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Running on empty

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 7:06 pm
by chrispy.
I currently have 10 miles of range left
Stuck in huge amounts of unexplainable traffic about 20 miles from home
The nearest station is probably about 15 miles away


When it reaches 0 miles.. How much further can i travel?

I understand this isnt good for the engine.

Thanks!


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Re: Running on empty

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 7:38 pm
by benhowarth6
I seem to remember reading somewhere that it is around 10 miles in the Polo.

Re: Running on empty

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 8:41 pm
by Joe9n3
about 10 to 15 miles is about right, all been there!!
try to keep mine above half now, treat half like empty!! :lol:

Running on empty

Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 10:09 pm
by chrispy.
Yeahh i often do just going through a tight month at the moment :)

Got home ok though but worth knowing if im caught short again :)
Thanks guys!


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Re: Running on empty

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 5:36 am
by ciclo
Always full fuel tank, you always win.



Refuel if you do not want to look like Forrest. :lol:

Running on empty

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 6:44 am
by chrispy.
Ive never refuelled to full tank
I always put £25 per week in

Just because i dont want to add too much weight to the car and use more fuel to move the full tank..

Is that weird?


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Re: Running on empty

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 9:49 am
by PogoCT
NO....i do the same, some guys keep their tanks on empty (in case of highjackings) so the thieves can't get far with your car :lol: :lol: :lol:

Running on empty

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 10:39 am
by chrispy.
That .. Or people syphoning petrol from your tank :)
However i read that its bad to run your tank to the minimum as it drags engine deposits into the petrol..


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Re: Running on empty

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 10:48 am
by nry
It can drag fuel tank deposits into the engine ;)

It also used to be bad for the CAT (my friend always ran his old Vectra on empty and one day his CAT did actually kill itself in impressive fashion!) but I'm unsure if that has changed.

Re: Running on empty

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 11:35 am
by wolfie
nry wrote:It can drag fuel tank deposits into the engine ;)
Yeah, that's my thinking. Running down to the dregs of the tank just stirs up and disturbs any debris/contamination at the bottom of the tank. While it used to be far more important on older cars with metal petrol tanks that could rust on the inside, even with modern plastic tanks there is a bit of dirt at the bottom of the tank.

With modern fuel filters the likelihood that some debris will get through to the injectors or sensitive bits is slim. That debris might still degrade the filter performance. And with injectors being pretty expensive I'd rather not take the chance. So 1/4 of a tank is my empty.

Re: Running on empty

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 12:15 pm
by ciclo
PogoCT wrote:NO....i do the same, some guys keep their tanks on empty (in case of highjackings) so the thieves can't get far with your car :lol: :lol: :lol:
Thieves refuel free in all stations. :lol:

Re: Running on empty

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 12:38 pm
by Tooks
wolfie wrote:
nry wrote:It can drag fuel tank deposits into the engine ;)
Yeah, that's my thinking. Running down to the dregs of the tank just stirs up and disturbs any debris/contamination at the bottom of the tank. While it used to be far more important on older cars with metal petrol tanks that could rust on the inside, even with modern plastic tanks there is a bit of dirt at the bottom of the tank.

With modern fuel filters the likelihood that some debris will get through to the injectors or sensitive bits is slim. That debris might still degrade the filter performance. And with injectors being pretty expensive I'd rather not take the chance. So 1/4 of a tank is my empty.
That used to be my thinking too, but the fuel pickup is at the bottom of the tank isn't it, so it's always doing that anyway by my logic?

The other thing is that unused fuel is constantly being circulated from the engine injection system back to the tank etc, so it's really quite a dynamic system.

On a newish car with a modern fuel injection system, it's not something to worry about IMHO.

Re: Running on empty

Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 1:13 pm
by wolfie
Tooks wrote:On a newish car with a modern fuel injection system, it's not something to worry about IMHO.
If I'm honest I don't worry about it that much. I think it's more a case of old habits die hard, from driving much older cars in the past.

Re: Running on empty

Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 1:19 pm
by nry
The Polo 2014 manual still states not to run on empty as it can damage the CAT...I think it's something to do with poor fuelling when it's low that can cause a misfire which can damage the CAT.

Re: Running on empty

Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 11:31 pm
by Garfy
To answer your original question, I ran my Blue GT for a further 12 miles after reaching zero. I brimmed the 45 litre capacity tank which took a shade under 42 litres. So I reckon on 0 miles range you've got about 4 litres left.