I deliberately waited for the low fuel light to come on with my first tank. Within a mile or two of the low fuel light coming on I filled it up and my Azera took 15.7 gallons which means I had almost 3 gallons left. I'm still only on my 3rd tank so will let everyone know what happens when the low fuel light comes on this time.

 

Based on your experience, that would put the low fuel warning at 2.79 gallons remaining. Based on mine, it would be a touch under 2.5 gallons. Pretty close, for anecdotal purposes.

I don't plan on repeating the experiment if I can help it. Previously, I've not let the fuel drop below 1/4 tank. I much prefer paying for 12-13 gallons at a time -- psychologically ^_^

 

I try to never get below half a tank..... main reason is it doesn't shock me on the total pump price...... $32 instead of $64 :=)

 

Yeah, today's fill-up was $64.58. That's the most I've ever paid for a fill-up (although, my last 3 cars only had 13 gallon tanks). I feel sorry for the truck owners with dual tanks.

 

Don't understand why the heck fuel range goes blank on Hyundais when you need it the most. Never seen that on any other car. Having said that, I hardly ever let it get that low as well.

As far as the pump being 'lubricated' by fuel, it's not. Try using fuel as a lubricant next time you need some, and report back your experience here . Yes, fuel cools the pump, but pump sits in a cavity, and the fuel around it needed to cool it is not usable, so no worries. Otherwise there would be a warning on the owner's manual that you can't let the car run out of fuel or damage to the fuel pump might occur. And that's not the case. However, it's simply not advisable to do that, unless you really have no choice but to roll the dice and see what happens. After getting stranded in the middle of nowhere once many decades ago, I fill up at every break (if there's Chevron or Shell) because you never know what might lie ahead. But if there's only cheap gas, it's nice to know you can continue on your merry way until the next break.... at which point I fuel up for sure with whatever is available. That's why I liked the Sonata a lot; I could easily get 500 miles out of a tank while traveling. On this one maybe 400, but it's still a pretty healthy range.

 

Fuel Pump Cooling

Yes, fuel cools the pump, but pump sits in a cavity, and the fuel around it needed to cool it is not usable, so no worries. Otherwise there would be a warning on the owner's manual that you can't let the car run out of fuel or damage to the fuel pump might occur. .

Fuel in the tank provides a means of dispersing the heat that the fuel pump generates from it's normal operation. The more fuel in the tank, the better the heat reduction, up to a point.

If the gas in the tank gets really low, the cooling ability of the fuel decreases and the pump will operate at a higher temperature. The gas in the well keeps it from burning up, but lack of gas outside this well will cause the pump to operate at higher than intended temperatures, possibly causing early failure.

This all came from the local Hyundai Service Manger when my friend's Elantra's fuel pump went out while sitting at a stop light.

It was covered under warranty, but when the Service Manager started telling us this story (I was his ride home from the dealership) we both looked at each other like "this guy is setting up an abuse case to avoid warranty coverage).

We were wrong. It was covered no problem.

 

Just to make you guys feel bad I filled my last tank about 10 days ago for $2.70 gallon using a local promotion. : )

 

You've succeeded!

 

I just filled my tank for nothing...... Just drained the gas out of my neighbors car :=)

 

In Chicagoland we just went from $3.85 to $4.15 overnight!

 

Man, that's just all kinds of wrong

 

Try the equivalent of $5/US gallon which is the going price in Toronto, Canada. And you think you're getting ripped off.

 

The first time I drove until the low fuel light came on I filled the tank with 15.7 gallons. The second time I drove until the loan fuel light came on I filled the tank with 17.5 gallons.

Wondering why the difference but will drive the current tank until the low fuel light comes on and see what happens.

 

doughh. The first time, when you put in 15.7 gall. there were approx. 2.8 gallons left in your tank. Pretty accurate to me. This should be enough gas to cover 50-60mi. The second time - only one gallon left in your tank before you filled it up. I don't think something wrong with your fuel gauge; most likely the gas pump meter. For obvious reason they are always unaccurate in one way. Last time when I filled my car, it took 19.003 gallons..? I didn't know that our tanks made of rubber.

 

I wasn't blaming the fuel gauge just wondering my the variation in when the low fuel light comes on. I would think it would come on at the same point fairly consistently. My other cars were pretty consistent about when the light came on.

 

Not a good idea to let your tank get that low. To much garbage in the bottom of your tank that will get into your fuel system, not a good thing. I would never let my tank go below half for that reason.

 

I topped off At Costco yesterday $3.179 p/gallon. The South does have a few strong points. That was for regular (10%) ethanol. If you think the Azera sucks with poor gas mileage, try a Ford Ranger pickup 4.0 V6 with 3:55 rear traction lock axle in town 14mpg on the freeway 18mpg. Now that is poor mileage, but I still love my truck it is so handy for hauling.

 

Two weeks ago today we got home from visiting my daughter in San Diego. I saw gas at a BP for $3.22/gallon. This morning, the same BP was at $3.89/gallon. It went up $.25/gallon from last Wednesday to Friday alone. I am assuming some of this rise can be attributed to the up coming Memorial Day weekend.

 

I've been driving for over 40 years and have never had a problem related to bad fuel. All cars have fuel filters that should take care of the chunks that might find their way into the fuel system.

I'm sure that some debris ends up in a fuel tank over time, but I don't think I'd get overly concerned about it.

I do try to fill up at about the 1/4 tank level. It helps to ensure enough fuel to keep the pump cool and only buying 3/4 of a tank makes the price of fuel seem not so bad.

 

Times 2 here.

 

I always use name brand gas, BP, Shell, Exxon. Reason? Two years ago I got gas at Speedway local cut rate gas station. I got the gas for my lawnmower. After a few cuts the darn lawnmower had a hard time starting so I took it to the Lawnmower service guy up the street. He called me the next day and said where did you buy your gas. I said Speedway. He said never buy gas at that place again. Come up and get your mower.

I did and he showed me the gas he got out of my lawnmower and the gas that he was ready to put in the mower. The gas from Speedway had a film on it, like a slim, and it didn't even smell like gas. He said you got some bad gas yet I was able to clean out the old stuff and your mower should be ok. I said just think what that will do for a motor in a car if one uses that gas. Yes he said it could cause major damage. He said it is always best to use a name brand gas like Mobile, Shell or Exxon. Never use discount gas.

 

I'd like to find a "cut rate" gas station.

Everybody around me is within a few pennies of each other.

Only price break I seem to get is finding a station that is a bit slow raising their prices after everybody else has jacked up the prices.

I have read about people having issues with diesel fuel. Either the person grabs the wrong pump handle, or, the guy doing the tank refill at the station but some gas into the diesel tank.

Mixing gas and diesel in car diesel engines causes all kinds of problems - from clogged filters to destruction of the high pressure fuel pump. Of course, the car makers claim bad fuel with these issues happen. Repairs on the VW Passat diesel for bad fuel runs over $9,000, if not covered under warranty.

Makes the Passat (a nice big sedan with rear seat legroom comparable to the Azera) a potentially expensive alternative, despite the excellent diesel mileage they get on the highway.

 

Whenever the fuel light goes on to me, that's low fuel and not a good idea to practice. I think we've beaten this one to death. The bottom line is I'm sure this thread has not changed anyone's mind as to what low fuel will and will not do to your car. Time will tell for all of us, right or wrong.

 

Agreed. Actually, that topic was tangential to the original intent f the first post which was to address the common question: "How much gas do I have when the low fuel light comes on?".

:beathorse:

 

I let the fuel get low when I first got the car, mainly to test out whether the light worked. I remember changing the driver's readout to tell me estimated miles left to empty, and it showed a bit over 30 miles till I ran out of gas.

I wouldn't want to test this too far, but it told me that I did need to start looking for a place to get gas, but did not need to panic.

That was close enough for me.

 

Okay so I am guilty of letting the fuel get down twice to the orange light since I've owned the car. I guess I didn't realize how bad it was for the car. Thanks for the lesson.

However, the last time it happened something strange did happen. The orange light went on and I thought, well I should still be able to get around 30 miles, which is typically the case with most cars.

However, the miles to empty on the trip computer just showed dashes. Meaning no miles left. And this was right after the orange light went off. So I got just a wee bit nervous and went straight for the next gas station, thinking I do not want to get stranded out of gas (has never yet happened to me).

When I filled up it was a bit over 15 gallons. So apparently there was still quite a bit of gas -- about 3 gallons -- left in the tank I think.

It seems like the trip computer somehow was off a bunch when calculating the miles to empty. Computer glitch? This did not happen the 1st time I got the orange light a while back.

Anyway I don't really trust it completely at this point. It's better, like everyone is saying, to not test it and let it get that low.

 

Don't rely on the computer gauge accuracy. They are all not very accurate. A lot of it depends on your driving for that tank full of gas. Example, if you have a full tank of gas and driving on a trip and immediately fill up after the trip it will be near accurate. If you do many trips on a tank full both local and highway it will not be accurate. Could be off as much as 2 to 3 miles to a gallon. I hope this helps. I agree with xsolara, gas in fact expands and contracts in the summer months so it is good to get your gas early in the morning. When pumping the gas I read you should do it slowly not at full pressure. More gas for less money.

 

Gas expands and contracts with heat. You can get more gas for less money in the early morning during Summer.... gas will expand as the day heats up.
This could cause some errors in the computer reading. (just a thought)

 

I cannot speak about the Azera yet because I haven't had mine long enough, but in my 2011 Avalon, when the low fuel light came on I filled the tank with between 15 and 16 gallons consistently. They tank held 18.5 gallons so I alway new I had at least a couple gallons at that point. Also the trip computer, miles to empty, always said less than 10 miles to empty when the low fuel light came on.

As I said in my original post the first time the fuel light came on I filled the tank with 15.7 gallons. The second time the light came on I filled the tank with 17.5 gallons.