How far can you go on "no" fuel?

[belly buster]

Ran mine down so the the computer was showing 0 miles fuel remaining (the red fuel gauge starts to blink at this point too).

Went for another 5 miles before bottling it and filling up. At the pump I could only squeeze in 71 litres (75 litre tank). So I guess must have been good for another 30 miles or so.

Anyone gone further?

[AGW82]

Didn't Jeremy Clarkson do something on this..? I'm sure he was in an Audi and drove from London to Glasgow and back on one tank...

I'll have a dig around the interweb.. I''m sure that showed how far a car can go once the computer has gone to 0...

[AGW82]

This is the one...

Jeremy Clarkson on playing fuel light bingo - BBC Top Gear (http://www.topgear.com/uk/jeremy-clarkson/clarkson-fuel-light-bingo-2004-06-01)

It was an A8 and he went from London to Edinburgh..

[chesterfield]

Im sure modern cars have all sorts of filters in place to prevent it, but Im always cautious about driving on the last dregs of a tank due to the fear of dragging all sorts of sediment into the fuel line.

That being said, I couldnt be bothered to fill up over the last couple of days as Ive had loads to do, so now find myself in the Range Rover showing 4 miles left. Luckily the station is about half a mile from here and Ill be filling up today.

[dmcconachie]

In my A3 some while ago I drove just over 20 miles after hitting 0! There was a fair bit of coasting in there though!! Made it to a petrol station ok so no idea how much left I had in the reserve, can't imagine it was much.

[johnsimcox]

Not sure about modern diesel engines with high pressure fuel systems, but it used to be case that if you ran a diesel engine dry then you had to reprime the fuel pump and so on which would be a real pain.

[ukgroucho]

Similar experience to you BellyBuster although I've never had the stones to run it to 0 - partly 'cos I don't want the inconvenience and partly down tot he fear of pulling gunge from the bottom of the tank thru.

What I have seen is similar refill behaviour though - ran it down to 10 miles estimated - and that was at the end of a long trip with decent short term average so that "10 miles" would have been based on a 45mpg estimate (i.e. probably a litre). Same as you I only got around 71 litres in, so there should have been 30 - 40 left to go.

[SGH1]

This is the one...

Jeremy Clarkson on playing fuel light bingo - BBC Top Gear (http://www.topgear.com/uk/jeremy-clarkson/clarkson-fuel-light-bingo-2004-06-01)

It was an A8 and he went from London to Edinburgh..


And back!

[shabazmo]

I got 25 miles on zero fuel but was driving real slow.

[Nemo78]

In my old A4 (loved that car...did around 35-40 miles on zero and chickened out) on this A6 haven't tried yet....


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[gupsterg]

My concern about running out of fuel on a common rail system is that the high pressure fuel pump uses the diesel as a lubricant.

A HPFP for a C7 2.0 TDi is £1K+ , plus at point of HPFP failure all the metal shavings can enter common rail accumulators and injectors.

[Redheadpeter]

Up in Yorkshire recently for Tour de France. Road closures meant easy access to filling stations not available. When it got to 0 and at least 30 miles from nearest diesel pump pulled into pub car park, called the RAC, spent 45 minutes having a 'shandy' and watching the cycling on their TV. RAC put 8 litres in and charged me £12. Well worth it.

[Splash]

I'm super cautious after my wife ran our C6 3.0 out of juice one time when it still said the range was 100 miles. Since then it never goes below that range without a can of diesel in the boot.

Yesterday we drove 20+ miles to Tesco to take advantage of 14p off each litre. 75 mile range and no warning light yet somehow I managed to get 78 litres in! Still trying to find its nominal capacity. (80 litres apparently)

I think the C7 is more accurate, but I still get jittery below 100 miles.