How far have you driven once your car says 0 miles

furryhobnob

I imagine that's more true in diesels but I'm sure theres crap in the bottom of every tank.

AMc

I've done it a few times and never come a cropper.
I know intellectually that just because the range reads 0 miles doesn't mean it has nothing left esp. as the range drops in 5 mile increments.
BUT every time I've done it I've ended up a bit nervous mainly because I know I'll look a total wally if I do run dry.
As others have said it's not supposed to be that good for the car but given there are fuel filters I can't imagine it can be that bad once in a blue moon.

494930

This is very true for a Diesel fuel system, but not really a problem for a petrol engine other than inconvenience.
That's a complete myth, the fuel is always sucked up from the bottom of the tank anyway.

@furryhobnob in an instance where your worried about running out of fuel it would be preferable to add a small amount of regular unleaded to keep you going rather than run completely dry. Your engine management system is quite capable of correcting itself so long as you don't drive aggressively. Keep the revs reasonably low and don't apply too much load to the engine and you will stay in closed loop fuelling where knock isn't an issue.

furryhobnob

Yeah i know the engine would have been ok on lower ron stuff, but my ocd wont let me put it in, and id rather the engine didn't have to adjust the knock sensors, i knew it was a slight risk doing 7 miles with such a thirsty engine, and although i was nervous i was pretty confident it would get to the petrol station.
Was just curious as to how far others had got after reaching 0 miles

IronGiant

Only recently got a car that can do it.  Not gone below 50 left yet.

Delvey

22 miles. Still had 3 litres in the tank

furryhobnob

How do you know how much was left? By how many litres capacity you have to how many it took to fill up? As i know lets say you have a 55 litre tank you can actually get a couple more litres in than that normally.

ChuckMountain

On my old A6 with a 73 litre tank it was sat on 0 for a few miles but I could only put 67/68 in and that was topped up to the point where I could see diesel.  

Having said the range also depends on how you drive it so I guess with me it was a bit conservative especially if I was in the let’s get 13 mpg on the way to work ....

furryhobnob

What engine was it for you to be getting nearly single figures mpg?

ChuckMountain

The 320ps biturbo beast of a motor but drank diesel like it was going out of fashion round round.  Have it in single figures but that was bad traffic rather than actual driving