Gas unexpectedly ran out!

[carnageehw]

Filling up on gas when you're just below half full isn't exactly a desirable or convenient option a lot of the time.

It's a terrible thing, and a sure fire way to continue to get lousy results from the company to simply ignore a function that isn't working properly.

[bronsin]

Huh. Im satisfyed with Toyotas attention to quality and the way they take care of business. Im terribly disappointed that the Yaris is heavier than my ECHO but hey, its driven by the public. The great unwashed masses. What can T do if they wnt to sell cars? We're lucky we got the ECHO and the Yaris as it is Im thinking.

I dont trust things and prepare for the worst. Im always one step ahead of the game. Dont take anybodys elses plans for me. I make my own plans for Numero Uno.

I guess I am different.

[ECBurton]

It happened to me tonight on the freeway. Driving home from Chicago. Fortunately a good samaritan pulled over and ran to the gas station for me. A gallon of gas fixed the problem. I went from two bars to a loss of power and stranded. I will check with the dealership next time I'm in for maintenance.

And I have to agree with Carnageehw. The fuel gauge should work, it's there for a reason, and to bypass reliance upon the fuel gauge and watching mileage on your odometer/tripmeter is simply ludicrous.

[bronsin]

Hmmm I look at it differently.

Fill up after driving 200 miles and then you will never run out of gas!

I GAR UN TEEE!!!

[why?]

Originally Posted by ECBurton

It happened to me tonight on the freeway. Driving home from Chicago. Fortunately a good samaritan pulled over and ran to the gas station for me. A gallon of gas fixed the problem. I went from two bars to a loss of power and stranded. I will check with the dealership next time I'm in for maintenance.

And I have to agree with Carnageehw. The fuel gauge should work, it's there for a reason, and to bypass reliance upon the fuel gauge and watching mileage on your odometer/tripmeter is simply ludicrous.

Look, it is a known problem. We know the gauge is iffy. You act like the Yaris is the only car on the planet with gauges that can't be trusted. But it isn't. There are many models out there with gauges that are far less than optimal.

What compounds that fact is the gas tank in the Yaris has a rubber inner liner. This means the tank will flex and bend depending on how much gas is in it. This also means depending on the temperature the tank will be full with differing amounts of gas.

So instead of being prepared, which you should be, you are saying everything should always work properly, which is of course bullshit. How did that work out for people in Hurricane Katrina? Or Hurricane Sandy? Or this massive northeaster a few weeks ago the knocked out the power for most of Mass?

Let me tell you. It didn't. Allowing yourself to be at the mercy of luck is stupid.

[MadMax]

Originally Posted by ECBurton

It happened to me tonight on the freeway. Driving home from Chicago. Fortunately a good samaritan pulled over and ran to the gas station for me. A gallon of gas fixed the problem. I went from two bars to a loss of power and stranded. I will check with the dealership next time I'm in for maintenance.

And I have to agree with Carnageehw. The fuel gauge should work, it's there for a reason, and to bypass reliance upon the fuel gauge and watching mileage on your odometer/tripmeter is simply ludicrous.

What is ludicrous is not knowing how many miles you average out of a tank of gas. It is equally ludicrous to depend on one instrument and not using a little common sense!

Sorry, but I know my Yaris is good for between 350-400 miles after I fill it up. If I find myself at two bars with 395 miles out of the tank then I'm not going to believe it suddenly became a much more efficient car!

One day while driving my old VW Passat I noticed the tachometer read about 4 thousand RPM higher than it should. I immediately engaged the clutch and realized that the sound of the engine did not indicate it was revving any higher than it should, despite what the instrument was reporting. Turned out the tach went bad, it happens; but I applied a little logic to the situation instead of blindly relying on the one device for information.

No matter how smart the car is, it's only as smart as the person driving it.

[NEexpat]

I don't know, the gauge on the Yaris takes some time to get used to but I have found it to be remarkably consistant.

Also, I know there will be a great many here who won't believe me, but there are people out there who drive about not ever looking at their gauges, not ever. I know Crazeeeee, right, two happen to be a couple of my sisters.

"Them -OH! I think I need to get gas. Me - Huh, what?, You think, YOU THINK!"

I know I'll start to sound like the Director of Marketing for Ultra-Gauge , but it has alarm functionality, and I have mine set to 60 miles to go, distance to empty, plus it is calibrated to an 11.1 gallon tank, even though there is probably up to 11.6 or 11.7 on a fill up, which serves as my "double secret" margin of error.

I usually don't let it go below half especially in winter, not because of condensation blah, blah, blah, because a few years ago in a snow storm it took me three hours to go 7 miles to get home. If I am on a long trip then I'll push it, 375+ miles.

[Amdkt7]

It's been 20 years since I ran out of gas, and it was on a sharp curve. Coasted around and it started back up. I nearly always run until almost on E, sometimes a bit longer. I don't know about the Yaris yet, but most cars seem to have around one gallon or more left when on E. That being said, if the weather is going to be bad I'm going to fill up so I don't get stuck somewhere out of gas.
It wastes gas to be carrying around a full tank all the time, and there is some concern about the fuel pump burning out when empty (I suspect that only happens when it cannot pick up any fuel, not because the tank is low). The pump is located at the top of the tank, if it had to be submersed it should be at the bottom of the tank.
Condensation will not cause the tank to rust. It has a rubber liner. Condensation can be a problem if you do not fill up all the way, or perhaps if you have a low tank for a very long time. So, always fill the tank all the way up, the air is pushed back out into the charcoal canister and then mixed with the air pulled into the engine (burns off gas vapors).
Best practice is to run to nearly empty (except when there is a chance of running out of gas, due to weather, or unknown distance to station), then fill it all the way up. As mention before, know how far you usually travel on a tank of gas, and use that information as well as the gas gauge.

I once had a battered old Dart ('63 I think). It had a leak in the tank, filling too full would result in it leaking. The gauge was screwed up too. As the tank emptied the needle slowly go down, but then would suddenly RISE! When that happened you had to get gas Now!

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by Amdkt7

It's been 20 years since I ran out of gas, and it was on a sharp curve. Coasted around and it started back up. I nearly always run until almost on E, sometimes a bit longer. I don't know about the Yaris yet, but most cars seem to have around one gallon or more left when on E. That being said, if the weather is going to be bad I'm going to fill up so I don't get stuck somewhere out of gas.
It wastes gas to be carrying around a full tank all the time, and there is some concern about the fuel pump burning out when empty (I suspect that only happens when it cannot pick up any fuel, not because the tank is low). The pump is located at the top of the tank, if it had to be submersed it should be at the bottom of the tank.
Condensation will not cause the tank to rust. It has a rubber liner. Condensation can be a problem if you do not fill up all the way, or perhaps if you have a low tank for a very long time. So, always fill the tank all the way up, the air is pushed back out into the charcoal canister and then mixed with the air pulled into the engine (burns off gas vapors).
Best practice is to run to nearly empty (except when there is a chance of running out of gas, due to weather, or unknown distance to station), then fill it all the way up. As mention before, know how far you usually travel on a tank of gas, and use that information as well as the gas gauge.

I once had a battered old Dart ('63 I think). It had a leak in the tank, filling too full would result in it leaking. The gauge was screwed up too. As the tank emptied the needle slowly go down, but then would suddenly RISE! When that happened you had to get gas Now!

The fuel pump is mounted at the bottom, not top, of the tank, in a vertical orientation, with a filter screen at the bottom of it. When it stops sucking gas (on a level surface) there is a little less than 0.5 gallons left in the tank.

The tank is completely made of molded plastic and there is no rubber liner.

[Amdkt7]

CTScott, you probably have better information than I do. I thought it has a rubber liner because several people said it did. If the tank is plastic it would not need a rubber liner either. Often people do not state what year the car is, and from year to year things change.

Also, a photo I believe from a 2012 showed what I believed to be the fuel pump, on the top of the tank. My Rio was like that. I sure would like to look at some actual repair manuals.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by MadMax

What is ludicrous is not knowing how many miles you average out of a tank of gas. It is equally ludicrous to depend on one instrument and not using a little common sense!

Sorry, but I know my Yaris is good for between 350-400 miles after I fill it up. If I find myself at two bars with 395 miles out of the tank then I'm not going to believe it suddenly became a much more efficient car!

One day while driving my old VW Passat I noticed the tachometer read about 4 thousand RPM higher than it should. I immediately engaged the clutch and realized that the sound of the engine did not indicate it was revving any higher than it should, despite what the instrument was reporting. Turned out the tach went bad, it happens; but I applied a little logic to the situation instead of blindly relying on the one device for information.

No matter how smart the car is, it's only as smart as the person driving it.

^^^^^ This (re perspective)....I just do my fill ups after more miles (I'm hardly ever on pace for fewer than 500 miles per tank).

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by NEexpat

even though there is probably up to 11.6 or 11.7 on a fill up

I ran out of gas once in my Yaris as I was pulling into a gas station. I filled up to where I could just start to see the gas in the neck. I put in 12.777 gallons. More recently, CTScott performed a test and, IIRC, the point of the test was to determine the maximum capacity of the tank (he gave the test it's own thread). IIRC, the total he came up with was 12.8 gallons. I figure the extra 0.023 of a gallon = the part of the neck I didn't fill on my fill up.

[Amdkt7]

It can be harmful to the evaporation control system to overfill the tank.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by Amdkt7

It can be harmful to the evaporation control system to overfill the tank.

So be it. I want to know that with each fill up that my reference point is as close to the same as possible. I don't trust 'the clicks', and that isn't specific enough to suit me. I know this is anecdotal evidence, but I have done this on every car I've ever owned and have never had any fuel related parts or service issues. In 2011 or 2012 I posted how I do my fill ups on a thread about fill ups. Why? posted that my level of fill up = extremely dangerous. I replied, asking him why. He didn't reply, so I'm unsure what he meant. Perhaps his thought was the same as yours above.

[Amdkt7]

I have read about what happens, but forget what exactly it can do. The manuals all warn to not do it, for some reason. I think the point that it becomes a problem is when the gas gets into the vent line, which is right at the top of the fill tube. As long as the gas is below that vent it should be ok. However if it is close and your car gets on a slope such that the gas now tips into it you could be looking at costly repairs. The charcoal canister, as far as I remember.

[Amdkt7]

You are right, you really can't trust the point where it clicks to stop, but it really is close enough. Less than 1-2 mpg error I believe. Better, get a Scan gauge, I believe those tools are much closer to the truth.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by Amdkt7

gets on a slope

LOL. You'd be amazed how flat it is around here. Technically, any road that isn't completely flat has some slope....but what one normally thinks of as 'parking on a slope' is almost non existent around here. I'm not just saying that because I've lived in only hilly areas before this -- I think natives here would agree with me re the flatness of the terrain. I like it --- much easier on the car and biking, walking, etc = much simpler (you only have to think about distance, not terrain)....the rest of my family, not so much. They all have to either have hills and mountains around them or mountains within a 3 hour drive.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by Amdkt7

You are right, you really can't trust the point where it clicks to stop, but it really is close enough. Less than 1-2 mpg error I believe. Better, get a Scan gauge, I believe those tools are much closer to the truth.

I have run out of gas a few times, but when I have I already know that I'm cutting it super, super close. The last time was on a late September/early October 2012 trip to what turned out to FL and AL. I got gas in the middle of nowhere on I-10 near I-75. I was headed to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. I was keeping track of the intervals between mileage bar drops in my head. I got just enough gas for the rest of the trip to 'The Trop' plus another approximately 1.5 miles to get to the station I wanted to go to (I didn't want to pay the rip off middle of nowhere price for any more than the minimum I needed). I ended up running out of gas about two miles before the stadium...so my on the fly estimate was under 4 miles off. I didn't want to stop for more gas because I wanted as much time as possible at the hitters museum (which relies on volunteers and doesn't have set hours). For some reason, I'm nearly always able to estimate it this accurately or even closer (and have rarely run out of gas. I've done fill ups of 12.5 gallons or more many times. I've thought about getting a Scan Gauge, but I'll wait until I'm certain I wouldn't be too obsessive about using it (looking at it all the time, constantly crunching scenarios in my head, etc.).