.... of running out of petrol at the Dartford Tunnel!

Driving from Kent to Essex this afternoon I knew I was running a bit low on petrol and the gauge was flashing between 1/4 and E but I thought I would fill up after the tunnel ........ big mistake It seems that my gauge is very, very accurate and when it reads empty, it really is EMPTY.

I had been in the five mile long traffic jam leading up to the tunnel and had just flipped my pound coin into the toll basket when the engine died! I was stranded right in the middle of the dozen or so toll booths with my hazards flashing. I could see two 'tunnel police' vehicles (and they must have seen me) but no assistance came so I managed to get the V6 ticking over on fumes and slowly limped across six, very busy, toll lanes - most people were sympathetic and waved me across but there was a chavved up Corsa that insisted on beeping at me (the tosser) Anyway I managed to get safely in the lay-by to investigate the problem.

I quickly confirmed that the fuel pressure was practically zero and removed the filter to find it as clean as a whistle ...... the sad fact dawned on me that I had simply run out of fuel Actually it wasn't quite as simple as that - the twin fuel tanks are long 'lozenges' that run 'north to south' but my ride height is set a little higher at the back so the fuel was trapped at the front of the tanks, away from the pump pickup. Added to this 'design error' was the fact that the runway to the tunnel is a long, downward slope which compounded the problem - there was actually more than a gallon still left in each tank but the gradient prevented it from reaching the pump!

A quick call had SWMBO running to the rescue with a full petrol can but she was going to be a couple of hours so I settled down to wait. After a while a sympathetic recovery vehicle driver (who was also a kit car enthusiast) came by and offered to get a gallon can of petrol from his office and he returned 15 minutes later as promised. I thanked him repeatedly (I wanted to have his babies by now ) and off I went through the tunnel and straight to the nearest petrol station to fill up.

They say that you learn something new every day. I learned that my petrol gauge is accurate ..... but only on level ground!

I'm off to reset my ride height now

yes E meens empty not enough
Dave

Oops, at least you looked good on the side of the road

Is the missus still looking for you

ATB

Simon

I would never chance the tunnel when low of fuel. That place can be an arsehole when something goes wrong.

my vans like that, the light comes on and it will die within 5 miles. Little ax you have about 40!

Is it possible to raise the front of the tanks a little, or relocate the pump(s) to the front of the tank?

Hope changing the ride height doesn't spoil the looks or the handling.

Regarding the chavved up corsa; he is a chav, this is his crime and also his punishment. You had to suffer him for a couple of minutes. Think how he must feel - he's got to be him his whole life! And in a corsa for god's sake! Poor sod, no wonder he's angry at the world.


[Edited on 28/3/07 by jlparsons]

The irony is that I had read a thread on here where someone suggested setting the front shocks lower than the back to increase the ground effect at speed. 'What a good idea' I thought until today.

iank - The tanks have actually got a small amount of backward tilt (not enough methinks) and the pump picks up from the lowest point, so I think that dropping the back shocks a little is my only option - rewelding the tanks is not going to happen

Must remember to head UP a hill next time I'm getting low on jungle juice

Jonno - embarrassed is what I looked like

Simon - oooh heck! I'd better phone her

jlparsons - Personally I will always try and stop, to offer help in a situation like this .... unless the hapless driver has got a baseball cap on backwards of course

What you need is a Quart / 1 Litre (metal) fuel bottle that campers use for those petrol cookers. Then store that somewhere about the car, they are not very big. It would give you a few miles extra to get to a fuel station.

If you get say 40mpg, a quart / litre bottle will give you nearly 10 miles of reserve.

Just a thought, and I might even do that myself... I had never thought of it until reading this a couple of mins ago!!

Been there. Done that! I know exactly how you feel. At least you have a guage that works. Mine reads empty all the time. It only works when I drain the tank and remove the sender. It does great. Then I reassemble everything and it is back to empty again.
Russ in the good old USA

At least you have a gauge. I have a wooden stick (actually a broken broom handle!) and forgot to dip the tank before heading out one night with the missus. Left a mate's house, hit the M40 at Gaydon and rolled to a stop a mile or 2 later. Ar$e me thinks. Get out and dip tank, yup dry. Misses was not happy as it was 1 in the morning and had just started to rain. I had to wake oen of her mates up to come and resuce us. I wasn't exactely flavour of the month for a while.

Excellent idea Geoff!

Either that or I can remember to fill up when the ickle light flashes

the obvious solution was to remove the engine from the boot and stick it in the front - the shift of wieght would surely have been enough? Or a fat biuider sitting on your bonnet would have fixed it too.

quote:

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Originally posted by 02GF74
Or a fat builder sitting on your bonnet would have fixed it too.

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quote:

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Originally posted by RazMan
The irony is that I had read a thread on here where someone suggested setting the front shocks lower than the back to increase the ground effect at speed. 'What a good idea' I thought until today.

iank - The tanks have actually got a small amount of backward tilt (not enough methinks) and the pump picks up from the lowest point, so I think that dropping the back shocks a little is my only option - rewelding the tanks is not going to happen

Must remember to head UP a hill next time I'm getting low on jungle juice

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quote:

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Originally posted by wilkingj
What you need is a Quart / 1 Litre (metal) fuel bottle that campers use for those petrol cookers. Then store that somewhere about the car, they are not very big. It would give you a few miles extra to get to a fuel station.

If you get say 40mpg, a quart / litre bottle will give you nearly 10 miles of reserve.

Just a thought, and I might even do that myself... I had never thought of it until reading this a couple of mins ago!!

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I was just chuckling at Geoff post. 40mpg - i wish A quart of fuel would get me 5 miles max!!

raz - can you not angle the tanks a little? maybe a little foam padding under one end???

I havent calibrated my gauge yet. When tank is brim full it reads 75% ish, although when at 0% i know from experience to get to a fuel station pretty quickly.

Unfortunately the tanks were custom made to fit in the available space and be as large as possible (25 litres each) so they are wedged in with no room for movement.
I can drop the ride height a small amount on the rear so that will certainly help a little, but only time will tell. It is purely the fact that I was on a downward slope that made the situation worse - I have now covered 2000 miles in the car and this is the first time I have run out completely (although I have come close once or twice )

This is the trick an uncle did the first time my mum ran out of gas. He poured in 5 litres of petrol, turned the key on for five minutes, then grabbed a model-makers paint brush and applied a wee dot of red paint where the needle was pointing.

If you add the fuel in small increments (say a litre at a time), then when the warning light goes out you'll know how much you really have left, divide it by your mpg and you'll know how far you've got to find a servo.

But better safe than sorry - fill up early!