I've had my gas all the way down till the needle on top of the "E" line. When does the gas light come on? I figured that's pretty empty. I've read around 3 gallons. I have an S5.

 

I didn't think we had a gas light... Besides driving with less than a quarter of a tank could be dangerous to your engine.

 

How so? And yes there is a gas light on the idiot cluster.

 

Dangerous if you have a turbo. Running lean from the surging tank can cause your motor to detonate. Not a good thing. On turbo's the rule is not to run below a quarter tank. I drove my NA till it almost died before and they are fine.

The gas light comes on at different points for everybody but mine starts coming on a smidge above the E line. If your's doen't, get a copy of the FSM and troubleshoot why. Its not a complex circuit. Could be the bulb is burned out (most likely) or the sender is fried (also likely but not as much) or there is a wiring problem. Good place to start getting your hands dirty on the car. They like attention.

 

The gas light works because it comes on when I start the car/leave the key in "acc". I guess it's time to check the sender.

 

How much time and energy is it really worth trying to troubleshoot your gas light? You have eyes, use your gas gauge!

I try not to let mine run below 1/4. In addition to possible lean running problems, the fuel pump is cooled by the gas. When the tank is low, the pump isn't cooled as well, runs hot, and has a greater chance of failure.

-=Russ=-

 

mine never came on and i ran out of gas once

 

Should light with about 2 gallons remaining.

 

Remember. Our Warning clusters are old, tired and sun beaten. Many times solder points can come loose, bulbs can go bad ect..ect.. When and if your low fuel light DOES come on you should have about 2 gallons left in your tank.

Also keep in mind that our fuel pump is cooled by fuel. Running your tank to empty every time is putting a slight strain on your pump by letting it warm up and not get proper cooling.

Also for you Boost Junkies, running that low on fuel could be extreamly dangerous as mentioned above. Boost...boost...boost (fuel sloshes to the rear of the tank, fuel pump suddenly gulps air... Kaboom) You get the point.

-Markus R

 

Well I don't have a turbo. I try not to let it run empty but sometimes I can't always get gas here. I fill up at one place that is 2.10. The only place close by that is open 24 hours is 2.23! Sometimes I just run low. I try to fill it up when it gets to the 1/4 mark.