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Ran out of fuel in my SRT yesterday

22K views 44 replies 18 participants last post by  Mr. McGuire 
#1 ·
Thursday I was low on fuel and had planned to fill up on my way home from work but when I got to the station it was closed.

So I figured I'd get fuel Friday morning on my way home from the gym but I forgot the plan and wore shorts and it was freaking cold (-5C, 23F) so I decided to fill up on the way to work. Miss Lisa was like "Are you sure you can make it?" I was like "Yeah, no problem. I'm sure there is enough in there". We had a discussion about the difference between the analog gauge on my old SRT8 and the digital one in the 392. I hate digital gauges, because they have a fixed number of discreet spots. In my SRT8 I knew I could go until the needle was a bit past E. In the 392 it doesn't move past E; so I know I have some fuel but not how much. So I leave for work and I get to the end of the street and I am 3-4 cars back in the left turn lane and the car sputters out. FAK! Mis-judged that, didn't I?

Well now I am stuck there and I can't put the car in neutral and push it off to the side because it's not running and won't go into neutral. I know there is a release cord inside the console but I can't pry the panel off with my fingers and I have no tools or anything in the car. So I just put the 4-way flashers on and called a taxi.

The number of people that kept pulling up behind me and sitting there waiting was astonishing. I had to keep waving them around. Like seriously if you came up to an intersection and there was a car 3-4 car lengths back with no one in it and no cars in front of it and 4 way flashers going would you just sit there behind it waiting for the light??? I had no choice but to leave it there but the entire time to wait for the taxi then go buy a jerry can and fill it and get back was maybe 15 minutes max. I get back to the car and this woman is sitting behind it honking her horn like mad. LOL. I walked up and set down the jerry can and waved her around and she just looked stunned then almost hit the thing trying to go around it.

So now I go to pour the fuel in but it's just pouring down the inside of the fender onto the street. FML. There's a funnel you need to use inside the trunk but I couldn't find it. Luckily the taxi driver was still there and he noticed it's on the underside of the trunk bottom pad. I kept lifting it up and looking around underneath but didn't see it. LOL.

So anyway by now my hands are frozen solid (I was only wearing jeans and golf shirt with a hoodie) but she fires right up and I head to the gas station. As the dude is filling I got out to fix the jerry can (I was so cold I just threw it in the trunk without putting the funnel back properly) and he asked if I wanted it filled. I told him no, I just used it because I ran out of gas. He said "That's not good for the car; you shouldn't do that". And I told him that I was here last night but the station was closed. He said "Yeah we closed early because we ran out of gas". LOL WUT? How does a gas station run out of gas???

So I said "Its your fault then. I ran out of gas because you ran out of gas." :biggrinjester:

Been one of those weeks from hell. Got a speeding ticket earlier this week too. Cop was cool though and knocked it way down. First time I've ever been pulled over and the cop wasn't a complete arrogant, rude and condescending asshat.

inb4:

 
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#2 ·
I feel your plight on the running out of gas. I almost make the whole fuel level "its ok I can make it" thing an artform. My wife hates it. I learn to know where each of my vehicles' levels are once we reach E and the digital gauge says "low fuel" or "0 miles to E". You never know when you will be stuck somewhere you're unfamiliar and need to keep driving. I've learned the moment my Charger's fuel light comes on and it says something like 30~40 miles to E I actually have almost 3 gallons of gas left in the tank. I make it all the way to E and "low fuel" as indicated in the EVIC (aka 0 miles left) in my Charger then fill up and wouldn't you know it I was able to fill up just a hair over 16 gallons of my 19.5 gallon tank. :)
 
#3 ·
That's one thing I've been lucky to have never done is to run out of gas. We have AAA coverage now so if I did run out of gas they will bring me fuel with our membership. Plus we can get a tow for free if needed within a certain distance.

Anyway, many years ago when the kids were little we were on a road trip to Iowa for a long weekend. So we are in the middle of the corn belt with no towns only farms for miles and miles we get a tire blowout. Tires done. Didn't have AAA back then. Of course it's on the front so I had to do the donut dance with the tires to because it was front wheel drive. Finally get going and drive another 80 miles and find a Walmart with an auto center. Takes another hour to change out the tire and get back on the road again. This is with two very young kids. Dad was a bit stressed out when we finally got to our destination. Lol
 
#4 ·
I get back to the car and this woman is sitting behind it honking her horn like mad. LOL. I walked up and set down the jerry can and waved her around and she just looked stunned then almost hit the thing trying to go around it.
That is freaking HI-larious! :smilielol5:

Sorry you ran out of gas, but... You Dummy! Especially in the winter, treat the 1/4 tank remaining as the E line and don't go past it! You never know when you'll get stuck in traffic due to icy roads and/or an accident, and you don't want to get frozen while sitting.
Of course, if you're stuck on the highway and can't get off, you could wind up sitting for SEVEN HOURS like what happened here a couple of years ago. What a freakin' nightmare for those folks. One of the stuck people was one of our local newscasters... you bet we heard about that the next day on the news!
 
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#7 ·
Sorry you ran out of gas, but... You Dummy! Especially in the winter, treat the 1/4 tank remaining as the E line and don't go past it! You never know when you'll get stuck in traffic due to icy roads and/or an accident, and you don't want to get frozen while sitting.
You're right and that would be prudent but I am the worst for trying to eek out every drop of fuel before I stop. I hate stopping for fuel.

I usually fill up every weekend. Don't know why I didn't last week.

Anyway I am rarely far from home these days as work and the gym are both only about 5 miles from my house. I don't think I would freeze to death if something every happened. :)
 
#6 ·
So you ran out of fuel. I'm sorry but that kind of put a slight smile on my face. Ok a big smile and a giggle. That why they have a fuel gauge on the instrument cluster. Feed me I'm so hungry, feed me I just want something, listen to your Charger! I'm sure that won't happen again :)

Big John
 
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#8 ·
So you ran out of fuel. I'm sorry but that kind of put a slight smile on my face. Ok a big smile and a giggle.
LOL. Yeah I know....dude at work says "You ran out of gas??? That sounds like something my wife would say". :embarrese

Anyway I wasn't clueless; I took a calculated risk. And failed. :banana:
 
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#9 ·
I bet that was a sight to see... not an SRT stalled out due to being out of gas, but rather Flex turning blue rather than green.

Also...... we've gotten several videos of stupid people while Flex is driving and NFWS warnings associated with same. No vid of the colorful rant when your Charger sputtered and you realized you ran out of gas? WTH? lol
 
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#11 ·
No vid of the colorful rant when your Charger sputtered and you realized you ran out of gas? WTH? lol
Too funny. Did not even check the footage from the dashcam; I forget I even have it most of the time. BRB.
 
#10 ·
We need a never-ending looping meme of the lady parked behind an empty car blowing the horn and yelling, "MMOOOOVVVE!" :laugh:
 
#12 ·
Looks like I may need a new memory card for the dashcam. Bunch of corrupted files and of course the one where I ran out of gas is one of them. :rolleyes:
 
#26 ·
A likely story lol :biggrinjester:
 
#13 ·
Oh brother. An unfortunate series of events. Glad you didn't freeze out there.

And now, you folks, ALL of you, need to start treating the 1/4 line like the E line. It really is bad for your car to run the tank lower than that. Your in-tank fuel pump is cooled by the fuel in which it is immersed, but when the level gets to the 1/4 mark there's not enough fuel to keep it cool anymore. If you're pushing E, you're overheating your fuel pump and this reduces its life. Which would you rather do, stop a little more often for fuel or replace the fuel pump? I normally fill my tank between half and 1/4, closer to 1/4, because I don't like dropping fuel tanks.
 
#14 ·
Cool story bro. I'm gathering you're young. In cold climates of old it was always a bad idea to run the gas low. Moisture would sometimes cause the gas lines to freeze and your car to stall out. In freezing climates it's always wise to have cold weather gear in the trunk. We run a grab bag style duffel bag with gear in our cars.

I've practiced the fill up at 1/2 mark. It's not much effort in daily life and prevents any concern. I'll run it lower on road trips, which seems counter to good judgement, but fuel stops/towns are far easier to calculate so the risk goes down.

I can get to the hospital faster then an ambulance. So I always keep our cars fueled enough for emergencies. Imagine if you had jumped in your with a family member needing critical medical attention and ran out of gas. That's how I always think.

If you lived on the East coast 15 years ago you should remember the black out. That was a good lesson in always having a full tank of gas. No power, no gas, no movement.
 
#15 ·
Cool story bro. I'm gathering you're young.
I love your condescending posts. Please keep them up.

Try reading what's been posted before you reply.

kthanxbye
 
#16 ·
If you lived where I do, you wouldn't be surprised by people sitting behind a broken down car. Hell people here will sit at a green light on their phone or something, and noone behind them will honk to get them moving (I think the south just moves slower than the north).

Anyway, I always have heard that it's not good to get cars with fuel pumps in the tank much lower than 1/4 tank on a regular basis so that you don't damage the pump. I guess the fuel in the tank is all it has to lubricate it and keep it cool. It bothers me when I've got less than 1/2 a tank anyway though.
 
#18 ·
Please confirm for all of us mere mortals that you have never exceeded the speed limit or made a right turn on a red light without coming to a full and complete stop.

:bowdown:

Also I've never in my life had an issue with frozen gas lines. I live in Toronto, not Antarctica.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Just try and be respectful to Flex He has been around here for a very long time. with over 10,000 post, and it's easy to understand that it's OK to forget things. I don't want to get into specifics, but I, as an senior citizen have a tendency too, will forget things just like Flex. Now about forgetting to do a fill-up that could be an indication that things are on the downward flow and just remember it could happen to all of us as we get into the golden years of our lives. BE RESPECTFUL.. :11:

Big John:drink4:
 
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#24 ·
ppfffttt, take away his man card and give him one of these

 
#21 ·
Its one of those things in life! Great to look back at and laugh but sucks like hell at the time.

When I had just bought my mustang a few yrs back I remember my cousin giving me a suggestion. I never took his advice but I think it to be sound nonetheless and even more applicable to you fully-digital folks.

When your gas is getting low, Fill a jimmy can and toss it in your trunk and leave it there. When your gas light comes on, make a note of your mileage and keep driving regularly. Drive until it sputters and stops and then check your mileage. That will tell you just how far you can drive on an 'empty tank'.

Empty the jimmy can into the tank thereafter and proceed to the nearest gas station, armed with real knowledge about YOUR car and what you can expect when things get down to the wire...not what the manual says about the intended mileage on a brand spanking new vehicle in tip top shape.

Of course none of us want to be stranded at any time but life does not come with a manual....shit happens!! The best we can do is to do our best to handle what comes.
 
#25 ·
Its one of those things in life! Great to look back at and laugh but sucks like hell at the time.

When I had just bought my mustang a few yrs back I remember my cousin giving me a suggestion. I never took his advice but I think it to be sound nonetheless and even more applicable to you fully-digital folks.
Bad Bad BAD idea. Today's fuel injectors are not happy when you run out of gas. They can over heat and lead to other performance issues.
 
#29 ·
Personally, I admire the fact that FLEX came on here and fessed up to doing something dumb. We have ALL done something dumb; that's life.

I must however admit to using the advanced EVIC in my 2008, which lets you see the actual readings (in Pints) of the fuel floats to make sure that I could get to the fuel station I wanted to use. Arrived with 7 pints (< 1 gal) one time; never again.

In the winter - half tank is empty, the rest of the year 1/4 is empty.
 
#32 ·
This is a natural thing to sometimes forget what you had to remember the day after. It's all part of getting older. I understand that. Wait until you reach my age, wait let me check my drivers license, ummm oh, going on 70. Yesterday morning I accidentally poured OJ in my wife's coffee cup instead of her OJ glass. I said to my self, you stupid jerk what the hell are you doing?? It was only a tiny bit, but do I tell her or not?? I told her and she called me an idiot. You said, " I was a big baby on Friday morning because it was cold and I wore shorts". I'm sure that when you go out in the cold and need to drive somewhere you will dress appropriately, and make sure that your Charger will be in good working condition and your cell phone is charged. Take it from an older version of you :). If you need advice on how to cope, I'm here for you my friend..
:SM030:
PS. How old did you say you are? If it's 50, that's when it starts:surprise:

Big John
 
#33 ·
I'm sure that when you go out in the cold and need to drive somewhere you will dress appropriately

PS. How old did you say you are? If it's 50, that's when it starts:surprise:

Big John
I always wear shorts to the gym on Squat day and on Deadlift day regardless of how cold it is. I am not senile. There are specific reasons for that.

On squat day I wear knee sleeves and I cannot pull them on over long pants. On deadlift day I don't like to wear long pants because it causes the bar to slow down which means I can't lift as much. Mrs Flex will wear long pants over her shorts and take them off when she gets to the gym but I am too manly to bother with that crap.

I will be 50 in August. Everything still works. It's all good. :biggrinjester:
 
#37 ·
I like how that pic has an actual pic of my real bicycle. How did you manage that?????????
 
#39 ·
Stalker alert :biggrinjester:
 
#41 ·
Nah, Flex just has no memory. I posted that image waaaay back then (June 2014) when I was poking at him for getting a bike.

His memory was gone long before he ran out of gas!
 
#44 ·
That's a pretty funny story. Good to know that the 392 fuel gauge doesn't go below the "E". I try not to do it, but my wife on the other hand I think enjoys grinding my gears. She'll drive both until the fuel lights are on and not get gas. Her Kia SUV literally counts down the miles until empty. My old 2008 Impala did that as well which was nice. Luckily for us theres 24 hour gas stations all around us, closet is 3 miles. I've said to her more than a few times to keep her phone on. A year or so ago I took a water bottle full of my snow blower gas with me just incase my RT didnt make it.
 
#45 ·
I only once had a gas scare and that was in my Z28. I made it in the parking lot of the gas station where it crapped out. Ever since then in my cars I keep my skateboard from when I was a teenager and actually had to use it once when my Z28 broke down 2 miles from home. I also have a cheap socket set and screw driver set in the trunk ever since the Z broke down. doesn't take up much trunk space at all in the these, just wish they had a little toolbox area like the 3rd gen Camaros.
 
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