I got a bit of a fright driving back to Fernley as I hadn't been paying attention to the gas gauge and the needle, which had started at about 1/8 as we left the Nugget, had gone clear to empty in the 30 miles between Sparks and Fernley. I was wondering if I was going to run out of gas and have to coast in to that same abandoned truck-inspection area in which I broke down a couple of months ago. I made it back to the Pilot in Fernley, and based on how much it took to refill the tank, I still had three gallons (about sixty miles) left. But the gas gauge is not to be trusted. It is good to know that I have at least 500 miles of range on a tank of gas, though.
Back when I had my Jeep (1995-2000), I had it run out of gas on a long road trip (Chicago to south of Nashville and back by way of Berea Kentucky) when it showed about 1/4 of a tank. After the trip was over (a trip in which I filled up as soon as it hit the 1/4 tank sticking point) I took it in for service. When they were servicing it, they discovered a factory problem with the initial gas tank installation (which made it tricky to fill up without stopping the pump), and had to replace the tank.
The problem - they replaced a 16 gallon tank with a 20 gallon tank - but still put in a 16 gallon tank sensor. Not that long later, I was driving up to near Milwaukee when I realized that my tank was empty and after putting more than 16 gallons in, realized the problem.
In 2000 when I sold the Jeep to a high school student, I told his mother that the tank still had about 4 gallons when the gauge was pegged on "empty," but didn't tell him.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2011-11-13 04:32 pm (UTC)Back when I had my Jeep (1995-2000), I had it run out of gas on a long road trip (Chicago to south of Nashville and back by way of Berea Kentucky) when it showed about 1/4 of a tank. After the trip was over (a trip in which I filled up as soon as it hit the 1/4 tank sticking point) I took it in for service. When they were servicing it, they discovered a factory problem with the initial gas tank installation (which made it tricky to fill up without stopping the pump), and had to replace the tank.
The problem - they replaced a 16 gallon tank with a 20 gallon tank - but still put in a 16 gallon tank sensor. Not that long later, I was driving up to near Milwaukee when I realized that my tank was empty and after putting more than 16 gallons in, realized the problem.
In 2000 when I sold the Jeep to a high school student, I told his mother that the tank still had about 4 gallons when the gauge was pegged on "empty," but didn't tell him.