As soon as the fuel light came on, I reset the trip odometer to 0.0. Drove 40/60% highway/city, I suspect there were more miles left to go but I got scared

I remember when I first got the Fit I'd panic if I drove 10 miles with the low fuel light on.

DISCLAIMER: if you are going to try this make sure you have a small reserve tank with you just in case. I'm going to try for 60 miles!

 

That's great info, very good to know if you're running low and deciding whether to turn back to a safe station or go 30-50 miles to the next one. But be careful with your tests - isn't there something in the manual about possible damage to injectors or something if you run out of gas?
Jim

 

I have to admit, I was gonna get pissed b/c I thought you beat me to 50+ mpg, at first glance!

You should have 1.7 gallons left when the light comes on so you can calculated how many miles you can get assuming you drive consistantly and know your average mpg.

 

It's a general rule not to let your tank run dry because you have more chance of picking up contaminants which may be sitting on the bottom of your tank.

 

I find when my fuel light comes on, I can put in about 8.7 gallons of gas. Given the tank is 10.8, that leaves slightly more than 2 gallons. At my average economy, that's more than 60 miles range.

 

I think it can also damage your pump and injection system. Compound that with possible sediment buildup in the tank... it's just not worth the risk.

Do not run your car completely empty. Fill up as soon as you can when the gas light comes on. A few more miles isn't worth potentially damaging anything.

 

You guys are exactly right. Most car makers have the low fuel light come on or the needle hits "E" when you have 2 gallons left in the tank. This has been true for quite a few years.

And you never want to run a fuel injected vehicle completely out of fuel.

 

If you did, won't you have to "prime" your fuel sys. ?? (I remember having to do that to each injector on one of my dad's tractors when I ran it out of diesel as a kid).

 

If you did run it completely empty, it would only take a couple of seconds for the fuel pump to get things going again once you added more gas.

Interesting related website.

tank on empty: home

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Nah I'm not too worried about problems from it, but I'd like to try to hit 60!