Thread: Running out of fuel in a diesel

We were in the Lake District last bank holiday and got there at about 11pm with little fuel. By the time we found that every camp site was full we had about 20 miles worth of fuel we headed back towards the M6. We must of passed about 4 or 5 closed stations before we headed in to Kendal as a last resort. By this point Ibby was getting extremely worried, but we eventually found an Asda that was open and he was happy we didn't need to call out a mechanic on a bank holiday.

His gauge said he has about 5 miles left in the tank when we finally filled up but how do you know how true that is. I've run my car down to zero miles in the tank by accident before, put a fiver's worth of petrol in as a temporary measure and the tripometer jopbbie still said I had zero miles worth of fuel left. Then again I think my petrol gauge is broken, it always reads empty.

Nah, don't worry about it. I ran out of fuel once in Appleby, actually while heading into a filling station. I was driving a '96 Passat TD, and fortunately, it was downhill all the way into the town. The engine died, and I coasted onto the forecourt (not the first time I have done that!) I filled up, and after switching towards the run position (a diesel doesn't have an 'ignition' switch) to prime the fuel pump, it fired up within a few turns of the engine. No need to fiddle about.

No worries to run out of diesel, just fill up and spin the motor `til she fires. There is however a worse scenario to be in with a diesel..... filling up with petrol. I did it on RWGB last year, stuck 30 litres of un leaded into an Octavia tdi Kombi at 23.00h at the end of Fridays stages. Needless to say I spent most of Saturday waiting for recovery and for the fuel to be drained. £180 later, and too late for any stages, I was mobile again. I have no explanation as to why I did it. I`m used to diesels, prior to the Octavia I had a Peugeot 407SW tdi and now I`ve got a Volvo tdi. Heh, I do double check nearly every fill up to make sure the hose is the right one!! Happy motorin`!

Hehehehe I wish I had a fiver for every tank I've drained of the wrong juice in my chequered career.
Most oil burners from '92 onwards are self priming so no need to bleed the system.
Makes 'em smoke like a b******d when they fire up though (koff koff)

Cheers for the reassurance kneeslider and oily. I usually don't run it down so low but it's always a possibility. I must have run out of fuel about 5 or 6 times in my 504. So often that I started to carry fuel onboard. Even that didn't help me once as I just kept driving till I ran out again Diesel smoke is great. Some idiot was tailgating me tonight down a narrow lane. So i chucked it into 5th while doing 30 and floored it for a few seconds and if found himself enveloped in an unburnt cloud of diesel

Originally Posted by Daniel

i chucked it into 5th

While we were on Spain, this english family had brought their own car over from the uk and parked it on a downwards slope facing forward(It was at a beach). They asked us if we could push their car up the hill so the front of the car was uphill because they were that low on fuel that it wouldn't start unless they were facing that way so the fuel could reach the injector or something! They must have been extremely low on fuel!

Mark was googling for 'running out of diesel' and this link is 4th on google

I often search for stuff and not really pay attention to which link I click and just end up back here It's crazy how often you'll be looking for a really obscure motorsports question and end up finding the answer on an old thread.

I wish sometimes people on the wrc forum would google rather than just asking questions that don't need to be asked. You get the feeling sometimes that people are writing books or articles and use the people on the forum rather than doing their own research.

I didn't look at the dates, but got excited because I though Oily Oaf was back!

Yeah I miss oily oaf If you're reading this oily oaf do come back!

I thought Oily was back too. I reckon he's still a bit of a lurker, just sits there thinking about what he's going to have for tea

Originally Posted by Daniel

I wish sometimes people on the wrc forum would google rather than just asking questions that don't need to be asked. You get the feeling sometimes that people are writing books or articles and use the people on the forum rather than doing their own research.

Annoying yes but I see their angle because it gets a bunch of people searching google while you can just sit back and enjoy some of the other 'delights' of the internet

Originally Posted by Dave Brockman

I didn't look at the dates, but got excited because I though Oily Oaf was back!

I read oily's post and then straight away looked at the date, I was dissapointed

I did the same.

The Oaf is gone, the Oaf is gone away for good....

Originally Posted by oily oaf

Most oil burners from '92 onwards are self priming so no need to bleed the system.

Hi Oily

We've emptied tanks and lines to sort out problems and they've always started up again with little or no help, as Oily says. Even on older Land Rovers, though I don't think they are self priming as such. You just end up with air bubbles that make it stop/start and judder a bit for a while.

Originally Posted by Hazell B

Hi Oily

I assume you skim read this thread Hazell

No skimming. I was taking the widdleywee