How many miles do you get when you have X bars left. - Honda Prelude Forum

SNsLude · 10-30-2005, 01:32 PM

I was just reading an old ass thread about the 4th gen gas light etc etc. I for one have never seen my gas light come on... and only few mentioned in the thread how much they actually get with x bars left...

I usually get a little worried, ie- late for work no time to hit the gas station, and i really try grinding it out... I've had that little last half bar left on the gauge and the light still doesn't even turn on... how many more miles can i still go with that little last half bar or even no bars for that matter... from your experiences of course.

preludestud11 · 10-30-2005, 02:08 PM

I have run mine completely dry, no bars, driving on the hiway when my car stated sputtering. I It finally shut off when i was on the exit ramp, i coasted about 1/2 a mile to a gas station and right up to a pump. My light never came on.

munscher · 10-30-2005, 06:25 PM

my gas light works fine. sometimes it comes on with as many as 3 bars left, sometimes it waits until there are no bars left. it goes off and on depending on driving conditions also which is expected (throttle position, turning, etc..)

i've driven as much as 75 miles with no bars left though, when i filled up it took 15.1 gallons to get full. keep in mind we have a 15.9 gallon tank.

PRelude787 · 10-30-2005, 07:39 PM

Fuel Sending Unit

There's a way to test what the problem is.........it's described somewhere in the Helm's manual........my problem is definitely the fuel sending unit. When you turn on the ignition the gas light should turn on with the rest of the lights. If it doesn't one of three things has occured. The bulb is blown, there's a short somewhere in the wire that goes from the FSU to the light, there's something wrong with the FSU.

OD4g · 10-30-2005, 07:42 PM

Ive never had no bars left, but i had one left and 3.5 gallons of gas left. But i usually get gas when i have a couple of bars left.

jinusean · 10-30-2005, 09:21 PM

I recall with no bars left, I got onto a small hill and the car stalled out. Though when I would go nose first down the hill it would jumpt to 2 bars. The whole bar would constantly flash when it was empty though. I got about 25 miles before the car died and I pulled out the gas in the trunk and filled her up with just enough to get to a gas station.

95_5speed · 10-31-2005, 07:01 AM

My personal experience, I was down to about 3 bars + that little notch at the end. I do not ever run any of my vehicles even close to empty, but that was a desperate situation which I had to make it home on what ever was left.

When you get the light coming on, Where should it light up at?

I don't think I'll ever see it, because I fill up always at about half a tank or so.

Was it an option? Also most vehicles with a gas light on them reserve about 1 gallon so you have maybe 30-40 miles depending on your driving speed and foot tendencies once you hit that last pizza slice notch on the gauge I would assume.

To the person up there who said they went 75 miles on empty, were you constantly putting it in neutral and rolling down hills? I don't think with 0 bars the Preludes should make it that far.. lemme know?

~ Brett

SolRayz · 10-31-2005, 09:51 AM

For me that the gas light comes on a little after my last bar disappears. Then I have about 30 miles before completely empty.

3yearproject · 10-31-2005, 10:06 AM

Mine comes on when i have been driving around for a while on 2 bars. it comes and goes depending how i am driving and the level the road

blk96vtec · 10-31-2005, 01:17 PM

That light only comes on when I have been driving for about 10-20 miles without any bars left.

SNsLude · 10-31-2005, 07:17 PM

oh wow... so it seems that with no bars at all, i can still definately squeeze in at least 10-15 miles more?

munscher, 75 mi with no bars!! insane!

munscher · 11-01-2005, 07:29 AM

Haha, nope i was not putting it in neutral for the hills. I had a 35 mile drive to and from work every morning and often times i would run deep into the gas light. It turned into somewhat of a game to see how far i could actually go. Every time i'd fill up i'd pay attention to how much gas i put in the tank keeping in mind that we have a 15.9 gallon tank. I would run it what seemed like forever on the gas light and with no bars left, only to fill up the tank and see that it took 13.8 gallons or somesuch (obviously meaning i had ~2 gallons left). So one day on the way to work I notice the gas light flickering on and off and eventually i lose my last bar of fuel. I continue on to work (~5 miles or so) and then after work i drove the 35 miles home and planned on gassing up in the morning before work. Well of course I was running late the next morning and had no time to get gas so I just drove to work hoping I didnt run out (half enjoying it b/c i might finally see how far she could go, haha). Well i got to work with no problems and then filled up a few miles away from work on the way home.... it took 15.2 gallons to fill her up. So in theory i had some gas left... but with the position of the fuel pickup and crap being in the bottom of the tank, etc, etc.. im pretty sure i was about to sputter to a halt.

95_5speed · 11-01-2005, 12:11 PM

Good thing you did make it to the station to fill er' up! Cool story, I am always to paranoid to let it go under half a tank because I don't trust a digital gauge.. seems a bit inaccurate most of the time. ~ Brett

red92si · 11-01-2005, 10:23 PM

Yeah, I've gone about 35 miles on the gas light before it started choking. Made it all the way from my driveway in North Hollywood to my friends Apartment in Berkeley on one tank though. It felt like the "challenge" from Seinfeld.

SNsLude · 11-01-2005, 10:33 PM

Oo... thanks for the input guys... now I shouldnt need to worry too much when i still have that last bar left =p ... cuz it seems my gas light isn't working.

Si_g · 11-02-2005, 03:47 PM

my gas light comes up for the first time with 2 bars left...then it comes on once in a while after that to remind...i ve driven 3 days with no bars (school and home)...i d say about 40 miles until i got skerd to run out of gas, and filled it up, i get about 350 miles with city driving on a full tank with a bar left When i fill it back up...pretty weird, my car has 177k miles

KB798 · 11-06-2005, 04:22 PM

When I have no bars, I have about 2 gallons left in the tank roughly, and that doesn't include the gas that's already in the fuel lines.

SNsLude · 11-09-2005, 07:41 PM

how do you know how many gallons you have left in the tank?

petern101 · 11-09-2005, 08:55 PM

^^^could be he is seeing when he fills up the # of gallons he filled in

we supposedly have 15.9 gallon tank, so he is filling up about 13.9 gallons, which is totally feasible