knew better, a few hours later I put some gas in it and it started right up.
 
Fuel gauges have been known to become slightly inaccurate with age. It only takes once before you decide to keep ample fuel in the tank. I try not to let any of my vehicles get below a quarter of a tank.
 
picked up a women on the way to work her gage didnt work i asked her when last filled she said my husband filled it last night i asked are you sure? maybe should have put the ambulance crew on standby
 
The gas gauge on my 1997 Ranger pickup hasn't worked for about 10 years. I reset the trip odometer every time I fill the tank. I let the trip odometer get up to about 250 miles and then I refill the tank. Usually around 10 gals.

Pretty simple.

Tom in TN
 
Well, a lot of aggravation John, but it could have turned out worse. Nobody was hurt, thank God.

A local guy had an old, but good, Ford sedan, back when the gas tank filler was behind the license plate. One night on the way home from the late shift, it died on him, about a mile from home. He had a friend help him tow it home, and they commenced to troubleshooting it. After a short while, they realized it wasn't getting any fuel. He'd just put 15 gallons of gas in it, so they changed the fuel pump. Still no go, so they decided to add some fuel. When they flipped down the license plate, there was no gas filler. The support straps had broken, and the tank had fallen off. After the snow melted, someone spotted the tank alongside the road not far from where the car had died.
 
As a teenager I put a rheostat in series with the gas gauge in my fathers car. I would turn it down so my dad would put more gas in the car. When I took the car I would turn it back up and had gas for my date. He never figured it out.
 
Don't feel bad, myself, my Dad, my buddy (an electrician), our neighbor (old car nut and restorer), my Uncle, my cousin, and two other neighbors that were also mechanics ((((at least that's the crew I remember)))) spent quite a few hours one night pulling our hair out trying to figure out why the tail lights on my '55 Chevy were acting weird (left blinker caused both bulbs to flash). In the end we all came to the realization that we all thought 'the other guy' had checked the bulb. Changed the bulb and everything worked right. Turned out the blinker filament in the bulb had broken and was laying against the other filament for the running light. This caused power to feed from the left side to the right when the blinker was on causing both lights to light up and blink.
 
Had a car with 16 gal tank. Once gauge read 1/4 tank really only had about 1 gal in it. Eldest daughter borrowed it full and returned with 1/2 tank showing, took 12 gals to top off. Car got 16 MPG
 
I keep the tank in atleast 1/4 full level. New fuel pump three months ago was around $500.oo and AAA brought me home. The gas cools and "lubricates" the pump. It's fact baby.
 
Before you buy a sending unit, take a look inside the tank. There is probably a plastic "well" around the pick up tube. It keeps fuel trapped there when the tank is low so it doesn't suck air when turning, accelerating, etc.

Sometimes the well will break loose and get under the float on the sender, holding it up giving a false reading.
 
Nothing gets me fired up more then go out to the Durango and the fuel light is on . I have told her never come home with less then a half tank . The other thing is NOT TO HAVE CASH on you . I try real hard to have a stash of five hundred on hand in FOLDING cash . Just in case something happens and ya got to Go in the middle of the night . around here they roll the sidewalks up at 9 and put the street lights away at 11 and if ya need gas your SOL as the closest place is 18 miles away .
 
Once when I was just a young guy I ran out of gas. My landlord was a good guy and "rescued" us. He was in his late 60's and chewed me out and told me "if you keep the top half full the bottom half never runs dry". Advice I heed to this day.

Rick
 
Bill the gas cools the fuel pump. My wife used to just keep her car on fumes all of the time. Never would buy more than $5 gas at a time. We had a 1990 Olds 98 car. The fuel pumps would not last 18 months. I finally got her to keep the tank above 1/2 and the last pump lasted over ten years.
 
My wife used to run her car around on fumes all of the time. She would buy her gas $5 at a time. When gas was $1.50 that was 3 gallon or so. When it got to $4+ that was even less.

The car we had the most issue with was a 1990 Olds 98. The electric fuel pumps in the tank would not last much over a year. They cost $250-300 if you could save the ending unit. If not then you would spend $550-600 on the whole thing plus having to drop the fuel tank off.

So after raising he77 for years she finally kept it above 1/2 a tank. The last pump lasted over 10 years.

My first wife never would park the car with less than a 1/2 a tank. She worried about having to take one of the kids to the hospital in the middle of the night. It is a 30 mile drive to the closest serious hospital.

Be glad your Daughter and grand son where not hurt while being broke down on a bad curve. I have seen cars hit from poor drivers in situations like that. Maybe you need to remind her and the Son-in-law of that fact.

Plus a more full tank will not have as much condensation in it as a more empty tank.
 
I learned the hard way that running a vehicle with a fuel pump in the tank out of gas will most likely cost you a fuel pump too. Burns them up almost every time. Now I don't let it get under quarter tank, and have never replaced a pump since.
 
Life is a true turd.


I know, I have been there.


Laugh right now, or you will cry later.

I know that, also!
 
A car with 200k miles should have a 2 gallon gas can in the trunk all the time if the gas gage aint working.
 
As a lot of others have said, gas cools the in tank fuel pump and lubricates the pump. Keep the tank half full and your pump will last a lot longer. If you can keep driving your car on 1/8 tank you can keep your car on 1/2 or above. On half tank you just wont half to buy a fuel pump as often.
 
I agree that running out of gas repeatedly will contribute to early pump failure and it's more likely to run out of gas if you keep the tank at a low level. I wasn't talking about running out of gas.
 
The gas guage on our car will go from 1/4 tank of gas to empty in the stretch of 5 miles so we don't depend on it at all. We re-set the trip meter every time we gas it up and go by the mileage now.
 
We used to have a 94 Dakota with the opposite problem. It would show 1/4 tank or less and when you went to fill it it would only take 5 or 6 gallons. With about 150k the fuel pump began to be unreliable and would quit at odd times. I had it out and back twice and when I would bench test it it would run, but then after a while it would quit. Money was tight but on the third time we decided to put in a new pump and it was fine after that. Found out while I was in the tank that it was a 22 gallon "extended range" tank, so after that we used the trip counter to decide when to fill up.
Zach
 
When I was growing up, if we let our vehicles get below 1/2 a tank except while on a long trip, we caught he!!. Never had fuel line freeze up and never ran out of gas.
 
I wasn't going to tell this story,but you brought it up. I went to put some round bales out one afternoon this last week. The gas gauge on the Oliver 1600 showed a little bit of gas in it. I dropped one bale in,backed out and got another one and the tractor quit. It started right back up and quit again. I took the cap off and could see gas in it,up on to the curves in the bottom of the tank. Should have at least had enough in it to run.
I took the line off the carb and had nothing. I took the sediment bowl off,ran a wire up I it thinking there was ice in it since it was colder than a mother in laws heart. Still couldn't get anything. I unscrewed the whole thing out of the tank and gas was pouring around the threads before I got it all the way off.
By now my gloves are soaked and my hands were getting numb.
I got the 1365 and dragged it backwards,bale and all,all the way around in front of the toolshed. I went in and got the hair dryer,got an extension cord and heated the neck of the sediment bowl. Still no gas. I put it all back together,got a gas can,got 5 gallons out of the barrel,put that in and it ran out.
Now I've got a little bit of a leak in the sediment bowl,I wasted almost an hour fooling around in the cold and it was just too low on gas for it to run out the neck.
 
I remembered reading that years ago and had forgotten. Totally agree. I usually stay full and seldom get to 1/2 because you never know when you will have an emergency or you may not be able to get any.

Mark
 
THAT IS a dirty trick. Grin

But I applaud your intelligence for knowing that much about electro/mechanical circuits to know not only what to do but how and what values to use.

Mark
 
My 13 toyota tacoma fuel gauge is calibrated to read empty with 5 gallons left in tank. Never tried it though.
 
Well, from my experience, it doesn't have to be repeatedly. Did it once on two different vehicles. Neither one ever started again until a new fuel pump was installed. I'm guessing you meant that the tanks being more than half full was hogwash. Well, yes I think that may be a bit to cautious too, but like I mentioned, I try never to go under a quarter. Have I? Yes, with no bad results. But if filling at a quarter tank means not worrying about running out, that's what is best in my opinion. Also, I figure in MN winters, always best to keep enough gas in the tank that the vehicle can stay running in case of getting stuck in snow, sliding in the ditch, whatever the situation may be. No fun sitting in -20 with no gas for the vehicle to run. Not trying to argue, just telling others of things I have experienced so hopefully they don't make the same mistakes I have.
 
One time when I worked at a large printing plant in Lincoln, NE, I had to go to Omaha on business. The VP of Finance told me to go ahead and take his car. Probably a 120 mile round trip, and that way he didn't have to pay me mileage.

I noticed the fuel guage stayed a bit above half the entire trip, but didn't think much of it 'cause I wasn't familiar with the car.

Next morning, the VP asked me how much gas his car had showed when I went to Omaha. I told him. Seems when he left work the previous evening, he ran out of gas a block from the plant. Sending unit was kaput.
 
Very good PJH, I like the way you tell them! I laughed out loud at that! Probably because I thought things like that only happened in Ireland!...............LOL..Getting back up off the floor now...Sam
 
Back when I was a teenager, was driving my brothers car and it was low on gas. Stopped at a filling station to fill it up. The nozzle kept clicking off like it was full so told my brother the gas gauge was off. He took the car and went on a date that night. The next morning the car was setting down at the end of the drive. Ask him why did he park in down there. All he said its out of gas.
 
A few years ago, before 10% ethanol/gas, I had a '77 Chevy Nova. Fuel gauge had always been accurate until one day it just quit running. Gauge said tank was half full. Pulled the fuel line off the carburetor and cranked the engine (mechanical fuel pump, straight 6 engine). Liquid coming out the hose looks odd. It was clear. Huh? Water! Had used same gas from same station for at least 6 months. Took tank off and drained it. Got 2 5 gallon buckets of 90% water out of it. Went to different gas station, bought 5 gallons of their gas. put in tank, and engine fired right up.
About 2 weeks later, first gas station was replacing all their tanks.
 
The place where I worked had a Ford One-ton with a dump bed. We parked it on night, after first filling up at the gas station. That was on a Friday night. Came to work on Monday, and couldn't start the thing! It ran for about 30 seconds, then died. Checked spark, wires, etc - NOTHING. After about an hour of frustration, we checked the gas (guage didn't work). Found out somebody had siphoned the gas out!
 
I always rest the trip odometer so I know for sure how many miles I have driven on that tank of gas. I never trust my guage.
 
Yeah, and to not get caught doing it! Whew - I can just imagine the ruckus if dad had figured that out!
 
My son bought a used car (1995 Dodge sprit) Good little car and had been driving it for 3 months. He left for work one morning, One of those nasty mornings 20 degrees 4 inches of snow and broke down on a long steep hill. I asked how much gas is in it? 1/2 tank he said. It will crank but wont start. He was 30 miles from home and less than a 1/2 mile from work so he walked on in and was on time. My trailer was down with a bad axel so I had to call a tow truck and had it hauled to a friends shop close by. When I got there hood is up and Vince is sitting there with his scanner hooked up to it and can find nothing wrong with it. We pulled the fuel filter and replaced it and still wont start. Fuel pump works cause you can hear it come on and cycle when you turn the key on. 3 hours later we were scratching our heads when Vinces wife walked in to ask how it was going, And Vince explained what we had done. She looked at us and said "Maybe its out of gas" and walked out of the garage. We looked at each other with and at the same time said OH NO! Sure enough dry. Put gas in it and it fired right up. 4 hours of work $75 tow bill and a $15 filter and HIS WIFE Fixed IT! How Dumb can I be! I told my son that 1/2 tank on the gauge means empty so don't let it get that low anymore. So far so good. I think the older I got the dumber I get. Bandit
 
Just had a 2005 escape not start. had to call AAA to come help. He checked battery and had just filled gas. still no start.
he checks one last thing, the roll over switch in the cabin. resets the switch and boom fires up. 2 days later same problem.

ordered new switch to replace it.
 
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