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Old 08-09-2003, 01:39 AM   #1
SportyBry
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Exclamation power loss after running out of gas PLUS incorrect fuel capacity specs?

ok - get this guys - I ran out of gas yesterday. With the first tankful I had in the car after I bought it, the 'low fuel' light came on and I headed straight for the gas station--> put in 45 litres. ok- that told me on the 60 litre tank that the light came on with approx 15 litres left, or roughly 25% of a tankful in reserve.

Low fuel light came on yesterday and I drove it only about 60km after that which should have used little more than 5 or 6 litres and -voila- I run out of gas. What the hell happened to the other 9 litres that should have been in there!??! Good thing I was driving in tandem with my g/f on the way home from her store, otherwise I would have had no one to go get gas for me!!

THEN at the gas station I filled up 54.003 litres. Add to this the 4 litres that the emergency gas can held (minus the .5 litre or so to drive to the station to fill up after the run-out) and you have 57.50 litres total capacity. OK- so why does my manual say it holds 60 litres? Is the tank that poorly designed that it traps 2.5 litres un-useable?

One other note- today I think it feels like the car is down on power. Anyone think there is a co-relation between running out of gas and this? The car just plain ran out yesterday - ie it just sputtered and died.

Cheers,


Brian
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Old 08-09-2003, 09:42 AM   #2
filbert
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Do you top off? I know you're not supposed to b/c the gas fumes are bad for the environment or something, but sometimes some gas pumps shut off early. Usually after the pump stops I can pump more for another second, but I've had times when it stops and then I can pump another whole gallon in before it stops again.
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Old 08-09-2003, 10:11 AM   #3
Neek
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First of all...what's a litre?



Second of all...just don't wait till the low light comes on...problem solved.
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Old 08-09-2003, 10:28 AM   #4
palpullero
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Default Running out of gas

I've heard (but never tried!) that you can damage the fuel injectors if you let your car run out of gas. I don't think you damaged yours on one single episode, but it's worth investigating. Good luck and hope your STi comes back full force!

- D.
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Old 08-09-2003, 11:21 AM   #5
Charge
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Default Re: Running out of gas

Quote:
Originally posted by palpullero
I've heard (but never tried!) that you can damage the fuel injectors if you let your car run out of gas. I don't think you damaged yours on one single episode, but it's worth investigating. Good luck and hope your STi comes back full force!

- D.
It's not the injectors. I guess it's possible, but that's not the first worry. It's the fuel pump. They are submerged for cooling issues. When the tank is empty, the pumps are no longer submerged in fuel to cool them. They run dry(which is bad for most pump systems anyways) and lack any cooling solution. This can burn out your fuel pump. The injectors may eventually be damaged by running empty, but I don't see it being and immediate issue.
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Old 08-09-2003, 04:13 PM   #6
brunetmj
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hmm to lazy today to convert liters to gallons. However I do know that the Subaru gas tank has at least a gallon of gas that is not available for usage. It holds sediment in the bottom of the tank.
So you are working with 15 gallons not 16. Another historical issue I know of is the low gas warning light is not reliable. I also believe the tank uses a dual sensor method. I am not entirely sure these two sensors communicate well. Personally after ten years of driving Subaru’s I would never let the tank get much lower than 3/4 empty.
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Old 08-09-2003, 07:37 PM   #7
filbert
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i also heard that fuel pumps are self-lubricating, meaning they are lubricated by the gas, so when you run out of gas, you're running the pumps without lubrication which increases their wear.

as for liters and gallons... 3.8 liters = 1 gallon, but if you just want a rough estimate, just say 4 liters = 1 galon so 60 liters is just over 15 gallons.
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Old 08-09-2003, 08:10 PM   #8
ANZAC_1915
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The pickup doesn't pick up the very last drop, so I expect the spec is total capacity rather than usable capacity.

Interesting point the Spec C has a smaller lop-sided gas tank, in order to avoid the fuel getting stuck on the other side of the hump.
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Old 08-10-2003, 02:55 AM   #9
XT6Wagon
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Nah, the smaller tank is for lighter wieght, as running a single sump gas tank allows subaru to not need the transfer pump. Thats right we have two fuel pumps in the tank. One to get the gas out of the "off side" sump, and the other to get it to the motor. By removing the off side sump you can ditch the extra pump, pipe, n other junk.
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Old 08-10-2003, 03:08 AM   #10
ANZAC_1915
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The reason I listed above is what the STi engineers said. It sounded like more of a track consideration.
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Old 08-10-2003, 07:39 AM   #11
skuttledude
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I've heard that it is not good to run low on gas on a turbo car. Especially if you are running at higher speed and high-g turns. Fuel starvation or somehting like that.

Personally, I never let the car get down below 1/4 of a tank.

Davis
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Old 08-10-2003, 12:47 PM   #12
ERIC DRAVEN
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Quote:
Originally posted by Neek
First of all...what's a litre?



Second of all...just don't wait till the low light comes on...problem solved.
like a bottle of 7up but 1/2 of that.
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