Jump to content
Ford Fusion Energi Forum

Fuel remaining when Fuel Range = "0"


Hewlettk
 Share

Recommended Posts

I just ran out of fuel. Normally an embarrassing and annoying event, I just continued in EV mode to the gas station and refueled!

 

The details:

At 1,586 mi Range hit "0" miles. I put the car in 'EV later Mode', reset Trip Computer 1, and drove to 1,615 mi using .46 gallons of fuel.

So there were .46 gallons of fuel in my tank when the range hit "0"

When I refueled after a couple of EV miles to the gas station, the pump clicked off at 13.331 gal. I clicked one more time to 13.545 gal

 

Two things happened after the car announced the tank was actually EMPTY:

 - The A/C compressor shut off and

 - The MFD went to map mode and displayed all the fuel stations as icons.

 

Interesting experience.

Ford claims a 14 gallon tank, but it appears usable fuel is closer to 13.5 gallons.

 

Has anyone else run the tank dry? (I know members will say this hurts the fuel pump, but I ran the fuel out several times in my Prius to no ill effect (with a 1 gal portable tank aboard to get to the gas station))

 

(When the "Reserve" light started flashing in my 2010 Prius I had approximately 2.3 gallons left in the tank.)

Edited by Hewlettk
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There also must be an air space in the tank.  If the tank was completely full a large rise in ambient temperature would either cause gasoline to come out of the filler pipe or rupture the weakest point in the system.   Liquids can't be compressed but they do increase volume when they increase in temperature.  You don't want to come back to your car on a super hot day and find gasoline dripping out of it.  Hopefully the tank was designed so that it will always trap air or gas fumes and make it impossible to completely fill it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My SE Hybrid has a 13.5 gallon tank, a couple weeks ago I went 30 miles past 0 and was able to squeeze in 13.2 gallons.

 

There is a thread/post in the hybrid forum where someone noted that there seems to be a difference in how much you can fit in depending on whether you are on a slight uphill or downhill when fueling -- I think the gist of it was that if you were on a slight downhill when fueling, that allows a small amount of air to get trapped in the back of the tank and reduce the amount you can put in... but on a slight uphill that allows the air to escape and you can get a completely full tank.  I haven't tried each way to check it out, just repeating something I saw in a different post that others can sample with as they see fit.

 

Wife's Energi is a 14.0 gallon tank, but after almost 2 weeks is still just below ½ tank, so have not filled up at all yet --- which is GREAT since the Edge would have burned about $120-150 by this time!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great feedback, guessing most members haven't even put any gas in their Energi's.

I almost filled the tank only 1/4 of the way sice a full tank weighs about 80#s. why carry the extra weight around.

Curious to see how many gallons I could get in.

And next, how many gallons I put in vs. what the trip gallon readout says I used....

That probably won't happen till I fill the car up in a few months!

Love electric mode!

Hewlett

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

I am wondering about others' experience filling their gas tank.  If you drive until the gauge reads empty or until the range is zero, how many gallons does it take to fill up the tank?

 

I topped off the tank the day we purchased the car and drove 809.6 miles until the fuel gauge was on empty and the range was down to 10 miles.  The trip counter showed that I had burned 12.01 gallons.  I put 12.6 gallons in the tank.  I may have squeezed a little more in than I did the first day when I topped off the tank.  I'll check a few more times before I conclude whether or not the trip counter figure is accurate.  I suspect that it is.

The energi has a 14 gallon tank.  How much fuel do you suppose is left in the tank when the trip counter is telling me that I've used 12 gallons?

 

I realize that there is a variable "empty reserve" that we aren't supposed to count on.  From the OP, it sounds like 13.5 gallons is the actual capacity of the tank and that 0 miles range means about half a gallon left.  If the 13.5 gallon figure is accurate, when I had reached 10 miles range, I had somewhere between 1 and 1.5 gallons remaining in the tank for 40-60 miles in hybrid mode, suggesting that 0 miles range means 30-50 miles.  The OP got 29.  What do others figure?

 

I don't like white-knuckle driving on empty trying to get to a gas station, but if I have a margin of safety, I'd like to know what it is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I drove yesterday until the gauge turned red and indicated below empty.  The range remaining was 18 miles.  It required 12.952 gallons of gas to refill the tank.  The car stated it had used 11.97 gallons on the console.  It was off by a gallon.  If usable amount of fuel in the tank is 13.5 gallons, then I had 0.5 gallons left until running out of fuel.  I could have gone another 20 miles.   I would have run out of gas at about a remaining range of 0.

 

On MyFord Mobile, it looks like the range calculation assumes 40 MPG and 13 gallons of gas.  I just filled the tank, it shows 520 = 13 * 40 miles of range in hybrid mode.

Edited by larryh
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have never believed the dash mileage liar. Fuelly is my friend when it comes to gal used.

 

Good info on being able to go past E as I like to drive it all the way to e every time.

 

I have always heard there are 2 major issues with driving to E or below.

 

1) The fuel pump is cooled / lubricated by being submerged in fuel. If it is run dry it can overheat and destroy itself (a costly repair). Most of the time I see fill the tank when it reaches 1/4 to keep the pump submerged.

 

2) All fuel has impurities and moisture. Running dry can put that moisture and sediment into system.

 

Are these just widely spread fallacies?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have always heard there are 2 major issues with driving to E or below.

 

1) The fuel pump is cooled / lubricated by being submerged in fuel. If it is run dry it can overheat and destroy itself (a costly repair). Most of the time I see fill the tank when it reaches 1/4 to keep the pump submerged.

 

2) All fuel has impurities and moisture. Running dry can put that moisture and sediment into system.

 

Are these just widely spread fallacies?

 

I am not an engineer or mechanic but I believe that the majority of the pump cooling comes from the fuel flowing through the pump.  My main theory behind that is engineers wouldn't design a system to operate in an environment where its cooling supply could be reduced below the min required easily.

 

Take the engine oil for instance..you need x amount of quarts and there is normally a small range to operate in.  For my old 65 f100 the 300 would run on 4 qt but was full at 6 qt.  So on the dipstick if you had 4 qt in it you would be on the bottom line and 6 would put you up top.

 

Now take that to the gas tank.  If you needed 1/4 tank to keep the pump cool then the fuel gauge should show E, or low or however you want to word it, when you hit that 1/4 tank, or whatever amount the engineers decided needs to always be in the tank.  

 

Sitting here writing this has me thinking that something like that is already built in based on earlier posts saying you can go past E.  That there is an amount still in the tank when you show E that could be just for this issue....to make sure the pump is always covered.

 

As for #2 I have always driven, only 17 years, my vehicles like this and have never had issues with the pump or filter filling with crap.  I think that if you constantly run it down to E that you never give gunk and trash a chance to really build up to a point that it would clog up the fuel system.

 

I do think that both have valid points and yes can do harm if you are not careful.  If you are running your car out of fuel over and over...yes I see that burning out a pump.  And if you do not normally drain your tank to E and you did it once in a blue moon I could also see all the trash built up messing with the fuel system as its not designed to take a big shot of trash.  It can handle small bits through out its operation though, and that's the area I operate it in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Driving this car is changing how I operate to some degrees though.  Before this I was filling up every 4-5 days...so I was not worried about condensation building up in the tank during the cooler times of the year.  Now with me filling up once every two to three weeks I have filled up a time or two sooner than I normally would.  A couple weeks ago we got up into the low 70's and dew points in the 60's, so it was very humid.  The next day it dropped down into the teens and twenty's so I made it a point to fill up prior to the temp drop so the warmer..moister air in the tank wouldn't condense when it cooled.  

 

I do not know how much of a difference it would make, as in how much water it takes to really mess up your fuel system, but it makes me feel better when I do that vs not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was afraid of letting it run dry.  It's been sol cold here lately that the ICE is coming on even in EV Mode "For system Performance"  Even thought I had EV miles left, my gas was running low, and I decided to just fill up because I wasn't sure if being out of gas would prevent the ICE only, or shut the whole thing down.  I didn't know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't let the fuel run dry.  It's a bad idea.  I like to keep some juice in her too.  I always burn the last of my electricity on the way up my street.  That way if I'm a ways from home when and if I suffer a breakdown of any kind with the ICE at least I have SOME means of moving the car.  That said I love my AAA with a 200 mile tow.  CA is a big state!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...