How far past "E" do you let the needle go?

[sensinitas]

Hey guys-

My 5 is my work car. I'm on the road 6 out of 7 days a week, so I often find myself on "E" with the light on. I'm wondering how far past the "E" the needle can go before you REALLY have to worry. So far I've driven it until the needle just starts to pass the final tick mark. But I notice when the car is off, it stops a good 1/8" past the final tick.

Any input?

 

[dann & misti]

aside from the obvious problem of running out of gas, the other problem with letting your tank get below "E" is the risk of damaging your fuel pump! Better off keeping it above 1/4 tank.

 

[king57721]

usually I can drive at 30 miles more after the light is on...

 

[coolmazda5]

As soon as the engine dies, lol (silly)

I'm not sure if this helps but here is some insight on gas left after the yellow light comes up:
http://www.mazdav.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123701106

 

[sensinitas]

Thanks guys. I'm actually just wondering about the location of the needle. How far past the last tick can it go?

 

[mrbwa1]

I do subscribe to the keep it over 1/4 of a tank theory as well. I I let it go further, never past the light much. If you want to see so real needle travel though, find an old Datsun 280ZX. My dad had a '79 that has an axillary gas gauge that kicked in at 1/4 tank and was marked for 1/16, 1/8, 3/16, 1/4. and believe it or not, he let it get to to 1/16 of a tank and the thing ran out of gas. Now he's driving a Prius and that has a rubber bladder int eh tank to control pollution. As a consequence, there is no set fuel points and people have all sorts of trouble letting them go to even 1/4 tank. I wonder if that will become standard on cars in the future for emissions reasons...

 

[sensinitas]

I also agree to keep it over 1/4 a tank. But sometimes it doesn't happen when you're doing over 3000 miles a month.

 

[slvrsleeper]

I have driven mine seventy miles with the light on. The gauge will register under the last tick mark and still be OK. Now understand that this is in MY car and yours may be slightly different. That fill up she held 15.14 gallons BTW which is waaaaaaayyyyyy too close for comfort even for me.

 

[rtalain]

Also, if you really push the envelope, there may be some muck in the bottom of your tank that you don't want to suck into the fuel system. I don't let it get past 1/4 tank just because I hate seeing those really big numbers on the gas pump when I fill it up.

 

[simonnyc]

The 5 has a 16 gallon tank. I try to fill up as soon as the fuel light turns on. It usually takes ~13 gallons to fill up at this point. Figuring that i get around 22 mpg, i should be good for ~66 miles before running out of gas.

 

[mazdadude]

The E Tick, on the gas gauge is at the 6-o'clock position, I have ran it past vertical to the 6:15-6:20 position.

For me it is always a personal challenge to see how many miles I can get out of every tank before filling.(ughdance)

I have never had to put more than 15.2 gallons in.

 

[rtalain]

Anyone else thinking of that Seinfeld episode? If you're a Seinfeld fan, you'll know the one.

 

[twentysixtwo]

Also, if you really push the envelope, there may be some muck in the bottom of your tank that you don't want to suck into the fuel system.

I'm not sure this is the case - the fuel pickup is already on the bottom of the tank, so unless there were some muck FLOATING on top, running it to near empty should have no additional risk.

In terms of burning out the fuel pump, most vehicles should automatically shut off the fuel pump when it senses it is running dry. This means that you will not instantly burn out the pump when you run it dry, but as other posters pointed out, it's probably not good to do this too often.

I've done an analysis of how far I should be able to drive after the light comes on. Last fillup was 20 miles after the light but I could only get 13.5 gallons in. Doing the math a5 25 mpg, this says that I should be able to push it to 75 miles past the light.

I think I'll take 25 miles as a safety factor and consider 50 past the light the limit.

 

[AIMWO4]

I drove about 20 miles past the "E light" coming on yesterday. I put 13.375 gallons in at fill up.