Outta gass

Steverino

Steverino

black sheep
That dreaded, sinking feeling when you realized you've pushed your luck. It's happened to all of us (I'd think) at least once. The older cars' fuel gauges were a joke, GMs would run out with 1/8 still showing, and the needle would stay on F for miles, only to drop like a rock past 1/4. When the ST says "0 miles to E" it really means you're walking. No, I didn't find this out myself.

The luckiest I ever got was one day on the commute home on I-10. I was driving a 1992 S10 and the needle was dangerously close to E. I'd forgotten to fill up on my way offsite. Now, I was 10 miles past the last exit and had 2 miles to the next. I'd been drafting big rigs, feathering the gas pedal at 65mph with my eyes glued to the gauge, cussing myself.

At about 1/4 mile short of the exit, she started to sputter. My heart fell into my gut and I started sawing on the wheel to get any gas left to the fuel pickup. She started running smooth again, so I floored it as I reached the ramp.

Thank god there was a Texaco at the exit, though it was on the other side of the road. The truck finally died as I reached the end of the ramp, and I coasted the rest of the way, roughly 200 yards to the gas station entrance. I slid up to the pumps and stopped. whew!

On the other side of the pumps was a older gentleman, he'd been watching me since I left the highway, and said "boy, you can't cut it any closer than that". :embarrassed: That was the last time I ever ran out.
 
I only ran out once. I had an 85 t-bird and the fuel gauge was broken. I usually just counted the miles to know when to fill up. But this time I miscalculated. Right on 95N sputtered to a halt on the side of the road. I called my then girlfriend and she came with some gas for me....
 
gtrjunior said:
I only ran out once. I had an 85 t-bird and the fuel gauge was broken. I usually just counted the miles to know when to fill up. But this time I miscalculated. Right on 95N sputtered to a halt on the side of the road. I called my then girlfriend and she came with some gas for me....
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My wife had a co-worker who drove an old Celica with a broken gas gauge. When she filled up, she'd scrawl the odometer reading + 250 miles or so on the headliner. The entire headliner was covered in numbers in pencil, within her reach, anyway.
 
I've had to go over to reserve on motorcycles more often than I care to remember. I don't remember ever completely running out in a car or truck, though. I have had several cars with non functional fuel gauges, so I've been ingrained to reset the trip gauge with each fill up, and refuel every 250 miles.

Sent from my SM-T550 using Tapatalk
 
I ran out once in my freshman year of community college. This was back when GM fuel gauges showed empty with four gallons left in the tank. So I could drive on empty for days until the amber light came out to let me know I was actually out of gas. I was on my way to an exam for my psych 101 final. The professor hated me and I hated her and psych, so I really just wanted to get a C and move on. My car stopped in traffic. By the time dad brought me gas and I got the class the multiple choice section of the exam—most of the grade—had been collected. All I could do was fill out the essay portion and fail anyway.

For some reason I bothered to write that essay. And it turned out the multiple exam was full of problems. I don’t know exactly what happened, but we were only graded on the essays, which were apparently not graded by the professor. Somehow I got an A. What made it better was that at midterms a cheating scandal got almost half the class thrown out, and that test was essay only, so the professor had given As to everybody who didn’t cheat—probably because she was too busy getting a dozen kids expelled for something as stupid as coordinated cheating on an essay. So ended up getting an A for a class I rarely attended and learned nothing from.
 
I know I've run out before, but can't remember the last time it happened......my wife, however, is famous for cutting it close. It's like it is some kind of contest or something with her. Fucking hate it.
 
Only once when I was 18 maybe. I think the gauge was messed up because I don't remember knowing that I ran out of gas. It was near my grandparents' house so my grandpa just brought a can.
 
I ran out of gas on I-5 southbound. I guess a 1997 Camaro SS will not make it from Orange to San Diego on 1/4 tank of gas. I learned that the hard way.
 
I had an old CJ5 in my late teens that had a non functioning fuel gauge and a leak in the tank. So yea, I've walked a time or two.
 
I've learned the hard way on both the Pathfinder and the FIAT that the sending unit in the tank which tells the "distance to empty" display what to read, is a maniacal, two-faced bitch that gets off on others' misfortune. That skank has left me dead in the water with both cars while displaying 20+ miles DTE.

I no longer trust or even listen to that fickle bitch. She's on permanent ignore.
 
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