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Run out of gas? | Pad Patter 10.3

Just once. I was sitting at a traffic light on my way to work when the car just died. The gauge said I still had 1/4 tank. The police came, the officer asked if I ran out of gas, I showed him the gauge, and he called a tow truck because I was blocking traffic and we had no idea what was wrong with the car. It was kind of embarrassing to get a call an hour later saying the gas tank was empty. They couldn't fix it either. The needle on the gauge was always jumping around after that. I had to keep track of my mileage to know when to fill up. But, I never ran out of gas again!
 
Literally? No.
Metaphorically? All. The. Time. :)

Like Maureen @cookingmylife I was "trained" not to go below half a tank. Having said that, DH drove my car this past weekend and now I'm at a bit below a quarter tank (didn't drive until today so I didn't notice). I'm annoyed cuz he normally fills up my car on Thurs nights, but last Thurs he didn't...and of course I didn't double check when I hopped in to pick up DD for an appt. And while he was driving this weekend, he didn't tell me that he'd forgotten to fill up my car. No biggie, but I hate having less than half a tank. It just makes me feel anxious. That pic @Rikki posted gave me a heart attack, just by looking at it!
 
cookingmylife said:
diesel so it's not as easy to find.
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That's so weird to me. I've almost always lived in farm areas, so diesel is at most every station!

keepscrappin said:
I like to keep the tank on the top half
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I don't know if it's true on all cars, but you get better gas mileage that way. I'm sure there's a scientific reason for that, but I don't know it.

QuiltyMom said:
didn't have a working gas gauge, so I would measure it by dipping a doweling into the tank to see where the level was at.
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This made me giggle! And then - what did you do with the dowel? Did you keep it on the passenger floor? How did you make sure it was long enough not to fall in?

IntenseMagic said:
when I was driving home and had about 60 miles on my range and we got stopped by an accident
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This was my concern on Sunday! We would be driving the Arizona canyon between St. George UT and Mesquite NV. If there was an accident or construction, we'd be SOL.

merank said:
It was kind of embarrassing to get a call an hour later saying the gas tank was empty.
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Oh my gosh! I bet! How annoying they couldn't fix it either.

Tree City said:
Metaphorically? All. The. Time.
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But of course. :giggle
 
I ran out of gas once as a teen. I had an old beater car that did not have a working gas gauge, but that's not the car I ran out of gas with. Lol. I just got used to putting in gas every few days in that car and I never looked at the gas gauge because it always said it was empty. For some reason though I borrowed my Mom's car who gas gauge DID work and was telling the truth that it was on empty. Lol. Luckily I stalled at a stop light and there was a gas station right across the road. I just had to run over there and borrow a gas can. Thankfully I had money on me!
 
bestcee said:
This made me giggle! And then - what did you do with the dowel? Did you keep it on the passenger floor? How did you make sure it was long enough not to fall in?
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Since it was a VW Bug, the trunk - and the gas tank - was under the front hood. I just left the dowel there when not in use. And it was plenty long so I wouldn't drop it in. My dad made sure of that!
 
Rikki said:
I have never actually run out but this is a very familiar sight to me:



Not sure how much longer I could have gone but I managed to pull into a station before it happened. My friends said I obviously love to live dangerously, :-)
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ROFL...my husband does this all the time. He's gotten pretty good at knowing just how much more he can go, me I'd fill my tank at half all the time just to be "sure" I'd never run out if I could ROFL!!!
 
I'm always the one to use it till nearly empty. Only once was I starting to worry. I had my cousins & one of their friends with me on our way home from visiting my friend's farm. I knew the road that we'd be coming home had a gas station & I kept saying "any minute" we'll see it. The girls were hilarious not trusting me that we'd make it. We pulled in the station with my car telling me 1 mile until empty! HA!
 
No. But I did do a stupid scary drive back home from work last year. The light turned on right after I left. I have a 45 km drive (about 35 minutes) home. I thought I could make it. And I did. But nearly. I was very anxious at the end, thinking the car was slowing down the whole time. I drove right to a gas station when I was in my town, instead of going home first which was the plan before. I was cranky when I left work, but now I know that's not a good reason to ignore the gas light.
 
Nope, I haven't.

Until the last year or two, running on fumes was a financial necessity. I drive 36 miles every day to get my daughter back and forth to school and my husband has a 35 minute commute to his job so we go through a lot more gas than we used to & now can finally afford to fill up at only 1/4 of a tank.
 
I'm like some of the others, I'm OCD about never letting it get below 1/4 without freaking out. I try to keep it at at least a 1/3 full, but yeah. It's been a year since I could drive though, so my tank is currently always okay. I've made four drives in the past year and it was literally a couple blocks down to the school to get the kids and back.
 
Once. One of the first goes at driving as a learner and i was being taught to drive with y whole family in the car (father's car) and so he was the one given the job of walking to wherever (like at least half an hour by memory) to get a bottle and some petrol for the car - it was a hot cramped wait for everyone else!
 
bart is happy he uses his hopping power to get around
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Oooh I have never ran out of gas. Too paranoid I guess. When I am half of tank, I plan when I am going to re-fill. When it gets to a quarter, I start to panic..lol!

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Never. Because it’s unsafe in Malaysia to stop anywhere with an empty tank. 2. The weather is hot so I’m not going to be stuck in the middle of no where cursing the weather. 3. Malaysian are terrible at any kinda of services. I will probably be stranded for hours before I get help. So before the red light comes on, I have already refill my tank.
 
only once. it was when husband told me to drive his car. It was new and I assumed (wrongly) that it wouldn't be on fumes. I literally was a half a block from the gas station and it died. I had to call AAA to help me. He was terrible about gas. I can't tell you how many trips we'd be on and we'd coast into a gas station. Other than that one time (and I blame him) I've never run out of gas.
 
Once and only once. I learn from my mistakes!

I managed to get the car to coast to about 5 minutes away from a petrol station so I could buy a canister and get going again in order to fill up.

I also have roadside assistance now for me and my driving DD and that includes help if you run out.
 
It was like a month or so ago! It said I had 3 miles left & I was right across the street from the gas station. It just did not make it! Thank goodness a nice man came & pushed me to the side while my husband walked across the street to the gas station.
 
I think these days is almost impossible for me to run out (well these days I hardly ever go out ), as the cars I have had for the past 16 years have been new, with amazing system that wont let you forget you have to stop to fill up, but when I was in my 20s? oh, my word.... I dont think I could even trust the readings, so old my cars were LOL. When we lived in north east Brazil we run out once...in the middle of the forest , dirt road, and Andy walked for 40 minutes to the next farm to get some from their cars....
 
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