Your 'run out of petrol' stories
Discussion
Last week.
I have a BP near me at the bottom of a hill, and I knew I was very low on fuel.
Low and behold, at the top of the hill I ran out of petrol.
Que lots of swearing, kicking the bike etc. I then proceeded to run the bike on a slight downhill and jump on and slowly rolled into BP.
Like a boss.
I have a BP near me at the bottom of a hill, and I knew I was very low on fuel.
Low and behold, at the top of the hill I ran out of petrol.
Que lots of swearing, kicking the bike etc. I then proceeded to run the bike on a slight downhill and jump on and slowly rolled into BP.
Like a boss.
Very topical. I ran out of petrol on the way home from work on Friday, which was thoroughly annoying. As I left M+S after buying dinner, en route to a swift pint in the pub, I thought "Oh, I'd better get some cash" then thought "Nah". Therefore I turned right at the roundabout, Sainsburys is about 50m to the left.
Car started conking out 50m to the right on a dual carriageway. Right after overtaking another car, which upset them.
First time for 17 years. E36 shonky fuel level senders. Grr...
I bought a car with a broken fuel gauge. I knew about the broken gauge. I did not know how much petrol was in the tank, and neither did the seller (which suggests he hadn't filled it up recently). I stuck a tenner's worth in, and then forgot about it.
Until, sixty miles later, it conked out on a busy road.
Until, sixty miles later, it conked out on a busy road.
Ran out of petrol in a then-new 2000 Rover 214 that was a loan car when mine was being serviced. Knew it was low on juice, but was waiting for the fuel warning-light to come on as thought I might have enough to get the car back to the dealers after a 20 mile round trip. Damn car didn't have a fuel warning-light 
This is a very common occurrence with me. Happened more times than I care to admit this year. I buy and sell cars with a thimble full of fuel and tend to run around with a little less than none. I hate putting the god damn-stuff in, hence why it's unlikely I'll ever bring myself to owning a V8 despite proclaiming I will for years. Shouldn't really be a PH'er 
As a student, 25 years ago.
We took a trip from Sheffield to Alton Towers for the day. On the return trip I knew I was short on fuel so suggested we drive via some conurbations to find a petrol station. Bright Spark navigator takes us down a series of country lanes through various villages and eventually one of the young ladies in the back pipes up that she's spotted a petrol pump in someone's front garden. We suggest it's plainly decorative as it's got hands like a clock and must be at least 50 years old...
50 yards later car drops to 3 cylinders, then inevitably none as the second carb dies. We ask a passer-by (few and far between) where to find petrol and they direct us back to 'the pump in the garden' so after some discussion 'us guys' are nominated to knock on the door of the house - and it turns out that yes, the pump does work; they use it to fuel the farm vehicles. £1.35 per gallon I believe I paid. Being a cheapskate I only bought 2 gallons
Most entertaining was pushing 2 tons of Triumph 2000 50 yards back up the road with the lightest (and wimpiest) young lady in the drivers seat running it up alternate verges. She claimed to have a driving licence...
We took a trip from Sheffield to Alton Towers for the day. On the return trip I knew I was short on fuel so suggested we drive via some conurbations to find a petrol station. Bright Spark navigator takes us down a series of country lanes through various villages and eventually one of the young ladies in the back pipes up that she's spotted a petrol pump in someone's front garden. We suggest it's plainly decorative as it's got hands like a clock and must be at least 50 years old...
50 yards later car drops to 3 cylinders, then inevitably none as the second carb dies. We ask a passer-by (few and far between) where to find petrol and they direct us back to 'the pump in the garden' so after some discussion 'us guys' are nominated to knock on the door of the house - and it turns out that yes, the pump does work; they use it to fuel the farm vehicles. £1.35 per gallon I believe I paid. Being a cheapskate I only bought 2 gallons
Most entertaining was pushing 2 tons of Triumph 2000 50 yards back up the road with the lightest (and wimpiest) young lady in the drivers seat running it up alternate verges. She claimed to have a driving licence...
Never run out of petrol as such, however...
I went car-hunting with a friend once. Living a fair few miles apart, we met up at the first car to view, then went to the second, then we set off for the third. Then I realise, I need to fill up with petrol and we need to go half way round the M25 and the fuel light's just come on. So, I've got about 50 miles to go, about 50 miles of fuel given reasonable traffic. Like I said though, M25. However, a couple of junctions before where we were going, was the junction for Woking, which I knew had a petrol station fairly near it. At this point it was something like 40 miles since the light came on so I took the exit, went and filled up - brimmed it, and I was down to the last litre-and-a-half of the reserve.
Massive sigh of relief, then!
I called my friend, explained why I wasn't there and set off. Except he was the one with the satnav loaded with the place we were going, so a few minutes after coming back off the M25, I stop and call him to get directions. OK, only a mile away, fine. I go to start the car back up.
It chugs for a moment, then nothing.
I check it, call him up, he comes over. I've left the handbook at home, typically and the fusebox doesn't have anything marked on the inside of it. We check the fuel cutoff, we check the air, we check the spark. There's no noise from the fuel pump - obviously running it low has blown a fuse or a relay or something and I've not got a fusebox diagram on me.
I call the AA. They send a guy out. Over 2 hours later, a guy turns up. I explain it. He decides that having been told I've checked air and spark but not the fuse because I don't know which it is, to check the air and spark. Then, he goes and rips up the boot carpet opens up the hatch in the boot floor and goes poking around on the fuel pump with a meter and decides the fuel pump is dead.
I suggest a fuse as I've been watching him and he's clearly not gone near any of the fuseboxes, he says "nah, nah, not gonna be the fuse" gives it some patronising patter then refuses to tow it as his shift is up in 15 minutes and its an hour drive to where I'd like it towed (back to the folks' as there's a really good independent garage there)
He calls the AA up and they send out a different guy.
A further two hours later he turns up.
I point out that the other guy didn't look to check the fuse and I hadn't either. While actually quite a nice guy unlike the first prick, he doesn't want to mess with the other guy's diagnosis and clearly just wants to get it trailered back and get home asap, as its now late on a Saturday evening.
The car gets trailered back and by the time we get there, the last train from the folks' place back to mine is gone. So I stay there overnight and decide to use the time to check what it might be on the internet.
I ask on a forum and a specialist mechanic suggests the relay & which relay and fuse it is. Next morning, I go into Halfords, get a relay and just in case, I get a pack of fuses.
I go to fit the relay, and the old one looks old but okay. I check the fuse, and inevitably, it's blown. It was something like 3PM when the fuse went, it was close to 11PM once the car had been trailered back.
This happened about two years ago now, I still get the AA calling me up to ask why I cancelled. Oddly enough, I'm always going to use the RAC in future.
I went car-hunting with a friend once. Living a fair few miles apart, we met up at the first car to view, then went to the second, then we set off for the third. Then I realise, I need to fill up with petrol and we need to go half way round the M25 and the fuel light's just come on. So, I've got about 50 miles to go, about 50 miles of fuel given reasonable traffic. Like I said though, M25. However, a couple of junctions before where we were going, was the junction for Woking, which I knew had a petrol station fairly near it. At this point it was something like 40 miles since the light came on so I took the exit, went and filled up - brimmed it, and I was down to the last litre-and-a-half of the reserve.
Massive sigh of relief, then!
I called my friend, explained why I wasn't there and set off. Except he was the one with the satnav loaded with the place we were going, so a few minutes after coming back off the M25, I stop and call him to get directions. OK, only a mile away, fine. I go to start the car back up.
It chugs for a moment, then nothing.
I check it, call him up, he comes over. I've left the handbook at home, typically and the fusebox doesn't have anything marked on the inside of it. We check the fuel cutoff, we check the air, we check the spark. There's no noise from the fuel pump - obviously running it low has blown a fuse or a relay or something and I've not got a fusebox diagram on me.
I call the AA. They send a guy out. Over 2 hours later, a guy turns up. I explain it. He decides that having been told I've checked air and spark but not the fuse because I don't know which it is, to check the air and spark. Then, he goes and rips up the boot carpet opens up the hatch in the boot floor and goes poking around on the fuel pump with a meter and decides the fuel pump is dead.
I suggest a fuse as I've been watching him and he's clearly not gone near any of the fuseboxes, he says "nah, nah, not gonna be the fuse" gives it some patronising patter then refuses to tow it as his shift is up in 15 minutes and its an hour drive to where I'd like it towed (back to the folks' as there's a really good independent garage there)
He calls the AA up and they send out a different guy.
A further two hours later he turns up.
I point out that the other guy didn't look to check the fuse and I hadn't either. While actually quite a nice guy unlike the first prick, he doesn't want to mess with the other guy's diagnosis and clearly just wants to get it trailered back and get home asap, as its now late on a Saturday evening.
The car gets trailered back and by the time we get there, the last train from the folks' place back to mine is gone. So I stay there overnight and decide to use the time to check what it might be on the internet.
I ask on a forum and a specialist mechanic suggests the relay & which relay and fuse it is. Next morning, I go into Halfords, get a relay and just in case, I get a pack of fuses.
I go to fit the relay, and the old one looks old but okay. I check the fuse, and inevitably, it's blown. It was something like 3PM when the fuse went, it was close to 11PM once the car had been trailered back.
This happened about two years ago now, I still get the AA calling me up to ask why I cancelled. Oddly enough, I'm always going to use the RAC in future.
Edited by ImpossiblyDaft on Tuesday 6th November 01:06
ran out plenty of times lol 3 years ago, was 5 miles from home completely forgot i needed petrol until i literally reached my destination as the car started juddering etc. Parked in the town car park, left my gf shopping, told her id go get petrol, petrol station was about 15 min walk away (had petrol can in the boot lol) but figured if i was to be walking i may as well drive myself as close to the petrol station as possible, then break down and have less distance to walk (roads arent busy near me) - to cut a long story short i coasted into the station and made it!!! learnt my lesson there...
Only ran out of fuel once on a lonely trip down the M4 at around 4am on a Tuesday morning. I had two jerry cans in the back of the car and, knowing I didn't have enough fuel in the tank to get back, I decided to actually find out the steps it took to run out of fuel. As I got on the motorway, I had 120 miles of distance to cover with a trip computer saying I'd run out in 50 miles. 78 miles later, with the fuel needle pinned against the 0 stop, the car coughed and spluttered, but carried on. I ended up getting 89 miles on the trip computer before the car coughed again and slowly dropped its revs. Both jerry cans in and a full fill-up at the next station and off I went - I'd planned to run out of fuel just to make sure I knew exactly how the gauge would work, and as it turned out a flashing fuel light in a Corsa gives you about 30 miles of motorway!
My old 120d used to deliver nearly 60mpg on a run, and as such I'd often set off from Bristol-London just above the fuel reserve, as with over two gallons in reserve I'd easily be able to get back and fill up at my destination. Unfortunately, I grew accustomed to this and forgot about it one day, as I'd been out for a bit of a hoon (a diesel 1 series is surprisingly capable on the back roads) and forgot to fill up. I noticed the fuel gauge only when it ticked over to 0 miles, and it was a very nerve-wracking 12 miles to the next service station. Having filled the car up, it took an indicated 49 litres, so I'd played it down to the wire (tank size is 50 litres).
My old 120d used to deliver nearly 60mpg on a run, and as such I'd often set off from Bristol-London just above the fuel reserve, as with over two gallons in reserve I'd easily be able to get back and fill up at my destination. Unfortunately, I grew accustomed to this and forgot about it one day, as I'd been out for a bit of a hoon (a diesel 1 series is surprisingly capable on the back roads) and forgot to fill up. I noticed the fuel gauge only when it ticked over to 0 miles, and it was a very nerve-wracking 12 miles to the next service station. Having filled the car up, it took an indicated 49 litres, so I'd played it down to the wire (tank size is 50 litres).
Happened to me for the first time last Thursday. I don't have a warning light, just a regular fuel gauge. It was below the E, but it's usually enough for my daily commute.
Anyway that evening on the way home my car started juddering/coughing. The nearest petrol station was only about 3 miles away but I didn't want to risk it so I pulled into a pub car park, phoned my Dad who came to the rescue with 5 litres of petrol in a weed killer can.
Anyway that evening on the way home my car started juddering/coughing. The nearest petrol station was only about 3 miles away but I didn't want to risk it so I pulled into a pub car park, phoned my Dad who came to the rescue with 5 litres of petrol in a weed killer can.
I have a 75 ltr tank.
The low warning comes on with 25 ltrs left... ( at least 4 gallons in uk speak)
With 20 ltrs left, it goes bonkers and beeps every 100 yards to tell me that I have (at roughly 20mpg) 60-80 miles left.
Then about a liter later ( I found this out the hard way) it fails to find any more fuel in the tank and stops.
Annoying things :
1, why bother having a large tank for driving in the outback of Oz if you can only use 60%?
2, the beeps. Oh my god, stop flamin beeping.
3, the anti fuel theft nozzle... This makes filling up from a Jerry can extremely difficult, and nie on impossible, if I wasn't carrying a large screwdriver.
4, 20mpg... Yikes..
5, THE BEEPING!!!
6, iPad spell cheecking and keyboard, but that's another thread I think.
The low warning comes on with 25 ltrs left... ( at least 4 gallons in uk speak)
With 20 ltrs left, it goes bonkers and beeps every 100 yards to tell me that I have (at roughly 20mpg) 60-80 miles left.
Then about a liter later ( I found this out the hard way) it fails to find any more fuel in the tank and stops.
Annoying things :
1, why bother having a large tank for driving in the outback of Oz if you can only use 60%?
2, the beeps. Oh my god, stop flamin beeping.
3, the anti fuel theft nozzle... This makes filling up from a Jerry can extremely difficult, and nie on impossible, if I wasn't carrying a large screwdriver.
4, 20mpg... Yikes..
5, THE BEEPING!!!
6, iPad spell cheecking and keyboard, but that's another thread I think.
My stag doo. Taxi driver turned up to take me and a few mates into town. We got about a mile before it cut out. Typical taxi driver - shared the car with his brother, who'd been running it all day and hadn't filled it up. This bloke was on the night shift with it and assumed the brother would have filled it.
We managed to cover about 2 miles to the nearest garage by using the starter motor to lurch it forward with it in gear - bit like a hybrid ;-). Occasionally it would fire up and we'd get 100m or so out of it before resorting to using hybrid mode again.
Set up the whole weekend really. On the second night after some karting near Chester we were in convoy heading for our B&B when one lad in a Focus ST span on some gravel. He ended up going backwards off the road, which was all on a hillside, landing on top of someone's heating oil tank. Then followed a wait for the police, fire, etc to turn up. Hilarious really.
We managed to cover about 2 miles to the nearest garage by using the starter motor to lurch it forward with it in gear - bit like a hybrid ;-). Occasionally it would fire up and we'd get 100m or so out of it before resorting to using hybrid mode again.
Set up the whole weekend really. On the second night after some karting near Chester we were in convoy heading for our B&B when one lad in a Focus ST span on some gravel. He ended up going backwards off the road, which was all on a hillside, landing on top of someone's heating oil tank. Then followed a wait for the police, fire, etc to turn up. Hilarious really.
Done it twice, got away with it twice.
First was a pool car, that was running on fumes and died as I stopped at the pump (downside was, no diesel at the pump I stopped at, so had to push it to the next one
).
A Ford Mondeo ST200 has 16 miles in the tank when the computer says zero. Coasted in to the petrol station...
First was a pool car, that was running on fumes and died as I stopped at the pump (downside was, no diesel at the pump I stopped at, so had to push it to the next one
).A Ford Mondeo ST200 has 16 miles in the tank when the computer says zero. Coasted in to the petrol station...
As a lad, I went from Cardiff to Chester and ran out about 5 miles short of target due to spirited driving. On Sundays in thse days, petrol stations were closed so I slept in the car and nearly froze, despite it being a warm summer. The great thing about the A40 was that it had an electric fuel pump so would always fire instantly when you put fuel in.
On another occasion, I went for a ride on my Honda CB175 and ran dry at night, no cash, about 15 miles short of home. I started to walk it but evetually managed to hitch a ride and had to go back for it next day. In those days, not everyone stole any bike parked for more than 3 minutes...
On another occasion, I ran out in my Mustang 3.3 litre. Eventually got hold of a mate who went to get me 5 litres but that wasn't enough for the old girl and her mechanical fuel pump and they had to go and get another 5 litres before she would even entertain starting.
I was always running out when I was younger and had no dosh. It was part and parcel of running the gauntlet.
I was worse for being unable to afford batteries. I had a Honda Gold Wing once and the battery was on the way out and late one night I had a row with my girlfriend and left into the icy night, leapt on the bike and rrr...rrr....rrr. I tried Honda's joke emergency kickstart to no avail and rather than lose face, I pushed the 52 stone bike half a mile to a suitable hill and bump-started the bugger. Never has the thrum of a flat four sounded so good.
On another occasion, I went for a ride on my Honda CB175 and ran dry at night, no cash, about 15 miles short of home. I started to walk it but evetually managed to hitch a ride and had to go back for it next day. In those days, not everyone stole any bike parked for more than 3 minutes...
On another occasion, I ran out in my Mustang 3.3 litre. Eventually got hold of a mate who went to get me 5 litres but that wasn't enough for the old girl and her mechanical fuel pump and they had to go and get another 5 litres before she would even entertain starting.
I was always running out when I was younger and had no dosh. It was part and parcel of running the gauntlet.
I was worse for being unable to afford batteries. I had a Honda Gold Wing once and the battery was on the way out and late one night I had a row with my girlfriend and left into the icy night, leapt on the bike and rrr...rrr....rrr. I tried Honda's joke emergency kickstart to no avail and rather than lose face, I pushed the 52 stone bike half a mile to a suitable hill and bump-started the bugger. Never has the thrum of a flat four sounded so good.
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